James Bond Lotus Esprit Submarine replica prop available for auction

Get Q-branch on the phone, as a prop replica of James Bond’s iconic Lotus Esprit S1 from the tenth film in the series, The Spy Who Loved Me, is up for auction.

Famously included in the film thanks to the wily behaviour of the Lotus PR team, who parked a then-unreleased, pre-production Esprit outside the Bond production offices, the white Series 1 Esprit wowed audiences with its modern wedge-shaped lines, and ability to transform from sports car to submarine during the film’s major chase sequence.

The first-generation Esprit tipped the scales at a modest 900kg in full-road trim, and was powered by a mid-mounted 119kW 2.0-litre four-cylinder engine, which drove the rear-wheels via a Citroen five-speed manual transmission.

A number of vehicles and fibreglass props were used during production of the movie, which filmed scenes with the Lotus in both Sardinia (road) and Nassau (water), but the item on offer from Vicari Auctions in Orlando, Florida is a replica constructed after the movie, and depicts the car in mid-transformation mode.

Using an authentic fibreglass Lotus Esprit body, the car includes the window shields, fully-deployed dive planes on the right-hand side and the Wolfrace alloy wheels on the left. The rear rudder assembly and quad-propeller array feature down the back, where a torpedo launcher is prepped and ready up front.

It looks great, but is a prop. The doors don’t open and it certainly doesn’t drive… or swim.

The auction runs from June 4-5 2021, and while no starting bid is listed, one of eight original cars was sold by Sotheby's in 2013 (following a comprehensive restoration) for £550,000 (AU$1 million) to Tesla CEO and all-round Bond-villain in the making, Elon Musk.

With less provenance, this one should come in well under that, but we’ll be sure to update you with the result!

To view the auction lot, click here.