Getting a shipping container could be a very valuable move, helping to elevate businesses that want to open premises to the public but do not have the capital to rent or buy a permanent space.
That is why pop-up cafes and restaurants, stores and bars can be seen in cities all over the UK these days, giving upcoming enterprises the opportunity to make more money by being able to reach a greater market at a fraction of the price.
However, this is not the only way shipping container owners can make money from their units.
Some have been known to buy mystery containers, without any knowledge of the contents inside, and sell these items on.
For one lucky person, this translated into an impressive profit of £615,922.
The American contractor first laid his hands on the unit in 1989, paying $100 (£78). Unbeknown to him, inside the container was a Lotus Espirit.
The white sports car with no wheels happened to be the submarine vehicle from the James Bond movie ‘The Spy Who Loved Me’.
Doug Redenius, co-founder of the Ian Fleming Foundation, which gave the car its authentication, told ABC News: “They had no idea how valuable their discovery was.”
It was thought the car, which featured in the 1977 flick with Roger Moore, cost over $100,000 to make, thanks to its special feature of contracting wheels to convert into a submarine in the water.
Mr Redenius said the ‘Wet Nellie’, as it was called on the set of the movie, has become “one of the most famous James Bond cars ever”.
In fact, this was not the only Lotus Espirit used to make the iconic scene when James Bond drives the car off a cliff into the sea after a mountain chase. There were eight in total, with at least two being used for the chase scene, three for underwater footage, and more when it was converted into a submarine.
The good news for the owner of the Espirit was that he managed to sell it at auction in September 2013. Although it did not reach its expected figure of $1 million, it managed to secure a bid of $997,000.
And the winning bidder happened to be none other than billionaire Elon Musk.
The owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, and Tesla, told of his excitement to own a piece of cinema history.
“It was amazing as a little kid in South Africa to watch James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me drive his Lotus Espirit off a pier, press a button and have it transform into a submarine underwater,” he said.
“I was disappointed to learn that it can’t actually transform,” the businessman added, stating: “What I’m going to do is upgrade it with a Tesla electric powertrain and try to make it transform for real.”
Even though the likelihood of buying a mystery container with contents as impressive as this and then selling it to one of the richest people in the world is extremely rare, many people benefit financially from converting their shipping container for business uses.
