North Wales man builds `The Spy Who Loved Me` Lotus Esprit submarine replica

Take two old Lotus cars, a bit of fibreglass and a lot of imagination - and you get a boat.

The designer of this remarkable vehicle is Nigel Vaughan of Nefyn (on the Llŷn Peninsula, on the North Wales coast). When the 39-year-old artist is not about his day-to-day work, he creates stunning masterpieces. When he needed a shed in his garden, for example, he succeeded to build it in the shape of a TARDIS, Doctor Who's mode of transport - reports Golwg.

It seems that it's the latest gadget that's commanding the most attention, however. After all, who would've thought that it was possible to join two cars together to make a boat? And as if he wanted to go a step further, Nigel decided to use Lotus Esprit cars.

These are the cars used by James Bond, and Ian Fleming's imagination ensured that the vehicles could traverse land and sea at the touch of a button (MI6 note: of course this was not Ian Fleming's idea as "The Spy Who Loved Me" was a wholly original script crafted 13 years after his death).

It was a little more difficult for the artist from Llŷn, but he finished it all in about 18 months at a cost of £15,000.

He said that he had a bigger interest in Lotus cars than James Bond. However, the spy's car's exploits provided the foundation for Nigel Vaughan's unique boat idea.

"I remember one of my friends bringing a small Corgi model of a Lotus Esprit to Ysgol Sarn Bach (Little Sarn School), near Abersoch, when I was a pupil there back when," he says. "I was amazed, and was delighted to see them in James Bond films."

All these thoughts were tossed into the same pot when Nigel got the chance to buy two Lotus Esprits. Because of accidents, the two were in a serious condition. Adds Nigel Vaughan: "I used the front end of one and the back of the other and joined them with fibreglass."

At first glance, he still has a car, and many were stunned when he landed on Abersoch beach during the village's Jazz Festival last week.

Inside, he left some of the car's original equpment - perhaps to further confuse passers-by. But he explained that this is only a boat, and that it depends on an average boat engine.

"This will never run on dry land again," he said. "But in the water it's completely safe, and I travel in it a lot around the Llŷn area."

Thanks to `Nid Yw'r Byd Yn Ddigon` for the alert.

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