Elon Musk revealed as secret buyer of this iconic James Bond movie car
Published on Sep 11, 2023 at 11:53 AM (UTC+4)
by Kate Bain
Last updated on Sep 13, 2023 at 12:23 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Elon Musk has been revealed as the secret buyer of the $1m Lotus Esprit that starred in James Bond.
It was an excellent buy for Musk, but an even better deal for the sellers.
That’s because previous owners of the 1976 Lotus Esprit sports car got it for just $100 in a blind storage auction.
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When the young couple paid $100 for an unclaimed storage unit, they had no idea what was inside.
When they opened it, they found the star of The Spy Who Loved Me underneath a pile of old blankets.
It was reportedly sitting abandoned inside the unit for more than 10 years.
Noticing a few issues and minor dents on the car, the couple from Long Island, New York, sent it away to get repaired.
It was only when they got a call from the truckers who were transporting the car that they discovered they were now the proud owners of a James Bond car.
They still didn’t really understand the gold mine they’d stumbled upon until they got an appraiser in.
The authenticator, Doug Redenius, told NBC they really had “no idea how valuable their discovery was”.
The car was, and still is, one of the most iconic movie cars of all time.
In the Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me, the Lotus Esprit dives into the ocean and transforms into a submarine.
In the film, it even fires missiles under the sea.
The new owners of the car happily displayed it at exhibits over the years, but after two decades, eventually decided to sell it.
So in 2013, the sports car went up for auction with RM Sotheby’s.
When the hammer fell, the car sold to a secret buyer for almost $1 million.
$997,000 to be exact.
Now a decade later, the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, has been revealed as its secret buyer.
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Kate is Lead Editor, overseeing coverage across automotive, tech, and lifestyle content on the site. She has more than 10 years’ experience as a journalist and news editor, having worked across a range of major publications including News Corp, Daily Mail Australia, and Sky News. Kate holds a Bachelor of Business Management from University of Queensland and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from Queensland University of Technology. She has been with Supercar Blondie since 2020 and played a key role in establishing supercarblondie.com as a leading automotive news destination.
