The nation of Cuba, where they’ve had to make do with classic Detroit iron on the roads for so long, has done it again. Of course, the Coast Guard nabbed 'em 20 miles off Key West.
The vehicle in question appears to be a stretched 1948 Ford.
What’s more, this has happened before. Twice. Both vehicles were fully amphibian. The mechanical engineer who devised the carboat scheme is now living in asylum in Costa Rica, but his know-how has obviously been passed on in Cuba.
If there were any justice, the guy would be let into the U.S. as a custom car artist, and would make a fortune.
I agree. If the guy wanted to be a custom car artist, he could do very well. I’m sure he could easily get a job as a qualified mechanic. It seems rather unsporting to dash all of that effort. Maybe he should have used a different shade of blue? (Not that it would matter, with radar and all; but it wouldn’t hurt.)
The other amphibians were sunk. They really should start saving these things and putting them in a museum.
Bastards! Guys this talented should be given an escort into US waters!
Actually, there was a thread about that guy a while back and it turns out he’s made it into the States (and now lives here). He traveled overland from Costa Rica to the US. He said that his one regret is that he wasn’t able to sail up to the beach and then drive up on land.
I particularly like the fact that the Coasties wanted to sink the floating '51 Chevy pickup as a “navigational hazard,” only to discover that wouldn’t go under even after being shot several times. They finally made the builder tell them how to scuttle her.
At yesterday’s interception the Coasties arrived in a rubber raft and started handing out lifejackets to the Cubans. American irony at work.
Late word from the NBC station in Miami that the vehicle is actually a 1949 Mercury, and that when the Coast Guard approached, the occupants could be seen rolling up the windows.
I’ll eat my hat if they’ve figured out a way to make that sucker submerge…
Yeah, I was skeptical myself. '49 was the year Ford and Merc both went to the slabsided body. This stretch taxi has fenders.
I’m curious as to whether the stretch configuration was an option with FoMoCo or whether some custom coachmaker was doing them. I do know of a polka bandleader in the Midwest who used a stretched '36 Ford as his band bus.
