Mini submarine that chased James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me could be yours for £5k
James Pond, Licence to krill...original underwater 007 prop goes under the hammer
JAMES Bond fans can own a piece of movie history when a mini-submarine from The Spy Who Loved Me goes under the hammer next week.
The sub, which attacked Roger Moore’s Bond in an iconic underwater chase, is expected to £5,000 ($7,500) when it goes on sale in California.
In the 1977 movie, the bright yellow underwater craft emerges from an underwater lair and fires a torpedo at 007 and Bond girl Barbara Bach.
It was written into the film when studio reps saw the prototype for the Shark Hunter II - a vessel for conducting underwater surveys.
It goes on sale in Beverly Hills on June 25.
The 15ft long prop can seat two people and has an aluminium and fibreglass hull, a brush-less electric motor and stainless steel aircraft control cables.
Be careful when taking her underwater though.
The sub doesn’t have a pressurised cabin so you’ll need scuba gear for your dives only – or you could end up more James Pond than Bond.
The Shark Hunter it is based on could go to a maximum depth of 450ft, boasted a top speed of 3.5 knots and had a range of 18 to 20 miles, with the battery lasting up to six hours.
But the prop sub, which is being sold by Heritage Auctions, has not been tested.
Garry Shrum from the auction house said: “This item is right out of the film, there's a great clip in the movie where you see it in action.
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“Something unique like this doesn't show up very often.
“This would be such a cool thing to own.
“The Bond films are so exciting and any time we have a prop it always gets interest.
“We haven't tested it, we're just selling it as is.
“So whoever buys it will have to make sure its seaworthy before they use it.
“Unfortunately we don't know what happened to it after filming ended.
“The owner is a collector who bought it from another private collector.
“So many film sets just threw away a lot of stuff when the movie was over.
“They didn't really think about how valuable something might be in the future.
“A lot of stuff just went to landfill, it's a tragedy really, but luckily this prop survived.”
Pinewood Studio bosses saw the Shark Hunter when they visited Perry Oceanographics in Florida to design the classic submersible white Lotus Esprit Bond pilots during the chase.
The Brit spy drives his car into the sea to escape a helicopter before the roadster converts into a submarine.
The up-for-sale sub then emerges from evil mastermind Karl Stromberg's underwater lair and chases them, firing torpedoes.
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