Elon Musk paid nearly $1 million for “Wet Nellie” car bought by a couple for $100

Elon Musk is known and famous for his love of all things electric. As it turned out, Musk reportedly paid nearly $1 million for an abandoned gasoline-powered car bought by a couple for $100. It all started in 1989 when a Long Island couple paid roughly $100 for an unclaimed storage unit in a blind auction. Neither the seller nor the buyer had any idea what was inside.

The couple later opened the unit and they were in biggest surprise of their life. Buried under the old blankets was a 1976 Lotus Esprit sports car used in the filming of the 1977 James Bond film “The Spy Who Loved Me.” In the movie, the sports car famously transforms into a submarine and fires missiles while underwater. Then in September 2013, Elon Musk bought their $100 gasoline-powered car for nearly $1 million.

The S1 Lotus Esprit was featured in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, where a car famously converted into a submarine after a road chase. The car used in the underwater scenes, nick-named “Wet Nellie.” In a post on Twitter, Musk told his followers that the car influenced the design of the newly launched Tesla Cybertruck. “Cybertruck design influenced partly by The Spy Who Loved Me,” Musk tweeted.

Cybertruck design influenced partly by The Spy Who Loved Me https://t.co/HKBzxFNfzm

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 21, 2019

The tweet was later followed with responses from Musk followers. Jacob Hill, one of the Musk followers, said: “So, apparently one of the main inspirations for the Cybertruck, aside from Blade Runner as Elon mentioned, was the 70’s Lotus Esprit, specificially the one from the Bond film “The Spy who Loved Me” and I’ll be honest, I can kinda see the resemblance.”

https://twitter.com/JacobTheHill/status/1197907508729389058