Cars That Can Move on Water and That Can Fly
10 Cars That Can Drive On Water (And 8 Cars That Can Fly)
Can you imagine a science fiction film without at least a robot, a laser rifle, or someone bulletproof? Of course not. How about super fast, flying and swimming cars? Big automakers around the world, thanks to the sudden shift in technology, have decided that they won't sleep until these cars are available in mass for the public. While they want to create modernized ones, there are also flying and swimming vehicles that existed as early as during the world war eras.
The improved motor manufacturing, lightweight batteries and engines, and of course lightweight materials, in general, are making it easy, and possible for cars to fly. The introduction of electric motors has set car designers free to explore every aspect possible to make their long-awaited dreams of flying and swimming with cars possible.
And, just to be clear, don’t confuse these cars with either airplanes or submarines. These are cars that perform equally perfect on the highways.
With some additional features like propellers, pontoons for cruising above water, and the push of the right button, the auto goes deep under the water. The amphibious cars are fitted with oxygen-supplying systems to provide the passengers with fresh breathing air.
Here are 8 examples of flying cars, alongside 10 that go perfectly under water. Some of them existed long ago during world war eras, some are fully functional today, while others are still in their prototype stages.
18 Terrafugia Transition
The Terrafugia Transition showed up for the first time in 2009 when it had its first successful flight test. Its manufacturers had problems with FAA regulations due to the weight of the car. This was of course because of the many heavy parts included in an ordinary car like bumpers and airbags.
Since 2009, the car has been taken through several stages of redesigning, remodeling and so forth, which gave it a super beautiful appearance like that of a plane.
The company performed the second flight test in 2012, which was also successful. Its wings fold in and swivel vertically when the car is cruising on the road. Terrafugia transition can go up to 110kmh on the road, and 185kmh on the air.
17 PAL-V One
The PAL-V One is a Dutch-designed flying car that brings a much-improved design and format in the Autogyro crafts. It is designed with a single engine; which means that the power is switched from tires to the propeller when you want to go up, and back to tires automatically when the craft touches the ground.
The best thing with the PAL-V One is that it doesn’t fly above 1200 meters, which gives it a free pass when it comes to the government requirement for flying cars to file a flight plan. This requirement has proved to be a huge barrier to the modern flying car makers.
16 AirMule
This craft is being created by the Israeli Company Urban Aeronautics. It looks more of a flying ambulance than a traditional car, which is designed primarily to help in search and rescue during catastrophes.
What makes it more useful is that it can fly at the same speed as a helicopter while occupying half the airspace the aircraft occupies. This means that can reach deeper in the affected areas than a chopper in impassable places.
The AirMule is remote controlled, just as we fly airplanes in video games. This could be either a curse or a blessing because this craft can be used to save lives, but in the hands of a villain, it can be a dangerous weapon.
15 AeroMobil
Have you seen how cars transform into robots in Micheal Bay’s Transformers movies? That’s how the AeroMobil transforms, just that now it’s from an automobile to an aircraft.
The car was designed with aerodynamic features, as the perfect combination of a plane and a car.
The AeroMobil takes at most 3 minutes to transform from an automobile to an aircraft. Its wings unfurl like a dragon preparing to fly, with its propellers popping out from behind. The Slovakian company behind this extraordinary creation says that they will produce over 500 of these cars, with an estimated price of $1.2 million.
14 Modular Pop.Up Flying Car
If it's Airbus we're talking about, then you're sure they're perfect in flying machines and the Modular Pop.Up Flying Car is their baby. The concept is a two-passenger pod that can either serve as an automobile, a plane, or even a train. A train?
Yes! A train. While earthbound, the pod can move by itself, with two passengers, or link up with other pods to make up a train, with many passengers. For it to fly, the pod hangs under a quad copter which makes the flying possible.
This is a real flying car that comes to ease the traffic on roads by cruising above other cars.
13 The TF-X Terrafugia Flying Car
According to the creators of this automobile-aircraft, it is a future high-end luxury car that will transforms from driving to flying mode in less than a minute. And not just that; you will not need a long runway to take off. If you have a clear stretch of about thirty meters in diameter you can take off with ease.
The TF-X Terrafugia Flying Car is designed with folding wings, making it appear less bulky than other flying cars that have their propellers welded at their tops.
The car also comes with a functioning autopilot that, once you set the course, the plane will take off, fly you to your destination, and land the craft without the need of your involvement.
12 Nirvana Autogyro GyroDrive
The Nirvana Autogyro is the creation of a 51-year-old Pavel Brezina. It’s a mini chopper that can still be used on the highway. According to Pavel Brezina, his car is the only roadable vehicle that has been certified to fly. While on the highway, the Nirvana Autogyro can cruise at a maximum speed of 25 miles per hour, and 112mh in flying mode.
It has three wheels for the road and helicopter-like blades for the air. When not flying, the blades are tied on the car from the front and back to ensure they do not start rotating and cause chaos on the road.
11 Taylor AeroCar
This is not a flying car, but more of a helicopter that can also troll. It had two blades overhead spinning in opposite directions, and four wheels; two huge ones at the middle, and two small wheels at the front and back.
A small engine of 40hp powered the flying automobile. It had a tail vane controlled with foot pedals that allowed the car to fly in all directions and hover in the air just like helicopters do. The roadable gyrocopter was designed to fly at a maximum speed of 160kmh (one hundred miles per hour).
10 Amphicar
Looking at how long it took for this car to be ready for land and water, you can tell that it was a high-end amphibious vehicle. Some of these cars are still being used in Germany and the United States today.
It was a compact convertible vehicle. Its body was designed from steel, with double seals on its doors. A rear mounted 1.2 L four-cylinder engine powers the rear wheels through a Porsche transaxle.
It has a transfer case that switches power from the wheels to the propellers once the Amphicar touches the water. The Amphicar would cruise at 70 miles per hour as an automobile and 10 miles per as a boat.
9 Scamander RRV
Engineer and designer, Peter Wheeler designed the Scamander RRP. It’s so unfortunate that he left us before realizing his amphibious vehicle dreams.
His successor improved Peter’s prototype, which was weird with blade paddles on its wheels. He, however, maintained the original shape of the car but replaced the blade paddles on the wheels with turbine-esque propellers.
The Rapid Response Vehicle is a 4x4 off-road superpower car that can go up to 120 miles per hour off the water. In both field and highway. Peter Wheeler created this thing to give people an alternative sports car besides the ones we’re used to, like the Ferraris and the rest; being free to drive as fast as you love and go anywhere you want.
8 VW Schwimmwagen
Ferdinand Porsche, the engineer who built the VW beetle created this amphibious Volks. This was after he had built the VW Kübelwagen for Germany's army during the World War II, which he later created an amphibious version of it in 1941. The Schwimmwagen was a smaller version of the 1941 design.
It was powered by a 1.2L four-cylindered engine, which also drove the single propeller that drove the car on water. Its front wheels served as rudders while on water.
The VW Schwimmwagen was heavy and slow, but a superb off-roader thanks to its good traction.
7 Rinspeed sQuba
This is the first ever electric vehicle that can drive on land, under and above water. A Swiss company called Rinspeed developed the sQuba. The car can dive as deep as 33 feet below the water surface.
Rinspeed sQuba is designed with three electric motors; one motor powers the car while on the highway while the other two are for propelling the car once it turns to a submarine. It is a zero-emitting vehicle, so it doesn’t pose any dangers to the aquatic life.
The sQuba is a multi-purpose, flexible vehicle, and it is fitted with two fender Seabob jets that help you navigate the sea while below the water surface.
6 Willys Underwater Jeep
During the second world war, one government official came up with this crazy idea: that since jeeps did so well on land, why not try them on water as well?
So, right after the war ended, the government gave the contract to Ford to manufacture 1000 of the amphibious jeeps. Ford had huge factories during that time, and so it was the only automaker eligible for the contract.
The Ford designers got busy and recreated the Ford GPW jeep with the ability to swim. It was fitted with air intake pipes that had to remain above the water surface for oxygen supply in the jeep. The exhaust, also, had to remain above water otherwise the whole vehicle would sink.
5 Dutton Surf Amphibious Car
The Dutton Surf is designed and built by Tim Dutton, one of the oldest amphibious car makers in the world. With over 50 years of experience in the auto manufacturing industry, Dutton is the only engineer remaining with full ownership of his company, as a founder.
The Dutton Surf is his third amphibious car, which adheres to all automobile regulations, except the airbags. These would explode every time you dock.
The auto/boat can do just fine both on land and in water. It has wheels for the highways and a jet propulsion unit for the sea. When entering the water, power is transferred from the wheels to the propellers by simply moving a lever.
4 Gibbs Aquada Amphibious Car
New Zealand’s Alan Gibbs commissioned Lotus to research to find out how viable an amphibious car is. One of the Jaguar XJ220 creators Neil Jenkins took part in the activity and contributed to the design of the body.
Jenkins is now the head of Gibbs Sports Amphibians. GSA announced the Aquada amphibious car in 2012.
The car is designed with retractable wheels, 165 horsepower engine to power the rear wheels, and a jet pump drive to power the vehicle on, and underwater. The Gibbs Aquada can go up to 100 miles per hour on the highway and 30mh in water.
3 Terra Wind Motorhome
It is a 42 feet long home on wheels built in September 2004 by a commercial pilot John Giljam. It cost a whopping 1.2 million dollars to get the amphibious motored home moving in water. 330 horsepower diesel engine powers the all-aluminum swimming bus. It also has two propellers and two rudders that aid in floating.
Two inflatable rafts are on either side of the bus to make it stable enough as it cruises in water. It can, however, travel in water without these pontoons. John Giljam now runs an amphibious car manufacturing business through Cool Amphibious Manufacturers International.
2 Rinspeed Splash
Rinspeed is a well-known Swiss company specialized in designing and making amphibious sports cars. In 2003, the company built the Rinspeed Splash that can go at a maximum speed of 145 miles per hour on land, and 52 mph on water.
Under 35 mph, the Splash can speed on water like any other boat. Above this speed, the car is raised 12 feet above the water surface by fold-down hydrofoils. While the wheels remain above water, a single propeller remains submerged into the water with the hydrofoils.
It is powered by a 140 horsepower duo cylinder natural gas engine – 750cc.
1 Watercar Panther
Watercar Python; the fastest amphibious vehicle the world has ever seen. The land-to-sea car is hailed from Corvette V8 engines, from LS1 to the latest 6.2L supercharged 640 horsepower engine from general motors. Dominator jet drive supplied the marine propulsion that makes it possible for the Python to accelerate from zero to 97kmh in 4.5 seconds.
The Watercar creation can reach a top speed of 160kmh on highways and 97kmh on water.
Transiting from car to boat happens as soon as you want it. The only thing you do is put the transmission in neutral, activate the jet propulsion, and press a button that raises the car wheels.
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