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The ex-James Bond,
The Spy Who Loved Me 1976 Lotus Esprit Coupé
Chassis no. 76090187G
Engine no. 760913101
This Lotus Esprit is one of two complete, fully functioning cars that were
used for the driving scenes in the motion picture The Spy Who Loved Me,
starring Roger Moore as secret agent James Bond, 007. Approximately nine
Esprit's were used in different guises, but bar these two the rest were
shells, some of which were used in filming the Esprit’s transformation
into a submersible. Once fully submerged, the Esprit was represented by a
radio-controlled model. One of the two ‘proper’ cars was used for the
chase scene in which it was driven by Roger Becker, now Director of
Engineering at Lotus Cars. The Esprit offered here was used in the scene
where ‘Q’ drives off the ferry in Sardinia, instructs Bond in its
operation, and the car is then driven away by Bond and his companion,
agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach). Roger Becker confirmed this to trimmer
Nick Fulcher when he visited Nick’s workshop during the car’s recent
restoration.
This is the only one of
the two fully functioning Esprit's that had the missile launching button
on the gear stick and the special revised housing for the clock/periscope
screen. The car was taken directly off the production line and sent
straight to Pinewood Studios where it was trimmed by Nick Fulcher, who was
then working as a trim engineer at Lotus. Nick collaborated with
production designer, Ken Adam to achieve the desired specification,
removing the colourful tartan headrests, which reflected on the actors’
faces, and changing them to plain green. As well as the quayside scene,
this particular Esprit was converted for use as a camera car in filming
the dramatic chase along the Sardinian mountain roads, there being no
alternative vehicle available that could keep up with the other one!
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