Corgi James Bond Lotus Esprit (1977)
When thinking about geeky objects that made an impression on me, I struggled to think of what could be the moment that I became a geek.
1977 was definitely the year the world changed for me. So much happened, but the first instance of true geekdom involved James Bond.
I didn’t realise it at the time, but my parents had nerd tendencies. Maybe the term should be geek-adjacent. Nerd enablers.
My mum introduced me to Doctor Who, as she was a fan of Jon Pertwee from his comedies, but she also had a complete collection of Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels - a collection I still have now. She was always an enthusiastic reader, and had a complete Agatha Christie collection too (kinda wish I still had that).
My dad could be just as enthusiastic when it came to some fandoms, but it wasn’t quite so obvious. It just crept to the surface when he got really invested, something that would be most evident in the hunt for a Darth Vader helmet in the following year or two.
However, they both were supportive, and liked introducing me to cool things. Many of which will appear on this list. From the comics that were subscribed to at the local newsagents that introduced me to the worlds of Spider-Man, Captain America, and Doctor Strange, to the beginning of a lifetime obsession with Star Wars.
Bonding with my Parents
My parents liked movies and TV. I guess that’s where I got it from. I have distinct memories of being taken to the cinema as a child. My earliest memory of this was being taken to see The Three Musketeers, the 1973 Richard Lester movie that starred Michael York and Oliver Reed. It was good swashbuckling fun, but I must have only been about six years old so it didn’t really have much of an impact on me.
The next cinema trip was The Man With the Golden Gun. It came out around Christmas 1974, so I must have seen it in 1975 towards the end of its run. Cinema trips were always a big deal and usually on quieter days for the movies. My mother was paralysed from the waist down by polio as a child, so moving around wasn’t easy, but thanks to metal callipers she could walk about. Add to this that the local cinema was fifteen miles away in the city, a place my dad didn’t really enjoy driving, you realise that the movie had to be something really special for them to venture out to the cinema.
I remember sitting on the back seat of the car, a big estate car so that it could carry my mother’s wheelchair, and asking my dad where we were going. My dad had a wicked sense of humour, and for the whole journey (what seemed like forever, but was actually only about 45 minutes) he insisted that we were going to see Gary Glitter. A joke that has aged particularly badly looking back on it now…
We entered the cinema - I was still confused as to what we were going to see - and my mum had to make her way up the many stairs to the screen itself. (Something that would put a pause in her cinema attendance in years to come, until cinemas became more wheelchair friendly). And, then, on came The Man With The Golden Gun. My mum was suitably enthralled - not only did she love James Bond movies and books, but it also starred Christopher Lee, and she was also a big fan of his Hammer movies.
I was hooked from that opening sequence in the funhouse arena Scaramanga had created. Of course, I’d not seen a Bond film before, so had no idea of the relevance of the dummy at the end of that sequence, but I soon caught up. It was great, and we discussed our favourite parts on the way home in the car. Of course, at this time I must have been about seven years old, so I just liked the car chases, the action, and the gadgets. A lot of the plot was lost on me, but it was great.
Cars & Gadgets
As I mentioned at the start, the real revelation of both mine and my parents’ geekdom really comes in 1977. We had another cinema trip between to see Disney’s The Rescuers, but it was probably late 1977 when the next James Bond movie, The Spy Who Loved Me, became quiet enough at the cinema to warrant a trip to the movies.
I was older and wiser, and knew a bit more about Bond by then. My mother had told me all about the books, telling me stories about how the plan was to kill Bond off at the end of the first book (something I believed for years - I don’t know if this is true), and letting me watch Bond movies on TV. After all, they were (and on some channels still are) the traditional bank holiday movie on TV.
The Spy Who Loved Me was more over the top, more guns, gadgets, girls, and introduced Jaws, the legendary Bond villain with the steel teeth. However, the standout moment in the movie was the introduction of Bond’s new car, the Lotus Esprit. It was cool, white, and best of all, could turn into a submarine when necessary.
It was so darn cool. I could see my dad’s eyes light up at the moment it dove off of the pier and the fins came out. And that’s when the hunt began…
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| Still from The Spy Who Loved Me, with the Lotus diving into the water |
We left the cinema and dad got it into his head that we needed to buy the Corgi James Bond Lotus Esprit right there and then. Dad always had a thing for toy cars, collecting vintage cars and even those partwork James Bond cars right up until he died. We tried shop after shop in the city, but alas, no sign. We started the journey home, even stopping at a couple of tiny independent toy shops on the way, but still nothing.
Dad tried a few more shops over the next couple of weeks, eventually coming to the conclusion that we’d missed the opportunity and they’d sold out everywhere. He came home one day from work with the Corgi Stromberg Jet Ranger helicopter, like the one piloted by Caroline Munro in the scene, but I could tell dad was a little disappointed.
Swapsies
Remember the old days of being at school and swapping stuff? Trading cards, stickers, even toys. I remember a friend of mine called Darren had the Lotus Esprit, and he’d already become bored of it, and offered to swap it for something of mine. I honestly can’t remember what I swapped. I do remember he was slightly obsessed with the “Little Big Man” I had, Palitoy’s miniature version of Action Man… it may have been that. Anyway, swap done, I took the incredibly battered and bashed up Lotus home and my parents were suitably confused and slightly concerned.
I do remember there was a phone call, and Darren’s mother came around with him, and we told both of our respective parents that neither of us had stolen anything off of the other, it was a swap, we were both happy with the arrangement.
Of course, dad wasn’t happy with that. The Lotus I’d gained was very beaten up. No box, some of the missiles were missing, and the fins had a tendency to pop out when you least expected it.
The Hunt Is Over
Finally, many, many month later, long after the movie finished its run in the cinema, dad managed to get a pristine and new Lotus Esprit from one of our local stores.
Thus ends the story of the first of the 100 Geeky Objects that really define my sad, little, nerdy life. It’s strange, but I loved that car, loved that movie, but the enthusiasm my dad showed trying to find it made it more special and certainly more memorable. I think I still have it somewhere, though the missiles are long since lost, and while it has the box, I don’t think the inner cardboard with the submarine printed on it, or the black plastic clips that kept it in place have survived. And I don’t think the little 007 sticker on the bonnet survived either. In my pre-teen head I probably wondered why a spy would advertise their presence on their own car.
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