Cars have always been an important part of the James Bond film franchise, but only a handful stand out as the most memorable.
After the iconic Aston Martin DB5 of “Goldfinger” and "Thunderball" fame – a model that resurfaced in the latest Bond flick “Skyfall” – one of the most well-known 007-mobiles is the 1977 Lotus Esprit S1 that turned into a submarine in “The Spy Who Loved Me.”
While the price of the Lotus didn’t come close to that of the original “Goldfinger” 1964 Aston Martin DB5, which sold at auction for about $4.4 million in 2010, the famous submersible Bond car did fetch just under $1 million.
Unlike the James Bond DB5, the Lotus sub is a prop; it isn't a real car and doesn’t even have wheels. (Another vehicle was used for the road shots in the movie.) Like the DB5 that sold in 2012 – which was equipped with a functional smoke screen and oil spreader to evade the bad guys, as well as nonfunctional front-mounted machine guns that protrude from behind headlights – the Lotus submarine was described as "fully functional."
RM Auctions, which sold the car, said the Lotus is a genuine "wet submarine" and can be driven under water. But the story of how it ended up at auction sounds like something from a movie script. Or at least an episode of the reality TV show "Storage Wars."
The Lotus submarine became known as "Wet Nellie" during production of "The Spy Who Loved Me" and was exhibited at auto shows to help promote the film. After its big splash on screen, the sub was stashed in a storage locker on Long Island with the rent paid in advance for 10 years.
The original tenants couldn't be found once the lease expired, so the contents of the storage locker were offered in a blind auction. A Long Island couple supposedly acquired the Bond sub in 1989 for less than $100. It was later restored. RM Auctions announced in July that the Lotus sub would be for sale.
On Monday the sub sold for approximately $968,000 at RM's London auction. But this pales in comparison to the price paid this weekend for a not-so-famous but rare 1967 Chevy Corvette: $3.2 million. While the 'Vette can’t claim movie star status, the record price tag is due to the car's L-88 designation, one of only 20 built in the 1967 model year.
[Source: CNET, Yahoo]Source: MSN
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