Tech billionaire to bring Bond flick's 'submarine car' to life
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WASHINGTON: American tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has been unveiled as the mystery buyer of the iconic Lotus Esprit from the 1977 James Bond
film 'The Spy Who Loved Me' and the billionaire has now announced plans
to turn the prop into a real, working submarine car. The car was bought
for almost $1 million at an auction in London last month, but the
buyer's identity was not made public at the time. Now Tesla Motors, Musk's electric car firm, has confirmed that he is the buyer of the vehicle.
The 42-year-old visionary behind PayPal and the commercial space exploration company SpaceX now plans to turn the high-tech vehicle - known on the 1977 movie set as 'Margie Nixon' and 'Wet Willie' - into a working undersea car. "It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in 'The Spy Who Loved Me' drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier, press a button and have it transform into a submarine underwater," Musk said
"I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform," he said. In the classic film, James Bond, played by Roger Moore, steers the white sports car off a pier and into the water, and the car sprouts fins and propellers, and manoeuvres its way along the ocean floor.
Musk will now attempt to make that movie stunt a reality, by turning the prop into an actual car that transforms into an underwater submarine. "What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real," he said.
Musk recently unveiled designs for his Hyperloop project, a $6 billion, solar-powered, elevated ultra-rapid transit system that would transport people between Los Angeles and San Francisco, covering a 570km route in just 35 minutes.
The 42-year-old visionary behind PayPal and the commercial space exploration company SpaceX now plans to turn the high-tech vehicle - known on the 1977 movie set as 'Margie Nixon' and 'Wet Willie' - into a working undersea car. "It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in 'The Spy Who Loved Me' drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier, press a button and have it transform into a submarine underwater," Musk said
"I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform," he said. In the classic film, James Bond, played by Roger Moore, steers the white sports car off a pier and into the water, and the car sprouts fins and propellers, and manoeuvres its way along the ocean floor.
Musk will now attempt to make that movie stunt a reality, by turning the prop into an actual car that transforms into an underwater submarine. "What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real," he said.
Musk recently unveiled designs for his Hyperloop project, a $6 billion, solar-powered, elevated ultra-rapid transit system that would transport people between Los Angeles and San Francisco, covering a 570km route in just 35 minutes.
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