When not behind the wheel of an Aston Martin, Bond can occasionally be seen behind the wheel of a few other exotic cars, though few are as noteworthy as this Series 1 Lotus Esprit, or 'Wet Nellie' as it became affectionately known. We can skim past the basics of the Esprit (just the usual torpedo guns, surface-to-air missiles and cement sprayers) and go straight to it's main selling point: it's a submarine. The standard Q Branch armaments are all well and good, but they're also exactly what we'd come to expect from a Bond car, so it's the jump off the end of a pier into the water which really sets the pulses racing. It's perhaps for the best that the Esprit was submersible, as on land it was in fact somewhat underpowered. The stunt drivers in the Lotus actually struggled to make the car look exciting on screen due to it's low performance and extremely good grip. The Esprit would reappear again four years later in For Your Eyes Only, this time a Series 3 with more 'realistic' gadgets. Where's the fun in that?
