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A man who bought a mystery storage container for just £78 discovered a famous item inside worth more than £600k.
In 1989, an American bloke opened up his bargain container, alongside his brother, to find one of the most famous cars in film history inside.
The brothers didn't think much of it on first sight as on first glance inside the container they saw nothing but a ‘giant lump covered in blankets’.
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But upon further inspection the huge lump actually turned out to be a wheelless white sports car with a dented roof.
The siblings decided to get the vehicle authenticated where it was revealed that it was actually the famous James Bond submarine car from The Spy Who Loved Me.
The car – described on-set as ‘Wet Nellie’ – was thought to have cost more than $100,000 (£78,400) to build in the 1970s.
It starred in the 1977 film, with Roger Moore and Barbara Bach taking the lead roles, as it was driven in a mountaintop chase before plunging into the ocean below.
When in the water, the car’s wheels contracted and it became a streamlined submarine.
It was reported that at least two cars were used to shoot the chase scene, three were used to capture underwater shots, and another was deployed for travelling submarine footage.
According to NBC News, Doug Redenius, the co-founder of the Ian Fleming Foundation. was the one who valued the rare find.
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He said: "They really didn’t know what it was at first. They had no idea how valuable their discovery was."
Around 24 years after the pricey discovery, the car was put up for auction.
The Guardian reported that Elon Musk outbid the competition and purchased the submarine car at a London auction and bought the car for $997,000 (£616,000) in September 2013.
While he initially purchased the Lotus Espirit as an anonymous buyer, he later put out a statement regarding the iconic James Bond car.
He said: “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 underwater.
“I was disappointed to learn that it can’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.”
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- Elon Musk
- Motoring
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