The Lotus Esprit -Turbo similar to the Bond lotus.
The Lotus Esprit -Turbo similar to the Bond lotus.
The white Lotus Esprit car famously driven underwater by actor Roger Moore in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me is to be auctioned at Battersea in London in September.
The 1977 car was built to be a fully functional submarine for scenes in the film. In all,six of the cars were built to use in making the film. The submersible Lotus cost several hundred thousand dollars to manufacture.
Experts expect it to fetch a price of several million dollars when it comes under the hammer.
The car was driven in the underwater sequences of the film by a US Navy Seal who had to wear goggles and carry oxygen, since the cabin was not pressurised.
According to RM Auctions, the Lotus was kept for years in a lock-up in New York until a couple bought the property in a so-called "blind auction" with no knowledge of the contents of a container kept at the building.
An Aston DB5 sports car used in Goldfinger and Thunderball was recently sold for STG3 million ($A5.04 million), making it one of the most expensive pieces of automotive film memorabilia in the world.
