Jun 12th, 2008 by RJ Menezes
Amphibious vehicles are the stuff of movies. A car that can drive on water or vise-versa has been attempted, but never successfully marketed, until now. Meet the Iveco Terramare. It’s Italian name roughly translates to “land and sea” which is the main purpose of this unique vehicle.
What’s intriguing is that the Terramare is based on the workhorse Iveco Daily 4×4 truck that’s built and sold in many markets around the globe (North America being one of the notable exceptions) and is used primarily in commercial applications.
This one was outfitted for a challenge that no commercial truck has ever seen. It was prepared to be able to navigate the channel between Corsica and Tuscany, a whole 87 miles in open waters! Before attempting to cross the Corsica Channel, the vehicle was heavily modified by Maurizio Zanisi, an engineer who is described in Italian press reports as an amphibious vehicle specialist. Zanisi fitted a welded steel hull, a waterjet propulsion system and supplementary fuel tanks to provide additional range.
The vehicle successfully completed the challenge just days after it was completed. Whether Iveco will produce them is unknown but company officials say they are examining interest very closely. It sure is cool, wonder how much it would go for…
Here is a link to a cool video from Youtube.com showing the Terramare in action! :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zam7ADdXy8