The Boat-Car

[Squeek]

Does anybody else see the flaw in this vehicle?!!?!

How do you get the car into the water from CAR mode.  Drive it off a cliff?  OOHHHH Go all the way downtown the the marina, drive the car into the water, then use electronics to pull the wheels into the car and spurt a motor out the back.

I'm sorry if I missed it while reading the stories, but it's just a stupid idea to me

~Squeek

[Hephaestus]

Its simple really, the car drives into the water and will still float even in car mode, the only thing that happens when it changes to boat mode is the wheels turn up in order to reduce friction and a motor deploy at the back of the car.

[Squeek]

Here's their sales ad. (I wish)

Ever stuck on a bridge during rush hour? No problem!  Just drive right off the edge when you see an opening.  On the fall, pull in your wheels and deploy your motor, and drive home!  All you need is a dock right at your house, or to move to the local marina!  

All this... for 235,000 dollars! or like a dollar a day for...many years.

~Squeek

[Tisha]

I see a whole rash of new boating accidents in the future.  am I psychic or what?

[PeacefulWarrior]

This will be the first of a number of posts I am going to make in an effort to 1) Post interesting news stories, etc for you, my astralpulse friends and 2) to attempt to push down the asinine posts that have virtually destroyed the carefree and open community that existed here only a month ago or so.
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The Boat-Car:


Bond's ride? New sports car doubles as boat
Thursday, September 4, 2003 Posted: 10:04 AM EDT (1404 GMT)


MOTORWAY, WATERWAY
Amphibious cars are not new but what makes this one different is speed.

It can move at speeds up to 100 miles-per-hour on land, and, thanks to a jet in the rear, the car can go in excess of 30 mph on water.

To achieve these water speeds, certain problems had to be overcome -- like wheels creating drag. Once the vehicle is afloat, the wheels retract and you can accelerate.  


LONDON (AP) -- Britain's newest sports car took a test drive Wednesday, zooming back and forth across the waters of the Thames River in pure James Bond style.

The Aquada can hit speeds of 100 miles an hour on land -- and once it hits water, the wheels retract into the wheel arch, jets kick in, and the car is suddenly a boat.

Once waterborne it can reach speeds of 30 miles per hour, according to Gibbs Technologies, the British firm that designed it.

Sticker shock
With a sticker price of about $235,000, the convertible has no doors in order to avoid leaks. Drivers and passengers must jump over the side to get into the car -- just like a boat.

"With this you can have a really good car on the road, and an exciting toy that can tow a water skier, that you can commute to work with, that you can go to St. Tropez with and take two girlfriends," the firm's chairman Alan Gibbs told reporters at the car's test drive on London's Thames on Wednesday.

The car is part of the Aquada Bond series, but the company couldn't say whether that is a veiled reference to James Bond and the sports-car-release-submarine that the superspy operated in the movie "The Spy Who Loved Me."

Daunting requirements
The vehicle can switch to cruising on water within seconds, and the drive mechanism switches to power a jet that propels the vehicle, according to the company.

"The design requirements for the Aquada were daunting, but the technology has delivered and demonstrates the quality of British engineering," said Gibbs, a New Zealand entrepreneur who built his first fast amphibian vehicle in 1995, before moving his company to Britain in 1999. He said the Aquada was the product of a seven-year development program and 60 newly patented technologies.

One hundred of the cars are being built and will sell at the end of this year.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/ptech/09/04/amphibious.car.ap/index.html




Car-boat would make Q proud
From Agencies
September 05, 2003
LONDON: Britain's newest sports car took a test drive yesterday, zooming across the waters of the Thames in pure James Bond style.

The Aquada can hit 160km/h on land, and once it hits water the wheels retract, jets kick in – and the car is suddenly a boat.

Once waterborne, it can reach almost 50km/h, according to Gibbs Technologies, the British firm that designed it.

The $370,000 convertible has no doors in order to avoid leaks, so drivers and passengers must jump over the side.

"With this you can have a really good car on the road, and an exciting toy that can tow a water skier, that you can commute to work with, that you can go to St Tropez with and take two girlfriends," the firm's chairman, New Zealander Alan Gibbs, said yesterday.

Like a creation of Q, Bond's backroom boffin, the car can switch to cruising on water within seconds, and the drive mechanism then powers a jet that propels the vehicle, according to the company.

No other road-legal vehicle had so far exceeded 10km/h on water, said Mr Gibbs, an entrepreneur who built his first fast amphibian vehicle in 1995. The car-boat has a range of 80km and can go in the sea or fresh water. A hundred of the cars are being built for sale at the end of this year.