One of the most famous James Bond cars, the submarine Lotus Esprit, will be auctioned for the first time in September.

The auction car is the only fully functioning version of the white Lotus Esprit that was used for underwater sequences in the 1977 007 film The Spy Who Loved Me, starring Roger Moore in the central role.

RM Auctions says the submersible Lotus is the only one of six body shells that was capable of being fully operational under water, ‘steered’ by a former US Navy Seal using levers and motorised propellers.

The car is said to have cost the equivalent of half a million dollars at the time to build.

In the movie, Bond’s Lotus Esprit is pursued by an enemy helicopter on the winding roads of Corsica before accelerating off a ramp and into the sea.