Elon Musk has got to be the definition of cool, whose projects have included PayPal, SpaceX, SolarCity, and Tesla Motors, of course. His next project might be to Teslify Wet Nellie, a mid 1970s Lotus Esprit S1 Turbo.
For those who don’t know, “Wet Nellie” appeared in the James Bond movie The Spy Who Loved Me, starring Roger Moore, in 1977. Wet Nellie was a Lotus Esprit S1 that transformed into a submarine after Bond drove off a pier to escape the bad guys. The car was converted into a submarine for the movie shot, after which Lotus sales shot up dramatically. Eventually the car was lost, stored in a forgotten shipping container, only to be found by an unsuspecting buyer at auction.
The car was on display in the National Motor Museum until January 2013, part of the “Bond in Motion” collection, and then auctioned off again in September, for around $887,000. At first, the winning bid was anonymous, but eventually revealed to be none other than entrepreneur Elon Musk.
Elon plans on “Teslifying” Wet Nellie, which is basically a shell with no functional drivetrain, for running on land, anyway. Apparently, Wet Nellie is going to be a fully-functional convertible electric land / sea vehicle, just like portrayed in the Bond movie, without any fancy camera work. I wish I had that kind of time and resources.
This personal project could actually make Elon Musk a bona fide Bond Villain. After all, who else has at his disposal space rockets, electric vehicles, solar power, and billions of dollars? Could a Tesla Nellie be the first step into nefarious deeds for Elon Musk? All he needs now is a Tiger Shark and a Bond Girl. [I forgot, he’s already got one of those.]
Image © Karen Roe / Foter / CC BY
I’m sorry! I just couldnt let it pass:) I think Elon has lots of spare time now that he isnt building the hyperloop.
Aha, so youre to busy to build an amphibic vehicle from a bond movie with the drivetrain from your own car company. If you just had la little more time and a bit more cash, you would totally do that…