You probably don’t want to cruise this to Bermuda, but if you want to do the Great Loop in a hurry, and not have to worry about how you’ll drive to the grocery store for supplies every night, take a look at the new Dobbertin HydroCar. With a 762-hp engine, it’s supposed to top out at 125 mph on land and 60 mph on the water, although it’s still so new it hasn’t been tested yet.
The brainchild of Rick Dobbertin, who spent most of his career building fast cars (he won Hot Rod Magazine’s Street Machine of the Year Award in 1982), the new amphibious vehicle has articulated sponsons that can be raised or lowered. In the raised position, all four wheels are in contact with the ground; in the lowered position, they form a tunnel-like hull for the boat.
The new HydroCar is basically a cross between a GT performance car and a speedboat. The central body consists of marine-grade 5086 aluminum for frames inside the sponsons. It’s powered by a Bill Mitchell Racing V8 with a four-speed Quadzilla transmission. Behind the transmission, an Atlas gear-driven transfer case sends power forward to the front wheels on land, and back to the prop in the water. The HydroCar has pneumatic suspension and four-wheel power disc brakes.
There are two seats in the cockpit and the dashboard has a strong aviation input, with 45 control switches, 16 LED monitoring systems and 25 VDO gauges. Three hydraulic levers control the up and down movement of the sponsons, axles and doors over the wheel wells.
If you’re interested in buying the Dobbertin HydroCar, it will be auctioned by Worldwide Auctioneers on Sept. 1. Read more:
https://silodrome.com/amphibious-hydrocar/
