In 1989, a couple from Long Island made an astonishing discovery that would captivate both car enthusiasts and James Bond fans alike.
They spent US$100 (approximately NZ$161 today) on an unclaimed storage unit, only to unearth a treasure concealed beneath blankets: a 1976 Lotus Esprit sports car.
A hidden treasure
What seemed like an ordinary vintage car was soon revealed to be a cinematic icon. This particular Lotus Esprit starred in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me.
In the film, the car famously transforms into a submarine, executing one of the most memorable sequences in Bond history.
Unfamiliar with the Bond series, the couple sought the expertise of Doug Redenius, founder of the Ian Fleming Foundation, to authenticate their find.
Upon confirmation of its authenticity, the news of the discovery spread like wildfire, eventually catching the eye of none other than Elon Musk.
Elon Musk's fascination
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, grew up watching James Bond films and had a particular fondness for The Spy Who Loved Me.
In 2013, Musk anonymously bid nearly US$1 million (around NZ$1.6 million) to acquire the vehicle. “It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier, press a button and have it transform into a submarine underwater,” Musk told Jalopnik.
Musk even had plans to retrofit the car with an electric powertrain and make it a functional submarine.
Notably, Musk used the vehicle as design inspiration for an infamous new model we know today as Cybertruck.
The journey of Wet Nellie
The vehicle, affectionately dubbed 'Wet Nellie', had an interesting journey from the screen to the storage unit.
Giorgetto Giugiaro, the renowned designer, unveiled the Lotus Esprit at the 1972 Turin Motor Show, launching it three years later.
A Lotus PR manager strategically positioned a preproduction model outside Pinewood Studios during the filming of the Bond movie, capturing the attention of producer Albert R. Broccoli.
For the film, Lotus supplied two road cars and seven fibreglass body shells. One of these shells was split in half to film Roger Moore and Barbara Bach in their respective seats.
Wet Nellie was the only vehicle fully converted into a submarine, a task undertaken by Florida-based Perry Oceanographic.
This conversion involved fitting the car with ballast tanks, propellers, water-tight batteries, and its iconic fins, costing about US$100,000 at the time—equivalent to approximately US$450,000 (over NZ$700k) today.
Today, the serendipitous discovery of the 1976 Lotus Esprit by a Long Island couple remains one of the most remarkable finds in automotive history.
From a modest storage unit to the hands of one of the world's most innovative entrepreneurs, Wet Nellie’s journey shows the enduring allure of the James Bond legacy.