Dobbertin HydroCar

The Dobbertin HydroCar was the follow-up to Rick Dobbertin's Surface Orbiter. He designed and built it himself over eight to nine years, putting in more than 18,000 hours of his own labour, and sold his earlier projects to pay for it. It first appeared as an artist's rendering on the cover of Popular Mechanics in January 2004, and later featured in Forbes and in Monster Garage publications.

Design

The HydroCar changes shape between land and water. On the road, its full-length articulating sponsons are raised and serve as the car's fenders. In the water, air bags lower them by about 7.5 inches (19 cm), turning the car into a tunnel-hulled boat within seconds, while the axles are drawn up and doors close over the wheel wells. The centre body is built around a 304 stainless-steel space frame and roll bar. The sponson frames are 6061 aluminium, and the whole car is skinned in 5086 marine-grade aluminium and filled with buoyancy foam. Removable auxiliary sponsons widen it from 8 ft to about 10 ft 4 in.

Power comes from a 572 cubic-inch all-aluminium Chevrolet V8 that produces 762 hp. It drives through a 4L80-E four-speed automatic and a gear-driven Atlas transfer case, which sends power either to the front wheels on land or to an Arneson ASD-6 surface drive with a six-blade stainless propeller afloat. Both can be engaged together for launching and landing. The rear axle is not driven but can be steered electrically, so the car can turn tightly or 'crab' sideways. The car is 22 ft 4.5 in (6.82 m) long and weighs about 8,500 lb (3,860 kg).

Testing

The HydroCar is titled in New York State as a custom-made boat. By about 2010 it had been test-launched four times. Each launch led to changes, including extra buoyancy in the bow and a different propeller. On the fourth attempt it came close to planing, and Dobbertin hoped it would eventually exceed 60 mph on the water. Lack of money then led him to offer it for sale as a collector's piece rather than a fully developed vehicle.