Lotus Esprit S1 - 007, James Bond, Submarine Conversion

Hello Lotus, James Bond and Speed Champions fans,

The Lotus Esprit S1 is a sports car built by Lotus Cars from 1976 to 1978 at their Hethel, England factory. It has a rear mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout and it was featured in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me, where a car famously converted into a submarine after a road chase. The car used in the underwater scenes is nick-named "Wet Nellie".

It is a studless build in the new, 8 studs wide Speed Champions style. I wanted to create a clean model which is as accurate as possible in this small scale. I prefer the brick built solutions to keep the flexibility of the used parts in further builds, and therefore only two vehicle registration plate stickers are used.

My intent was to keep the width-length-height ratio of the real car and this size makes it possible. The model contains lots of details: for example the black stripes on the sides, door handles, detailed tail lights etc.. Maybe the most challenging one was the front and the front bumper with brick built headlights. I tried to fill every unnecessary gaps and therefore some tricky build techniques are used.

The car can be converted to submarine and the instructions shows how to do it.

In the inventory, in the pdf instructions and in the downloadable files "esprit_a21R.xml" and "esprit_a21R.csv" some hidden parts are blue, dark blue or medium blue, they may be replaced by any colors, because they are not or not so visible (for example: they are visible only in side view between the wheel  and mudguard). However, for the best result I suggest to use black or white parts in the most cases. In the downloadable files "esprit_a21R-hiddenpartsblack.xml" and "esprit_a21R-hiddenpartsblack.csv" all of these hidden parts are black. The extra parts for submarine conversion are not shown in the inventory on this page, but are included by the downloadble files "esprit_a21R-SubmarineConversion.xml" and "esprit_a21R-SubmarineConversion.csv" (except the 2pcs of trans-clear 1x6x5 panels which supports the submarine version on the pictures, because they can be replaced by many other solutions). The 2pcs of parts 25893 (Plate Round 1 x 1 with Hollow Stud and Bar on Underside) have to be exactly what they are for the best result and can be used in any color.

The model has space for two minifigures with helmets or small hairs. The instructions and parts list files do not contain the minifigures shown on the pictures.

I hope you enjoy the build and the car or submarine. Many thanks for your support!

_TLG_ (Laszlo Torma), Apr, 2024

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Purchasing instructions for this model you will get the following files:

•     High-resolution, professionally designed PDF Instructions file (for the car and for the submarine conversion) with a detailed parts list (showing quantity, color, Item No. and images of the parts)
•     Parts list in XML for Bricklink in two versions: 1) with blue, dark blue and medium blue parts (see above), 2) all blue, dark blue and medium blue parts converted to black parts
•     Detailed parts list in CSV (showing details without images) in two versions similarly to XML version
•     Extra parts for submarine conversion in XML for Bricklink
•     Extra parts for submarine conversion in CSV (showing details without images)
•     Sticker design (vehicle registration plate of Wet Nellie) in png format

NOTE: Instructions and parts list do not contain any minifigures