Yahoo Autos Elon Musk's Lotus Submarine Is Not Happening
The Spy Who Loved Me was certainly full of (nuclear) submarines, yet the most exciting watertight vehicle of them all was the white Lotus Esprit driven by the late Roger Moore's Bond.
Eon Productions commissioned Florida-based Perry Oceanographic to build three props, only one of which was motorized. That one disappeared for years and was subsequently discovered in a storage container. RM Sotherby's auctioned it in 2013, where it was bought by billionaire Bond villain wannabe Elon Musk for $997,000.
The remaining two props which were used for some closeup shots were left to rot in the Bahamas, later saved by British fans. As for the main vehicle, Musk's plans involved turning it into a functioning submarine car, which of course didn't exist back in 1976. Now, it seems that those plans are off:
Will keep the original Bond Lotus sub as-is. That design can't actually convert from car to sub. Have a new design in mind that does.
- Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 24, 2017
Looking at the insides of the motorized Lotus sub, who would have thought that it wasn't the best candidate for what only sounded like the most complicated upgrade imaginable?
Now that Musk has come to the sad conclusion, the only remaining question is Elon's idea for a design that would work. Did he talk to the people at Rinspeed? They seem to know all about Lotus submarines...
Hat tip to Inside EVs!
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