It’s not every day that one gets to see a man put his car on the river and sail it on the other side, but this is not your average motorist.
Xiong Jian is a Chinese mechanic and inventor who used his knowledge and spare time to build an amphibious car, using parts from an old two-compartment vehicle and a minivan, which he constantly upgrades, Stuff reports.
“The engine of the car was in the front. When I was turning around the boat [while] on the water, some water would infiltrate into it, which is not good for the engine, so I moved it to the back of the car“, the man says. “I calculated the displacement accurately, based on the data of the auto, which is about 1 ton (2,205 lbs). The depth of immersion is 20 cm (7.9 in).“
The unusual machine, which is the polar opposite of a Red Dot design candidate, is used every day on the Zhenzi River. It can carry up to four passengers and reach speeds of over 32 km/h (20 mph), the inventor says, and can also move backwards while in the water. However, since he is constantly working on making it better, it should soon reach a maximum sailing speed of up to 40 km/h (25 mph), while becoming less noisy.
Luckily, despite his time-consuming project, Jian has the support of his wife: “It is his hobby. I should support him to do what he likes“, she says.