James Bond submarine car up for auction

Now go underwater 007-style! The world-famous submarine car used in the James Bond film 'The Spy Who Loved Me' is set to go under the hammer and is expected to fetch upto 950,000 pounds.
The Lotus Esprit has no reserve and is said to be fully operational. It was used in the underwater scene of the 1977 film starring Roger Moore as 007.
Known as Wet Nellie, it is a one-off car that was made especially for the film, although six other bodyshells were used in filming.
The Lotus was originally built by Perry Oceanographic in Florida and was piloted during filming by Don Griffin, a retired US Navy Seal, the Daily Mirror reported.

It originally cost 65,000 pounds, the equivalent of 330,000 pounds today.
After filming it appeared at various car shows before it was shipped to New York and kept in storage. In 1989 it was auctioned as a blind lot and bought by its current owners.

The car will go under the hammer at RM Auctions in Battersea.
The auction house's managing director, Max Girardo, said the Lotus was one of the most famous movie cars of all time.
"Over the years, millions of movie-goers have stared in awe as the Lotus transformed itself into a submarine, and now, perhaps one of them will have an opportunity to own it," he said.

The last Bond car to be sold was the Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger which sold for 2.9 million pounds in 2010.