What Car Would Also Make A Great Or Terrible Boat?

There are two weird automotive niches that refuse to die, no matter how many times they don’t really work out: the amphibious car, and the flying car. While plenty of amphibious cars have been built, none have really sold in amazing numbers. As for flying cars, there are lots of literally sky-high concepts, but they’re seemingly always “just” two years away.

Back to the amphibious angle: Let’s say you’re in charge of the world’s next amphibious car project, but it’s like a Top Gear episode where your car-boat has to be based on an existing car. What car are you building your boat out of?

This subject popped up in my head while I was writing about the 2012 Sea Lion yesterday. There’s something a bit silly, a bit stupid, and a bit wonderful about making cars do things that cars don’t do. Jason Torchinsky and I are weirdly drawn to cars that float, even though most of them are sort of terrible as cars and worse as boats. So, let’s embrace this!

I’ve been thinking about this subject throughout much of last night. I would think that, ideally, you’d want your floating car to have some good positive buoyancy. If you don’t, you run the risk of everything going all pear-shaped like it always does for the old Top Gear trio. Shoot, some purpose-built amphibious vehicles (like the DUKW, below) sink like a rock the moment they’re swamped.

So, my car-boat would be something that’s good at floating, and maybe has a good bit of freeboard. I suppose that second one would be pretty hard, so maybe just really good door seals? Oh yeah, and then there’s the body. If you build your car-boat on a sports car, that’s a pretty tiny space to enjoy your vehicle. I could see a limo-boat being entertaining, and a convertible seems like it would be an obvious pick. Amphibious Chrysler Sebring convertible, anyone?

Alright, let’s do this. If I were building an amphibious car from an existing design, I think I’d make my boat out of a General Motors dustbuster van. I’d fill the voids in the body with tons of foam, and cut off the roof after the B-pillar. Maybe I’d strap a few pontoons to it and make it into a party barge. Or, I don’t know, maybe that’s a horrible idea!

For a crazy answer, maybe take an Autozam AZ-1, give it a Honda K20 swap plus a fiberglass hull, and have that engine run a pump jet system. Gullwing Jet Ski!

Admittedly, all of these are bad ideas [Ed note: ARE THEY? – Pete], and it’s probably a good thing I don’t have enough money to implement the ideas rattling around my head. If I did, my daily driver might be a Cessna 172 fuselage converted into a car.

But hey, it’s Hump Day, let’s have some fun and get a little weird. You’re making a new amphibious car based on a car (or truck, or van, or …) already in existence. What are you making your car-boat out of?

Top graphic image: BBC