Elon Musk Buys an Old Bond Mobile

Billionaire wants to turn it into a real-life submersible vehicle.

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By sea, air and land.

Billionaire Elon Musk may be adopting the Navy Seals’ motto as he looks to complete the trifecta with his latest purchase: a prop-car from a James Bond movie that he intends to turn into a real-life submersible vehicle.

Musk, whose electric car company Tesla and rocket company Space X have captured the popular imagination in recent years, has confirmed he purchased the car used in the movie The Spy Who Loved Me.

“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,” he told USA Today. “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.”

Like something from the reality show Storage Wars, the car was first purchased for $100 inside a storage container, according to the car website Jalopnik, which first broke the news. It had been lost in storage. After it was discovered to be the actual car from the movie, Musk bought it for $866,000.

Musk, who is reportedly the inspiration for Jon Favreau’s depiction of eccentric billionaire Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies, didn’t divulge exactly how he’ll turn the car into a truly amphibious vehicle.

[USA Today]