London, Sept. 10 (Reuters): The “submarine car” used in the James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me sold for £550,000 at auction yesterday, less than had been expected.

The white Lotus Esprit, which transformed into a submarine during a sequence in the 1977 movie starring Roger Moore as 007, had been expected to sell for between £650,000 and £950,000, according to RM Auctions. Bidding started at £100,000 in an auction which ran live on the Internet.

Known as “Wet Nellie” on the set of the film, the fully operational submarine car was among the contents of a storage unit in Long Island, New York, which was bought by a couple in a “blind” public auction in 1989.

Although six Esprit body shells were used in filming, only one was converted into a submarine car, RM Auctions said.