Top 40 James Bond Vehicles Of All Time

#4-1980/1981 Lotus Turbo Espirit

Appeared in: For Your Eyes Only

After seeing how popular the submersible Lotus Espirit was in “The Spy Who Loved Me”, Lotus made a return yet again in “For Your Eyes Only” although this time there weren’t any elaborate chase scenes or gadgets (except for a self-destruction mode) installed.

Lotus supplied the construction crew with two working models (one of them owned by Lotus Founder Colin Chapman) and one chassis to be blown up. We see the first Lotus being driven by Bond in Spain and subsequently blown up after a couple of henchmen attempt to get in. The fact that Bond’s Lotus gets blown to smithereens was a decision made by director John Glen to symbolically get Bond to rely more on his wits than his gadgets to survive. Shortly after, we see Bond and Melina Havelock escape in Melina’s humble Citroen 2 CV.

The second Lotus Espirit we see being outfitted with ski-racks in Q’s workshop, except this time it’s been painted a copper metallic to better stand out in the white snowy backdrop that was Cortina d’Ampezzo.

That same copper metallic Lotus happened to find its way on eBay where it fetched more $210,000 making it one of the most expensive Lotus’s ever sold.

Next: 1976 Lotus Espirit