Elon Musk identified as buyer of 007 submarine car

“Wet Nellie” from The Spy Who Loved Me

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla Motors Inc., the maker of luxury electric cars, has been identified as the buyer of the submarine car from The Spy Who Loved Me, by the JALOPNIK Web site.

As we POSTED BEFORE, Wet Nellie, the one car that actually operated underway in the 1977 007 film, was purchased for 550,000 British pounds in early September, or about $863,000 at that time. The purchaser, though, wasn’t disclosed.

Jalopnik, in a FOLLOW-UP POST tonight said Musk revealed his plans for the car. An excerpt of what Jalopnik says is a Musk statement “via Tesla’s PR”:

“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.”

Musk has said nothing on his Twitter account where he sometimes makes public statements.

For the uninitiated, the car that Musk bought was the one Lotus that operated underwater but its operators had to wear scuba equipment to do so. It remains to be seen what Musk — who has been compared to Tony Stark, the hero of Iron Man — will do.

(UPDATE Oct. 18): The comments to the follow-up Jalopnik post are mixed.

“Come on dude, just no. Not to the original,” one respondent wrote. “The Esprit is a pretty simple two-piece fiberglass shell, and I’m sure you can make a mould based on the real thing with no problem. Use that for your submarine, and leave the real thing alone. I say this as a Lotus Esprit owner, a Bond fan, and an all-around car guy.”

Another commenter expressed skepticism. “Next up, Musk buys the original DeLorean to build a time machine.”

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Wet Nellie auctioned for less than projected

“Wet Nellie” from The Spy Who Loved Me

“Wet Nellie,” the submarine car from 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me, was auctioned on Sept. 9 but for less than some estimates before the sale.

The car fetched 550,000 British pounds (about $863,000), according to 007 fan sites such as BOND LIFESTYLE and THE JAMES BOND DOSSIER that monitored the auction online.

While not cheap, there had been projections Wet Nellie would go for 650,000 and 950,000 pounds. Not everyone was that bullish. There were low estimates that the vehicle bring a selling price of 500,000 pounds.

The result reinforces the only rule: an object, whether it’s an old comic book or something as elaborate as Wet Nellie, is worth what somebody is willing to pay for it.

The car that was auctioned was the one that function underwater, with frogmen in wet suits piloting the craft.

UPDATE: Robert Frank of CNBC TOOK A GUESS IN A POST ON NBC.COM why the auction price came up short. Here’s an excerpt

It’s unclear why the price was soft, given the boom in collectible cars and its status as an especially famous car from the silver screen. But auction experts said that because the Lotus was not a functional car, it may not have been as attractive to buyers. Although equipped with fins and propellers, it did not have wheels.