Gibbs To Set Up Shop In Detroit, Finally Build Aquada Amphibious Car

After the announcement earlier this month that Saleen is teaming with Gibbs for development and manufacturing work on their amphibious Gibbs Aquada, news comes down Gibbs is setting up their corporate offices in the Detroit Suburb of Auburn Hills. After a ten year development cycle, a million man hours of work, and $100 million invested in the project, the final steps are being taken to put the automotive platypus into production. More »

Gullwinged, Amphibious Sports Car Is China's Best Creation Since Gong Li

The amphibious sports car isn't a new idea, there's the Rinspeed sQuba and Gibbs Aquada to name just two, but we have to give credit to the creator of this Chinese p***y magnet yellow amphicar for the addition of gullwing doors, ideal for when you're chilling on the Yangtze. We're fairly sure this is a custom job and not a Tang Hua prototype. More »

Saleen Developing Gibbs Aquada And Quadski For American Market

Saleen will be conducting manufacturing design and engineering work required to bring the Gibbs Aquada and Quadski to the North American market. Gibbs plans to introduce the models here late in 2009 or early in 2010. In addition to working on production processes for the amphibians, Saleen is also looking at ways to improve their performance. More »

The Amphibious Platypus Jeep

If you're hankering for a wheeled amphibious vehicle with assault potential but don't want something as big as the DUKW, perhaps this custom Jeep will do. Built by the folks at the Amphibious Vehicle Design Studio, the Platypus Jeep is a paragon of on-road and in-water capabilities. The floating four-wheeler runs with a turbo diesel engine and is capable of 110 KPH on the road and 10.5 KPH in the water. The hull is designed to work in wave heights up to 1.5 meters and bottoms with a slight 0.75 meter draft depth. We can already picture ourselves storming the beaches of Sleeping Bear Dunes. A full list of specs below, for some reason. More »

Detroit Auto Show: Amphibious Tang Hua Detroit Fish

We practiced our love with the Tang Hua Book of Songs earlier, and now for the less phallic, more idiosyncratic Tang Hua Detroit Fish. "Detroit Fish" would be an odd name for a car if it weren't for the fact that this fish can evidently swim. Yes indeed, this is the only amphibious crossover at the Detroit Auto Show. While this might not be the most popular segment at the moment, Tang Hua's marketing team has an ingenious strategy - sell one to President George W. Bush for use on his Texas ranch. Tang Hua wants the renowned environmentalist to help kick start its US product blitz with some top notch product placement. More »

ZIL 49061!

When most Westerners think of ZIL, we think of the vehicles that carried top Party apparatchiks to their weekend dachas. But ZIL also has also constructed some fantastical trucks — for example, the scary-crazy 2906 screw-motivated machine, as well as this stonking amphibious 49061, a six-by-six that has undoubtedly run down many a piddly ZAZ. Heck, it might've even sunk a few destroyers, for all we know. More »

Fly, Drive or Sail with the Ramphos Amphibious Trike

Putting the go-anywhere abilities of SUVs to shame, the Italian made Ramphos S can leave dry land behind, taking to the air or sea with equal aplomb. Powered by an optional Smart car engine, the trike has up to 78 bhp and features folding wings, making it road legal in Europe. Taking off or landing from either the ground or water is as simple as in any ultralight and going from boat to car mode is as easy as engaging the driven wheels and driving up a boat ramp. Prices start around $34,000. More »

There's Lots of Room for You on the Bandvagn 202

You can grumble and moan that it's only got ninety horsepower, but that doesn't stop the Volvo Bandvagn 202 from being irrepressably awesome. First of all, it's Swedish. Secondly, it's steered by hydraulic rams that bend the vehicle in the middle. Thirdly, it exhibits less ground pressure than Sven Schmoe on a pair of Rossignols. And lastly, and most importantly, the goldurned contraption is fully amphibious! Although it went out of production in '81 and has since been replaced in service by the Hägglunds Bandvagn 206, the 202 is the obvious choice for the go-anywhere man who appreciates modern girls and modern rock 'n' roll. More »

The Ride of the Amphibious Mariner: The Seep

The albatross began with his vengeance early with this one. While the VW-based Schwimmwagen was a largely successful amphibous vehicle and its larger sister the DUKW entertained a measure of success at Normandy and remains affectionately remembered today, the Ford GPA was simply not the cat's pajamas. In low-water fording situation, the standard Willys machine often did better, and the Seep suffered a fate not dissimilar from a painted ship upon a painted ocean. It wasn't exactly the answer to a question nobody asked, but it was maybe at best a hard C response to what at the time was a rather pressing query. Bruce, large Amercan truckage, 1. Seep, not so much. – Davey G. Johnson More »

Must... Have... Amphicar...

My dream of scoring a cherry Simca Vedette with Ford Cammer 427 power has been brushed aside. Obliterated, actually. All it took was one glance at this nicely restored '63 Amphicar on eBay. With an Amphicar, you drive to the beach... and then keep going into the water! Hot damn! Of course, there's the somewhat troubling issue of that $45,000 high bid, with reserve not yet met. Hmm, what's a kidney worth? – Murilee Martin More »

DAF vs. FAF: Would You Rather be a Platypus or a Shark?

Not so fast, Loverman. I will concede that the DAF Swim Car is a rather impressive piece of machinery. In theory. Everyone knows that amphibious cars barely work. How many Sherman Duplex Drives ended up at the bottom of the English Channel before they reached Normandy? But a 2CV on the other hand — a 2CV can be turned into a speedboat, as Dear Leader Spinelli pointed out long ago. And it's a short jump from a 2CV to a FAF, not unlike the minor leap from great ape to DAF defendant. Music! – Davey G. Johnson More »

DAF vs. FAF: The Surrender Monkeys Lose: The DAF Swim Car!!

We're not even entirely sure what we're looking at. But we do know DAF has check-mated old Johnson and his French non-hackers. This dear friends, is the DAF Swim Car. It is an off-roader. It is a convertible. It has a propeller. It has four-wheel steering via a second driver who faces backward. It floats. It looks the same coming or going. The engine cover can probably be used as a picnic table. It makes Davey say, "Uncle." It kicks the cheese-eaters in the nads. Make the jump for more photos. – Jonny Lieberman More »

DIY Chinese Car: Mr. Hu's Amphibious SUV

While we're waiting for China-built cars to land on American shores, farmers in rural China are taking matters into their own hands. This, from Virtual China: More »

Fiat Afloat: Panda 4X4 Attempts English Channel Crossing

Want to see a Panda swim? (No, LingLing, get down from that diving board.) Earlier today, a modded Fiat Panda 4X4 left Folkestone, Kent in the UK bound for the French coast — in an attempt to cross the English Channel. The car, wrapped in a set of water wings fit for a car, isn't an ordinary Panda, it's the Terramare 4, a model that's been fitted with a waterjet propulsion system and other marine-ready tweaks by a former engineer of the iconic, Chevrolet-powered Iso Rivolta of the 1960s. After arriving in France, the engineer, Maurizio Zanisi, plans to drive the rest of the way home to Milan, though may want to leave the pontoons on in traffic, at least until he gets his land wheels. More »

DOD to Evaluate Gibbs Amphibious Vehicles

The Department of Defense is looking south of the equator for new amphibious, personalized-type landing craft, having signed a development contract with New Zealand-based Gibbs Technologies to evaluate mil-spec versions of their Aquada, Humdinger and Quadski vessel/vehicles. We're wondering if the SEAL-carrying Aquada variant will carry a large set of speakers that blare the "Miami Vice" theme to strike fear in the hearts of beachfront men with RPGs. Meanwhile, we still want a DUKW with a GMC MotorHome body grafted on. More »

Four Wheels By Land, A Jet Ski By Sea

Although this isn't the same water-car as the CAMI Spyder we showed off last week with the 400 hp Chevy LS2 engine — it's definetly a good video of what that wet-and-wild speed demon could do. Anyone know anything else about this "found on YouTube" safe-when-wet car/boat? More »

Surf and Turf: The CAMI Hydra Spyder

From their name, there's no mistaking their intentions. Cool Amphibious Manufacturers International — makers of the TerraWind motorhome — has worked up a new car/land prototype — the 2006 Hydra Spyder. With a body of fiberglass, over flotation foam for buoyancy, the 3,330-lb. front-driver is powered by a 400-hp Chevrolet LS2 V8, making it powerful enough to pull a waterskier or buzz a cove of picnickers. Its retractable front and rear suspension system allows switching from land to water faster than a steakhouse diner can crack open a lobster tail. No word on price, but the company says if you order now they can have one ready in six months. Plastic bib not included. More »

Water Water Everywhere: The Dutton Commander S2

Oh sure — this'll end well. An amphibious jeep based on a 1996 Suzuki Samurai? We'd rather brave the seas atop a screen door pulled behind Lyndon Johnson's old Amphicar. Now, now, that was Tim Dutton's old-model amphibious vehicle — and he's been at it as long as we've been alive. The UK's AutoExpress water-tested one of his newer models, the Commander S2, which is based on a Suzuki Jimny (an updated Samurai sold in the UK) and has a monocoque structure made of glass reinforced plastic (GRP). So how does it fare on water? Better than a screen door, it would seem. More »

2CV Nautiques!

We had at least three French Navy jokes locked and loaded on this one, but the Paris motor show is coming up later this year, and we don't want any offended party to spit in our amuses bouche. It seems converting old Citroen 2CVs into competitive race boats, or 2CV turbo nautiques, is all the rage in Anjou. These little buggers go around 60 mph on water, and one even crossed the English Channel in 1989, only to be turned back in Southampton by a customs agent with a particularly weak stomach. More »

An Amphibious Concept: The SeaLegs Anaconda

The g'day folks at Gizmag bring us another amphibious concept vehicle. This time, it's one designed by a marine-design student from New Zealand, who created the futuristic SeaLegs Anaconda for possible rescue and recreational uses. The SeaLegs — whose inadvertent reference to imitation crab meat makes us kinda queasy — has yet to see the prototype stage, but the designer appears optimistic that it might get that kind of support, and hopefully in time for "Baywatch 2015." More »

Shore to Ship: The Amfibidiver Amphibious Submarine

We'd imagine that the worst thing about being a deep sea diver, aside from the whole brain bubbles issue, would be finding a boat crew willing to take our tank-breathing asses from dry land all the way out to the deep. Why wait for a bus when you can invent a car, was what one Belgian dive enthusiast and inventor must have been thinking when he created the Amfibidiver, a personal amphibious, submersible watercraft. The boat can drive itself off its trailer, down the road, into the sea, out to a dive spot and down under the water, to cruise or act as a base station for divers, then up and back to shore as needed. The only thing it can't do is talk a bunch of crap about how peaceful, life-affirming and soul-enriching being down there is. Only humans can do that. More »

Chinese Amphibious Assault: The Roadawg

Chrysler's Chinese Jeep-building partner, Beijing Jeep — maker of several amphibious vehicles — has sold the marketing rights to a line of off-roaders the company recently showed at the Bejing motor show. The buyer, a company called Rodedawg International Industries, Inc. aims to distribute the amphibious 4x4 off-road vehicles, branded "Rodedawg" (we would have gone with "Surf and Turf") to a worldwide audience of sportsmen, farmers and, possibly accidential sailors. Once only used by the Chinese military, the Rodedawg, the company says, would be ideal for border patrol agents patroling Rio Grande river as well as civilian use, and will have a price point of around $50,000. A marketing blitz is planned, with demo models slated to appear in airports and shopping malls. And, we'd imagine, boat shows. More »

The Sherman DD, America's Floating Tank

We've been inside, around, and on top of a Sherman tank. Despite the fact that plenty of tanks before and after were heavier, the Sherman's still an ominous beast. So how to make one float? Give it a big collar filled with air, seal the lower hull and stick a prop on the back. Design to provide amphibious infantry support to invasion forces, the DD's didn't do well in rough seas, and they fared especially poorly at Omaha Beach. Still, the fact that they actually made the damn thing work is pretty impressive in and of itself. More »

Break Like The Wind: Terra Wind

Man, this site rules so much that it's hard to really know where to start with it. Ever since we saw a parade of Amphicars tool down the Sacramento River, we've been smitten with the idea of amphibious vehicles. John and Julie Giljam founded Cool Amphibious Manufacturers International out of a frustration that they couldn't find non-military-surplus amphibious vehicles for their tour company. Now they've got an amphibious RV, a Ford Excursion-based yacht tender, and an LS2-powered amphibious sports car in their lineup, as well as their original design, the Hydra Terra. We've seen the Terra Wind on TV, and the thing is simply mind-boggling. More »