The Hydraulic Car

The Hydraulic Car. At last, a superb example of an amphibious car using a  hydraulic control system. This car is really crazy and exudes fun, just as they should do. It is only when you look at it carefully, that you can see just how amazing the build quality has been.

This is the only amphibious car we have ever come across with hydraulic controls and that is surprising, because this is the first type of system we would consider when trying to provide drive to both propellers and wheels.

Paul (the builder) says he never had the chance to examine an amphibious car but simply got ‘fired up’ after seeing a video of an ‘Amphicar’.

So what do you get when you mix thousands of hours of build time, an experienced racing car builder, the mighty 2300cc engine lump from a Mustang, many thousands of dollars and the hydraulic parts of an excavator?

The answer is a great amphibious fun car that Paul took on parades in his home town of Norwalk, Connecticut.

Hydraulics’ are normally used to convert high rev’ power from a low powered engine into fantastic amounts of normally slow but powerful torque. This car won’t do more than 20 miles per hour but with no suspension of any kind, even that can cheer your dentist up if you ride over too many bumps. On the water it was apparently a bit slow but almost certainly due to the fact that the drive went out through two large and slow props instead of one small faster turning prop.

Not sure how it came out of the water but with drive to only one rear wheel, it would probably have been a lively and dirty team effort if there were muddy conditions!

But what a fantastic quality custom ground up build by this experienced car builder. The engine bay is magnificent, with special customisations for the hydraulic take off points and exhaust pipe layouts are almost artistic. The wiring is also really detailed and first class. This exhibit is a must see for the pure fun of the thing and the lessons it can teach relating to hydraulic controls and build quality.