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[h=1]Elon Musk to Make James Bond Submarine Car a Reality[/h]
By Peter Valdes-Dapena | CNNMoney.com 9 hours ago
[h=3]Related Content[/h]
What does a man capable of building electric cars and space launch vehicles need? Perhaps a submarine car once driven by James Bond.
When the car-turned-submarine from the 007 classic "The Spy Who Loved Me" was sold at auction in September for nearly a million dollars, the identity of the buyer was kept secret, as it usually is in collector car auctions.
Thursday night, a Tesla Motors spokeswoman confirmed that the submarine, modeled after a Lotus sports car, had been bought by Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.
Musk plans to take the movie prop and turn it into an actual car that transforms into a submarine, the very thing it was built to portray in the movie.
"I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform," Musk said in a statement provided by Tesla. "What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real."
Musk's identity as the buyer was first reported by the automotive Web site Jalopnik.com.
In the film, James Bond, played by Roger Moore, is seen driving a white Lotus Esprit off a pier and into the water. Once submerged, the car sinks toward the bottom before sprouting fins and propellers. Moore is shown piloting the sub with a passenger, played by Barbara Bach, inside a dry passenger compartment.
Several cars and models -- some of just sections of the vehicle -- were used to shoot the scene. The submarine Musk bought for $920,167 at a London auction was just one of them.
It's a so-called wet submarine, meaning that it fills with water when submerged, so the driver has to wear a wetsuit and breathe air from a tank. (The dry passenger compartment shown in the movie was a set.) It has no steering wheel or other automobile controls and is instead controlled with levers. The fins on the outside are not retractable, but permanent.
Tesla Motors first car, the Tesla Roadster, was also based on a later Lotus sports car, the Elise.
Source: Elon Musk to Make James Bond Submarine Car a Reality - Yahoo Finance
By Peter Valdes-Dapena | CNNMoney.com 9 hours ago
Reuters/REUTERS - The 007 Lotus Esprit 'Submarine Car', used in the James Bond movie "The Spy Who Loved Me" is pictured in this undated handout photo. The white Lotus Esprit, which transformed into more
[h=3]Related Content[/h]
View PhotoThe 007 Lotus Esprit 'Submarine Car', used in the James Bond movie "The Spy Who Loved Me" is pictured in this undated handout photo. The white Lotus Esprit, which transformed into a submarine during a sequence in the 1977 movie starring Roger Moore as 007, sold at an auction by RM Auctions September 9, 2013, four years after it was "discovered" in a U.S. storage unit. REUTERS/Tim Scott � 2013 Courtesy of RM Auctions/Handout (BRITAIN - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT TRANSPORT) NO SALES. NO ARCHIVES. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
What does a man capable of building electric cars and space launch vehicles need? Perhaps a submarine car once driven by James Bond.
When the car-turned-submarine from the 007 classic "The Spy Who Loved Me" was sold at auction in September for nearly a million dollars, the identity of the buyer was kept secret, as it usually is in collector car auctions.
Thursday night, a Tesla Motors spokeswoman confirmed that the submarine, modeled after a Lotus sports car, had been bought by Tesla (TSLA) CEO Elon Musk.
Musk plans to take the movie prop and turn it into an actual car that transforms into a submarine, the very thing it was built to portray in the movie.
"I was disappointed to learn that it can't actually transform," Musk said in a statement provided by Tesla. "What I'm going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real."
Musk's identity as the buyer was first reported by the automotive Web site Jalopnik.com.
In the film, James Bond, played by Roger Moore, is seen driving a white Lotus Esprit off a pier and into the water. Once submerged, the car sinks toward the bottom before sprouting fins and propellers. Moore is shown piloting the sub with a passenger, played by Barbara Bach, inside a dry passenger compartment.
Several cars and models -- some of just sections of the vehicle -- were used to shoot the scene. The submarine Musk bought for $920,167 at a London auction was just one of them.
It's a so-called wet submarine, meaning that it fills with water when submerged, so the driver has to wear a wetsuit and breathe air from a tank. (The dry passenger compartment shown in the movie was a set.) It has no steering wheel or other automobile controls and is instead controlled with levers. The fins on the outside are not retractable, but permanent.
Tesla Motors first car, the Tesla Roadster, was also based on a later Lotus sports car, the Elise.
Source: Elon Musk to Make James Bond Submarine Car a Reality - Yahoo Finance
