Scamander RRV

The Scamander RRV is a one-off amphibious prototype created by Peter Wheeler, the former owner of the British sports-car maker TVR, after he sold the company in 2005. Wheeler built it for his own interests - shooting, sailing and track driving - and called it an RRV, or "rapid response vehicle", insisting it was not a car. It was styled by Graham Browne, TVR's chief designer, and developed by a team of up to eight engineers at the old TVR factory in Blackpool. evo magazine's Harry Metcalfe gave it its first press drive in November 2008.

Design

Wheeler's brief was for a light vehicle that was fun on and off road, roomy, and able to drive itself through water at up to eight knots. To meet a weight target of about 1,100 kg, four-wheel drive was abandoned; instead the rear wheels alone are driven, on very tall 35-inch tyres originally made for 1930s Bentleys, and the planned production version would brake each driven wheel individually to act like a limited-slip differential. In the water, bolt-on paddles on the rear wheels provide propulsion; Wheeler rejected a propeller because it would need another gearbox and add weight. The body is made of foam-filled pods fixed to a central aluminium tub, built around four longitudinal tubular beams, so it cannot sink.

The driver sits centrally between two passenger seats, under a large roof that slides back under the rear bodywork instead of doors; windows in the front wheel arches help place the wheels off-road. Behind the cabin is a pick-up-style load bay, and Wheeler planned to register it as a commercial vehicle. The prototype used a 2-litre Ford Zetec engine, to be replaced by a 4.6-litre Rover V8. A remote control system was also under development so the vehicle could 'swim' out to collect its owner from a boat.

Fate

Wheeler reported a couple of orders and military interest, but he financed the project privately and it remained unfinished after his death, making production unlikely.