I’m not sure about flying cars, but a water car seems to be something a lot more people would be interested in. Well, if you’re one of those, a California-based company called WaterCar is selling this contraption called H1-Panther for $465,000. However, these are not available immediately though, you need to fill-up a form on the company’s official website and join a waitlist.
WaterCar uses Humvees purchased from the U.S. government and private individuals and converts them into H1-Panther water cars (or, water pickups, if you prefer those terms). Meaning, the availability of these depends on the existing Humvee vehicles because WaterCar doesn’t deal with AM General directly.
WaterCar says that it completely disassembles the original Humvee vehicles and rebuilds them from the ground up. The majority of heavy steel and cast-iron parts are replaced with new lightweight aluminum alloy and stainless-steel counterparts. And then, following an epoxy coating, the vehicle body is mounted on the company’s proprietary unibody/hull—which is claimed to be fabricated from aircraft-quality 6061 aluminum. Apparently, modifying a land-only Humvee into an amphibious H1-Panther takes 2,000 man-hours.
On the land, the H1-Panther is powered by a Chevy LS3 petrol engine (295 kW/395 bhp and 508 Nm/375 lb-ft), while on the water, a Mercury Bravo Two marine engine propels the Panther up to a max speed of 35 knots (65 km/h or 40 mph). The vehicle takes 20 seconds to transition into a boat and 6 seconds to plane. A 38-gallon (144 litres) fuel tank is said to offer a range of 96 miles (154 km) on water (planing speed) and 380 miles (611 km) on land.
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