While James Bond’s submarine car was merely fiction, it did inspire a real-life car that could travel on roads and underwater. Meet Rinspeed’s sQuba.
For some of us, technology is a necessity of modern life. If you’ve ever dragged an older relative into the 21st century by providing them a smartphone, Kindle, Smart TV (which they surely needed a little help with), or similar, you’ll know this all too well. Of course, technology is more of a way of life for others, and for such people, James Bond is undoubtedly an inspiration.
The iconic agent with the License to Kill across 27 movies has wielded various gadgets. From the legendary Golden Gun to the peculiar tear gas-emitting parking meter from “Goldfinger” (it’s little surprise that this one didn’t make it very far off the drawing board), 007, his allies, and his foes have had access to some of the greatest spy gear in movie history. This extends, of course, to the kinds of vehicles he’s driven.
In 2023, of course, the Lotus Esprit (the S1 first released in 1975) isn’t the most futuristic vehicle, but Bond’s classic Esprit had a unique feature: it doubled as a submarine. “The Spy Who Loved Me” was released in 1977 and featured some rather dramatic car chases in which Bond escaped beneath the water’s surface. Fantastical as the idea is, Rinspeed later developed a concept car that could do precisely this.
