Even if they’re not about Tesla or SpaceX, the stories about the billionaire Elon Musk are always interesting. This one is about how he bought a car with $1 million from a couple who already got it for only $100.
An unknown couple from Long Island, New York, bought an unclaimed storage unit in 1989. They paid roughly $100 for It, in a blind auction. It’s just like the mystery boxes that people buy from the Internet nowadays. That means the buyer is having no idea about what was inside.
These couples were immensely lucky because inside that unit and under old blankets, there was a 1976 Lotus Esprit sports car. That car was used in the James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me.” in 1977. If you have watched the film before, you must know what it is able to do, if not we will tell you. The sports car could transform into a submarine and fires missiles underwater, in the movie for sure.
After filming, the famous car had been put in the storage unit and remained there for more than a decade. Until the New York couple came along. The funny thing is that both of them had no clue about the movie or the car.
They put the car onto a truck and were on the way home when truckers contacted them via CB radio and told them that they were carrying a James Bond car.
Since they don’t know the film, They went out and rented the movie to see what they had.
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The couple kept the vehicle for nearly two decades, displaying it in occasional exhibits. In 2013 they decided to put it for sale in auction.
The secret buyer
At RM Sotheby’s auction, the Lotus sold for $997,000 to a secret buyer who was later known. The new owner was the Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
“It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in ‘The Spy Who Loved Me drive his Lotus Esprit off a pier, press a button, and have it transform into a submarine underwater.” Musk said. “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.”
That car was like an inspiration for Musk to create the Tesla’s Cybertruck, as he said.
He even said that it “will even float for awhile” responding to a question about how the Cybertruck will deal with the shallow water.
CNBC shared some photos of the car, and why Elon Musk loved it that much.
