Sunken amphibious car recovered from lake bed
Will now be fully restored
A PROTOTYPE amphibious car is being restored to its former glory, after being recovered from the bottom of a lake in the United States.
The pre-production Hobbycar B612 was being demonstrated by the Lane Motor Museum on August 11 when the craft began to unexpectedly take on water.
Though the vehicle ended up settling on the bottom of Percy Priest Lake (a reservoir in Tennessee roughly eight miles away from the Lane Motor Museum), no-one was injured in the incident.
Aided by a team of scuba divers, a recovery team was able to successfully bring the Hobbycar back onto dry land. Restoration work is taking place at the museum.
Though the B612 didn’t spend long on the lake bed, the museum’s restoration manager Greg Coston anticipates a lot of work will be needed to bring the Hobbycar back to running order.
As the engine was running as the car sank, it’s expected that all of the electronics that were on at the time were “probably toasted” as the water flooded in, and major parts such as the engine and transmission were completely flooded.
By far the biggest priority for the time being, though, is to stabilise the condition of the car, so the restoration team can start salvaging the B612 without the risk of it becoming a “rust bucket”. In order to prevent corrosion inside the engine and transmission, the mechanics will also have to fill up the components with lubricant after draining the water from them.
Despite the amount of work that needs to be done, Coston is adamant the goal is to have the Hobbycar fully restored back into working order.
Credit: Lane Motor Museum
