- Not to be confused with the bread pudding Wet Nelly.
Wet Nellie is a custom-built submarine, created for the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me in the shape of a Lotus Esprit S1 sports car. The Esprit was chosen to give James Bond a glamorous car to drive. "Wet Nellie" is named in reference to Little Nellie, an autogyro featured in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice. Little Nellie was named after Nellie Wallace.
Video Wet Nellie
Construction
The submarine does not maintain a dry interior, and thus is a "wet sub" that requires occupants to don scuba gear. It was built by Perry Oceanographic, Inc., of Riviera Beach, Florida, USA, specifically for the film, using a Lotus Esprit S1 bodyshell, for about $100,000 at the time. The wedge shape of the Esprit is designed to provide downforce, so would force the submarine to dive, so was compensated for by fins placed where the wheels would be in a conventional Esprit. The sub requires a crew of two to operate. It has four electric motors that allowed forward motion only. The interior bears no resemblance to that of a car, being just a platform for the scuba divers, and the equipment used to operate, drive, and power the sub.
Maps Wet Nellie
Filming
During filming of "The Spy Who Loved Me", the submarine was piloted by ex-U.S. Navy SEAL Don Griffin. The fictional history of the car in the film was that it was developed by Q-Branch. In filming, six Esprits were used (tagged "PPW 306R"), several specially modified for water duty, though only one submarine.
Post-film life
Upon completion of filming, the submarine went on a promotional tour. Afterwards, it was shipped to Long Island, New York, and placed in storage. The storage unit was prepaid for 10 years; at the end of the lease, no one claimed the contents, so the contents of the storage locker were placed on auction. The buyer paid less than $100 for the unit. The buyers did not know the contents when they bought it, and from 1989 to 2013 occasionally exhibited the submarine. The then owner, also owner of a tool rental shop, had the exterior restored. It was put up for auction as a Bond Car in 2013. In September 2013, the submarine sold at auction for £550,000, at RM Auctions in Battersea, south west London. Elon Musk bought the vehicle, and as of 2013, planned to convert it into the functional car-submarine from the film. Musk stated that he plans to use Tesla Motors' electric drive train in making his conversion a reality.
See also
- List of James Bond vehicles
- Aston Martin DB5
- Lotus Elise / Tesla Roadster
References
Further reading
- RM Auctions, "007 Lotus Esprit 'Submarine Car'" (lot 243) 9 September 2013 auction
- The Telegraph (London), "Inside James Bond's Lotus supersub", Leo Wilkinson, 12 August 2013
- CNBC, "Tesla's Elon Musk wants to make sub car a reality", Paul A. Eisenstein, 18 October 2013
External links
- MSN Cars, The most memorable Bond vehicles: Lotus Esprit 'Wet Nellie' (accessed 2013-11-13)
- CNN Money, Elon Musk to make James Bond submarine car a reality, Peter Valdes-Dapena, 18 October 2013 (accessed 2013-11-13)
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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