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Autopia Planes, Trains, Automobiles and the Future of Transportation

WaterCar Python Offends All 5 Senses on Land And Water

  • By Keith Barry Email Author
  • October 9, 2009  | 
  • 2:27 pm  | 
  • Categories: Autopia WTF? Dept., Cool Cars, Marine

py

A California company has combined a Corvette with a luxury speedboat and thrown in some jet ski to create a holy trinity of awesomeness it calls the WaterCar Python.

For around $170,000, you can pick up a Python rolling chassis and install a General Motors LS series engine of your choosing — from a used LS1 to the same mind-bendingly powerful LS9 found in the Corvette ZR1. Choose that level of insanity and WaterCar estimates the engine and transaxle installation should run an additional $30 to $50K.

Once installed, the Python will make short work of your trip to the boat launch with an average 0-60 time of 4.5 seconds. Once you get to the yacht club, stun your high society friends by driving the Python straight into the water, pressing one button to retract the wheels and another to start the jet. You’ll be gliding on a bright blue highway in seconds. Far from a glorified Amphicar, this baby can do 60 mph on the water.

In addition to being one of the absolute coolest toys we’ve ever seen, we can imagine high-speed police chases in L.A. might get a bit more interesting if suspects choose a Python as their getaway car.

On land, the Python is a custom-built hot rod that looks like a cross between a Chevy Avalanche and a Corvette. Out on Lake Havasu, where you just know one of these will show up, it’s a 20 foot luxury boat appointed with a polished wood dashboard and a leather wraparound bench seat — just like the Chris Craft you keep at your house in the Hamptons. Sadly, air conditioning, an automatic transmission and a hardtop are not currently available.

We’re especially amused by the dual set of safety and regulatory guidelines that apply to an amphibious motor vehicle. Headlamps and turn signals are to be used on land but green and red nautical lights are for use on the water. Not only do owners of the Python need to register their vehicle as both a car with license plates and a boat with marine stickers, but special amphibious vehicle insurance must be purchased unless owners want to buy both a car and boat policy.

On paper, the Python appears to be twice as fast on the water than its closest competitor, the Gibbs Aquada. We wonder how long it will be before someone smashes Sir Richard Branson’s record of crossing the English Channel in an amphibious automobile that he set in his Aquada back in 2004.

Photos: WaterCar Python.

py1py2py3pyint

Tags: Exotics
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  • Posted by: TDiddy | 10/9/09 | 4:11 pm

    I’ve got a great dual-purpose description for this dual-purpose machine… FUGLY!!!

    Why oh why did this have to be made? I looks like a Vette humped a Ram pickup on top of a boat. They couldn’t have come up with a better looking design?

    Holy shit I can’t remember the last time that I was so upset by a hideous vehicle. Maybe the Aztec?

  • Posted by: TDiddy | 10/9/09 | 4:13 pm

    I think that crossing a Vette with a truck with a boat, deserves a kick in the nuts. Actually buying one deserves several hours of unrelenting nut hoofing.

  • Posted by: TDiddy | 10/9/09 | 4:16 pm

    Oh, and for $170K I’ll buy a better car and a better boat, and even a better truck to tow it with. Jesus fuck that’s stupid!

  • Posted by: czhalxuk | 10/9/09 | 4:24 pm

    Agreed. This walking midlife crisis needs a good thump in the junk for a few reasons.

  • Posted by: johnny1019 | 10/9/09 | 4:25 pm

    Arizona plates on that orange one…

  • Posted by: photoprinter | 10/9/09 | 5:32 pm

    Agreed! This is one stupid, UGLY vehicle.

  • Posted by: photoprinter | 10/9/09 | 5:35 pm

    At least the Aguada had some style.

  • Posted by: nclined | 10/9/09 | 6:09 pm

    I have to agree with all of these comments… let the “nut hoofing” commence. How can someone afford to buy a.. a… a redneck abortion that costs more than my house. Could you imagine if say you took a client on this truck-o-potomus?

  • Posted by: kbeez | 10/9/09 | 6:11 pm

    Nice TDiddy. Love the first photo. The proud owner of this gem is well on his way to getting weapons-grade herpes from the Havasu groupies in the back. Quite frankly, he deserves it for piloting this thing. That’ll do pig….

  • Posted by: Espousal | 10/9/09 | 6:17 pm

    bahahaha if I had that kind of cash to throw around, I’d get one

  • Posted by: driverguy7 | 10/9/09 | 7:53 pm

    If one was wealthy, like 9 figures and higher,AND lived on Guam or Phillipines, or someother “tsunami prone” island nation, and might be swept away at any time,then dropping 200k for one of these would make sense…

  • Posted by: luucy | 10/10/09 | 2:51 am

    Too intrepid

  • Posted by: Vexxarr | 10/10/09 | 2:55 am

    Well I’ll be damned. It DOES look like a cross between an Avalanche and a Corvette.

  • Posted by: Johanna | 10/10/09 | 5:10 am

    @Espousal….. Well,your’e just proof there IS one borne every minute…..

  • Posted by: ccbeeno | 10/10/09 | 8:36 am

    Wow that is like the coolest amphibius I have ever seen!

    RT
    http://www.true-privacy.net.tc

  • Posted by: DHracer | 10/10/09 | 9:47 am

    Holy cow, that’s some ugly piece of bullcrap! Btw. I doubt that the old wig-head in the first pic will catch much of a herpes unless his strapped savings leave him some change for a pack of Viagra.

  • Posted by: Shantyhag | 10/10/09 | 12:24 pm

    Very cool, but where are the seatbelts? Can it be street legal without them? How about airbags?

  • Posted by: necro144 | 10/10/09 | 1:52 pm

    dudes. i think we’re missing the point here if we’re focusing on car design for an amphib’. check the babes. check the awesomeness. check all boats being waaay uglier than a sweet ocean-going pickup.

  • Posted by: daren_gray | 10/10/09 | 8:51 pm

    Let me get this straight… These cars are ugly, overpriced, impractical, and likely get something like two miles to the tank and you think this *WON’T* sell in the United States?
    .
    The top photo tells the entire story, BTW. This is a vehicle for floating around Lake Havasu, or Galveston, or Miami, or Ft. Lauderdale or basically anywhere in the United States where redneck nouveau riche get together on their daddy’s credit and yell “wooo-hoooo” with their tits flapping in the breeze.
    .
    This vehicle will sell millions in the states.

  • Posted by: daren_gray | 10/10/09 | 8:54 pm

    The two guys in the front seat are like fifty.
    .
    The four hot chicks in the back are prolly twenty.
    .
    I’d wager the market for this vehicle are zoo crew morning DJs, porn producers, and CEOs of energy drink manufacturers. This is definitely a compensation-wagon for when your pecker stops working without the aid of batteries and hydraulics.

  • Posted by: bilbawbaggins | 10/11/09 | 6:35 am

    Holy fuck, that’s one fugly machine. I’d rather have Jeremy Clarkson’s Toyboata pickup…

  • Posted by: bilbawbaggins | 10/11/09 | 6:37 am

    Might sell well to Somali pirates though…

  • Posted by: BongoJoe | 10/11/09 | 11:26 am

    Reminds me of Squidbillies:

    Early Cuyler’s “Truck-Boat-Truck”

    Yeeehaw!

  • Posted by: koolass | 10/11/09 | 2:12 pm

    When I pee gold I will run you over in this thing.

  • Posted by: Wetpixels | 10/11/09 | 3:38 pm

    Ummm.

  • Posted by: kr_metal | 10/12/09 | 12:05 am

    The Rinspeed guy already made something like this that looks A LOT better. (google it up).

  • Posted by: barnaclebob | 10/12/09 | 6:43 am

    You gotta love red-necks. Those girls in the back are their sisters.

  • Posted by: yogiman | 10/12/09 | 11:53 am

    It looks like they have Cadillac-ed the SEEP Amphibious jeep of WWII.Last I heard you could buy one for fifty dollars still in the box.

  • Posted by: timlfrench | 10/12/09 | 1:45 pm

    “Take it down Jimmy, take it HHRRUHGH down…”

  • Posted by: leonhart423 | 10/12/09 | 5:10 pm

    The picture of the guys in the red speed boat pointing at this thing is kinda funny … lets try adding some captions to it like “Dammit grandpa drove his truck into the bay again …”

  • Posted by: leonhart423 | 10/12/09 | 5:15 pm

    Not to mention the length of this thing says something about the buyer’s compensation …

  • Posted by: roaddrvr43 | 10/12/09 | 6:20 pm

    I don’t think it’s all that hard to look at. BUY ,my god. over $230,000.00 for a runabout. I DON’T Think so. I’m sure I can find a great cabin crusier for a lot less.

  • Posted by: roaddrvr43 | 10/12/09 | 6:24 pm

    That has to be a Dodge front clip. Why did’t they put a cummins turbo Diesel in it?

  • Posted by: Pettibone | 10/12/09 | 6:38 pm

    the real reason people hate this car cuz it is easy to build and they didnt think of it first and the people that did are going to make good money off of it so the other guys that dis it can suck donkey dick

  • Posted by: duko983 | 10/12/09 | 6:38 pm

    Why dont the take a Can-am and make it a jet-ski now????

    oh shit, someone is going to use that idea now huh?

  • Posted by: duko983 | 10/12/09 | 6:40 pm

    I meant Can-am.

  • Posted by: getalifelosers | 10/12/09 | 6:44 pm

    Admit it all of you who have something bad to say are just hating cause you cant afford one! Hating on others still wont make you happy!LOL

  • Posted by: damaged | 10/12/09 | 6:45 pm

    I don’t know. It’s kind of cool, ya know, the wow factor? Turn some heads. If I had millions I would get one. Then again, for the price you could get a Dodge Ram, a Corvette, and a 24 or 26 foot boat.

  • Posted by: thedude67111 | 10/12/09 | 6:47 pm

    most of the people here are the reason we still have steering wheels instead of a simple controler , and so there are still many blunt force impact paitents in the worlds hospitals.

    you care more about style over function

    rock on you ugly vetruckboathumpin machine

    now just make it cheap enough for us rednecks to be able to afford it

  • Posted by: redneck640 | 10/12/09 | 6:48 pm

    I am a redneck and I would not have a piece of shit like this the Color is all wrong it should be Red and White like my team ALABAMA. “Roll Tide” beside this piece of shit does not have a live well to put the Fish in. And the part about seat belts well if the son of bitch would look at all laws in all states he would see there is no law for boats to have seat belts this is more piece of shit than it is car or boat. and the air bags where is the life jackets with the water patrol behind him. He has his on. Some water Patrol he is. Dumb ass yanks is all I have to say. ROLL TIDE.

  • Posted by: ljrofankeny | 10/12/09 | 6:49 pm

    The only rednecks are the ones who are soooo jealous. At least somebody is helping the economy in CA. If u got the money go for it!!

  • Posted by: customguitar | 10/12/09 | 6:50 pm

    the bad thing is– you have to pay for 2 license–one for the car and one for the boat ID bow number

  • Posted by: waywordson68 | 10/12/09 | 6:51 pm

    I think all of youare really missing the beat. I am 47 yrs old and remember the real amphibious car was a 1960 Opel GT that looked like a Rambler. Cmon this is the the age where all things are possible. And to be very frank. Im a car buff from way back . Look at the Chuck Barris Collections now those were some fugly cars . at Least this one has a little Class with Design.

  • Posted by: damaged | 10/12/09 | 6:51 pm

    Just don’t get the Ram/Vette combo. Why not keep it in the family and have a Silverado/Vette combo.

  • Posted by: bigguy2000 | 10/12/09 | 6:52 pm

    I like it. But it really looks like a Dodge Ram front clip with a corvette rear end and dodge and chevy should not mix.

  • Posted by: cgray610 | 10/12/09 | 6:52 pm

    Ok, after reading most of everyone else comments, I have to add, even though I think a millionaire got bored and created this pretty impractical idea.
    I guarantee, if everyone had a chance to have one, ride in one, or get to hang out in one I am CERTAIN all of you who commented against it would be the first in line to ride in it or try it. I would, even though I don’t care for it at all.

  • Posted by: sammie4623 | 10/12/09 | 6:53 pm

    The guy “piloting” that monstrosity looks like Gary Busey….how fitting.

  • Posted by: ttiger | 10/12/09 | 6:54 pm

    butt ugly.Evidence that it doesn’t take brains to have money anything to attract attention proof of devolution

  • Posted by: kogdenflooring | 10/12/09 | 6:56 pm

    Is that Gary Busey?

  • Posted by: calimode | 10/12/09 | 6:57 pm

    I like it. It cut’s the clutter of having: a car that can tow, a trailer, and a boat. It’s simple and looks fun! Consumers always hate things that are new and different. Sadly, people need to be marketed to, to “like” stuff especially, new stuff.

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