Amphibious Vehicles
By Jake

Hold on while you learn about some amazing vehicles that can travel on water and travel on land. These interesting inventions are called amphibian or amphibious vehicles. They have been used by the military for many years to move troops from ships onto land. Now they are available to the general population by Gibbs Technologies.

Humdinga

The Humdinga is a hummer that can turn into a boat at the push of a button. It has five seats. There is a motor on the back of the vehicle that pushes it into the water. At the push of the button, the wheels retract and then the back motor takes control.

The Gibbs Humdinga can go 0-60 m.p.h. (0-97 kilometers per hour) in less than 10 seconds on the land, and it can reach speeds of up to 100 m.p.h. (161 kilometers per hour)! On water, it can reach speeds of 40 m.p.h. (64 kilometers per hour) which is a little faster than the Gibbs Aquada. It has a 350 BHP, V8 engine with four-wheel drive.

For people that like hummers and boats, you can thank the Gibbs engineers for building the amphibious Humdinga.

Aquada

The Aquada is a sports convertible that can turn into a boat. So if you are driving from land into the water, you can press a button, and you’ll be able to drive off in the water. But be sure to think before you buy this $284,000 Aquada (150,000 United Kingdom pounds) as it is very expensive. This car is currently available in the United Kingdom.

The Gibbs Aquada can go about 100 m.p.h. (161 kilometers per hour) on land which is about as fast as a family car. It can travel about 35 m.p.h. (56 kilometers per hour) on the water which is about as fast as a small speedboat. It has a 2.5, 175 hp V6 engine! It’s about the same price as a boat and a car put together but has more functions.

This car is for those speed demons that like fast sports cars and speedboats.

Citations

Online Resources

Biffen, Adrian. "Review: OBD 2 Scan Tool Interfaces with the Aquada - a boat that is also a car." Software for Cars. 2 March, 2005 <http://obd-onboarddiagnostics.com/aquada.htm>.

Felstead, Peter. "Aquada makes a splash on the eve of London's DSEi" Janes.com. 2 March, 2005 <http://www.janes.com/transport/news/misc/misc030904_1_n.shtml>.

"Gibbs Aquada." Gizmo Highway. 2 March, 2005 <http://www.gizmohighway.com/autos/aqua_car.htm>.

"Gibbs Aquada." Popular Science. 2 March, 2005 <http://www.popsci.com/popsci/bown/2003/article/0,18881,534674,00.html>.

"Humdinga-the 4WD amphibious vehicle." Gizmag. 2 March, 2005 <http://www.gizmag.com/go/2823/>.

Images

Permission to use photographs from <http://www.gizmohighway.com/>:
Gary Watts. <gizmo@intown.com.au> "RE: Permission to Use Pictures." 29 January 2005. Personal e-mail.