As one of the richest people in the world, Elon Musk is able to splurge and buy whatever he wants. In 2022, that included acquiring the social media platform Twitter. Back in 2013, Musk also made a purchase of one of the most famous movie cars of all time.
What Happened: One of the most expensive personal items ever purchased is the car from the James Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me,” which he bought in 2013 for nearly one million dollars.
In the 1977 movie, which stars Roger Moore as Bond, a sports car that can transform into a submarine and fire missiles underwater is featured. The vehicle was nicknamed “Wet Nellie” and saw a marine engineering firm convert it into a functional submarine. A retired U.S. Navy SEAL in full scuba gear helped perform the underwater scenes in the movie.
While buying the famous vehicle might be a crazy story for Musk, it’s an even crazier story for the couple that once owned it.
A couple from New York purchased an unclaimed storage unit for $100 in 1989 via a blind auction, which means unlike the storage unit auctions you may have seen on TV, the bidders couldn’t see what was inside or even open the door.
As reported by CNBC, the couple found the 1976 Lotus Espirit sports car when they opened the unit after winning. Surprisingly enough, the couple had never watched a James Bond movie.
“They really didn’t know what it was,” Ian Fleming Foundation Co-Founder Doug Redenius told NBC in 2013. Redenius helped authenticate the car for the couple, who ran a construction tool renting business at the time.
“They had no idea how valuable their discovery was.”
According to the story, the couple loaded the car onto a truck and while driving it home were told several times by truckers via CB radio that it was a James Bond car that they were hauling. The discovery led to the husband going out and renting the Bond film on VHS to see the car in the movie.
The couple “cosmetically restored” the vehicle and featured it in exhibits before deciding to part ways and put it up for auction in 2013.
The car purchased by Musk is one of eight that was used during the filming of the 1977 film, but is the only one that was used in the underwater scenes. After filming, the car went into a storage unit.
Musk bought the vehicle anonymously in a 2013 auction with RM Sotheby’s. The purchase price was $997,000 for the James Bond car.
It was later revealed that Musk was the buyer of the vehicle.
Related Link: 51 Facts And Figures About Tesla And SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
Musk a Fan Of James Bond: Musk has said in interviews that he was a fan of James Bond movies, particularly “The Spy Who Loved Me.”
“It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ drive his Lotus Espirit off a pier, press a button and have it transform into a submarine understeer,” Musk said previously.
In a 2013 interview, Musk said that he was disappointed the James Bond car he bought didn’t actually transform.
“What I’m going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real.”
Tesla Inc TSLA investors and customers may be familiar with the design of the vehicle featured in the James Bond movie. Musk has called the vehicle a major inspiration for the highly anticipated Tesla Cybertruck electric pickup truck.
“Cybertruck design influenced partly by The Spy Who Loved Me,” Musk tweeted in 2019.
Musk has teased for years that the Cybertruck would be able to drive through water, a reference to the underwater capabilities of “Wet Nellie.”
It's hard to believe that a $100 storage unit purchase by a couple in 1989 led to a one million dollar payday, and also may have played a hand in the design of the Cybertruck.
Numerous critics have expressed concerns about the Cybertruck's design, which diverges from the conventional pickup truck aesthetic. However, it is possible that James Bond enthusiasts may join the ranks of intrigued buyers, in addition to existing Tesla fans and customers.
Read Next: Here's What You Could Buy With Elon Musk's Fortune
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