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| 1976 Lotus Esprit [Type 79] in The Spy Who Loved Me, Movie, 1977
RM Auctions is putting the Esprit Series 1, which starred in the 1977 Bond flick “The Spy Who Loved Me,” on the block in London, September 8-9. |
A submarine car used in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me has been sold for £550,000. The Lotus Esprit sold for less than the guide price despite a bidding war between a woman in the auction room and a telephone bidder who took the prized collector's piece. The car, said to be fully operational, was used in the underwater scene of the 1977 film starring Roger Moore as 007. After filming it toured various car shows before being stored in New York. It was sold at RM Auctions in Battersea, south-west London, for less than the estimated price of between £650,000 and £950,000. In had previously been auctioned as a blind lot in 1989. Peter Haynes, from the auction house, said: "Bearing in mind it is not a car that can be driven on the road, the price just goes to prove the draw that all Bond-related memorabilia has." |
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| 1976 Lotus Esprit [Type 79] in The Spy Who Loved Me, Movie, 1977 | ||
| 1976 Lotus Esprit [Type 79] in The Spy Who Loved Me, Movie, 1977 |
| The 007 Lotus Esprit Submarine Car from The Spy Who
Loved Me (1977) commonly tops the polls when multiple generations
of movie fans are asked to pick their favourite film cars of all
time. Like all the best Bond cars, the Lotus was a veritable war
chest of weaponry and gadgetry that was designed to fox and foil
the enemy whilst also helping Bond to another hard-won victory for
Queen and country. DOSSIER Giorgetto Giugiaro’s Italdesign unveiled a concept car at the Turin Motor Show in 1972 that was based upon a stretched Lotus Europa chassis. It was amongst the first of designer Giugiaro’s polygonal “folded paper", or wedge-shaped, conceptions, and it caused a sensation in the automotive press. Lotus ultimately developed its Lotus Esprit using this design, and remarkably, little changed from the show car. The Esprit was launched in October 1975 at the Paris Auto Show, and it went into production in June 1976, replacing the Europa in the Lotus model line-up. With its lightweight chassis, mid-engine configuration, and fibreglass body shell, it furthered the reputation for class-beating handling long enjoyed by Lotus. At the time of its introduction, it was indisputably Britain’s most advanced sports car. The Lotus not only impressed the automotive world, but it also impressed film producer Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli, who one day found a pre-production model parked directly in front of his office at Pinewood Studios outside London. The car had been conspicuously positioned there, without identifying badges, by Lotus PR Manager Don McLauchlan. McLauchlan had learned that preparations had begun for a fresh 007 adventure, and he wanted to make their extraordinary new car available for the picture. Experience with the vehicles from other films, particularly Aston Martins in prior Bond movies, had proven that the publicity and sales impact could be enormous. So a deal was struck, and Lotus delivered two production vehicles; each of these were equipped with an additional piece of sheet metal beneath the radiator to protect the cars from the rough streets of the Costa Smeralda, in Sardinia, where the surface sequences of the famous chase was to be filmed. Additionally, seven more body shells were supplied, with one of which being sealed all around for underwater scenes and converted into a submarine. “PAY ATTENTION, 007!” No Bond car has ever done anything as outrageous on screen as transform itself into a submarine; none except for this Lotus in the epic The Spy Who Loved Me. Breaking with tradition, Q is never given the opportunity to explain the car’s features to 007. So, when the Lotus is fired (literally! – see sidebar) off a jetty into the sea, the audience was stunned, and captivated. The specially prepared body shell was shipped to Perry Oceanographics, a marine engineering and construction firm based in Riviera Beach, Florida. Perry was known for their ingenuity in building all manner of submersible vehicles (including the Reef Ranger, also seen in the underwater battle), and they are world-renowned for their unique capabilities. With guidance from Special Visual Effects Supervisor Derek Meddings, Perry re-envisioned the Lotus as a “wet” submarine (connoting that it is full of water as it travels beneath the surface). It moves forward via a bank of four propellers, with their electric motors being driven by batteries housed in a water-tight compartment. The articulated fins are adjusted with mechanical levers that are operated by its driver. Underwater, the Lotus has a turning circle of around 20 feet. Its dive and climb performance is regulated by ballast tanks, and it has been described as “crisply argonautic”. Contrary to what movie magic suggests, there is no semblance of a road car interior in this Lotus; instead, inside one will find its underwater motors, batteries, levers, and other control apparatus, with only a platform seat for its driver. It was said to have cost over $100,000 to construct (nearly half a million dollars today). Its driver was Don Griffin, a retired U.S. Navy SEAL who was employed as a technician and test pilot for Perry. As such, he was the obvious candidate to operate the Lotus on location, with the underwater sequences being filmed nearby in the Bahamas. And Don Griffin was indeed the driver (in full scuba gear with auxiliary oxygen), and in so doing, he assumed one of the greatest anonymous roles in movie history. As the one and only fully functioning Submarine Car especially designed and built for the spectacular underwater sequences, the Lotus appears in the film for the lion’s share of the screen time beneath the surface. Dubbed “Wet Nellie” on the set, the Lotus was used to incredible effect in the film. It was fitted with mechanically operated enclosures that reveal the missile launchers in the front, a smoke screen exhaust in the rear, and a mine hatch on the bottom. When Griffin voiced the need for rearward vision, a prismatic mirror was mounted on the roof, which was sourced from Army surplus and came off of a tank. The stream of air bubbles following the vehicle was actually generated by utilising a giant cache of Alka-Seltzer tablets! ENDURING ICON The Spy Who Loved Me was the 10th film in the Bond franchise, and the third to star Roger Moore. At a pivotal moment in the celebrated progression of 007 films, Eon Productions needed a hit after the disappointing box office performance of The Man With The Golden Gun (1974). So, this time they pulled out all the stops by doubling the budget, bringing back Lewis Gilbert (You Only Live Twice) to direct, and giving Production Designer Ken (later Sir Ken) Adam appropriate latitude to create the phantasmagorical and futuristic sets for which he was famous. And then there was the Submarine Car, which was conceived by Adam, a Lotus owner and an admirer of the Esprit’s streamlined shape. So, the fuse was lit and the fires of 14-year-old imaginations around the world were re-ignited: the secret agent as super hero (with a little technological assistance)! As a result of this renewed commitment, The Spy Who Loved Me became the highest-grossing Bond film to date, firmly re-establishing the 007 character as a contemporary action hero. Along with supervision on location by Meddings, underwater cameraman Lamar Boren, himself a veteran of the underwater crew from Thunderball and You Only Live Twice, was also re-enlisted for the filming of Wet Nellie in the Bahamas. So, yet again in a James Bond film, the car was the star, and moviegoers couldn’t stop talking about the Lotus. |
WET NELLIE SURFACES
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