00:00You have a boat, you have a car and you have a convertible. So it's all three in one.
00:14Mark Ray from Atlanta, Georgia always loved boats. But it was only after his wife set
00:19him a challenge that he decided to create a boat car.
00:22The boat car started about three years ago. My wife had breast cancer and after her surgery
00:28I was taking care of her and she came in the bedroom and said to me, why don't you build
00:32a boat car? And I had no idea, what's a boat car? So I looked at it, I researched it and
00:37she said, I bet you can't do it. And in a year I built it and I won the bet and I kept
00:42the boat car.
00:45Mark was given a recovered 18.5 Sea Ray Bow Rider boat for free, which was stripped of
00:50its motor, out drive and interior. He bought a GMC Jimmy, which was cut apart and the boat
00:57was installed on top. It was then down to Mark to add the finishing touches and he
01:02couldn't resist the nautical theme.
01:04People ask me frequently, how do you get in my boat car? I go, you get in the back of
01:08the ladder. They go, but where's the door? I go, this is a boat, it's not a car. So we've
01:14been asked that so many times, I ended up putting on door handles. These are fake door
01:19handles. You climb up the ladder and you're in. I even have a handy dandy propeller. Doesn't
01:25do much, but it sure does look good. Fishing rod holders. And of course Scully, he looks
01:32out for everybody getting in and out of the boat.
01:35The boat car is fitted with the Jimmy's original engine to give it some oomph on the open road.
01:41This is the expanded metal where air comes through to keep the engine cool into the radiator.
01:46This is my engine area and I have it covered with diamond plate. The boat car does move
01:51along pretty fast. It's got a 4.3 V6. Won't burn rubber, but it does run good.
01:56To make it street legal, the vehicle had to be fitted with head and tail lights, indicators,
02:02a horn, seat belts and mirrors.
02:04Practicality, it's fun, but it's not real practical.
02:09Mark's creation has won trophies and plaques at car shows, but it also stops traffic when
02:14he takes it for a spin on the school run.
02:17People are crazy. I'm driving and all of a sudden I hear the cars honking and people
02:22waving and my daughter and I have seen people videotape and run right off into the shoulder.
02:26It always puts a smile on someone's face.
02:29It's a very novel idea. I'd have to take it for a spin to see how it really floats.
02:33It's awesome. It's an eye catcher for sure.
02:36Would you drive it?
02:37Oh, in a heartbeat.
02:38And it also floats Mark's family's boat.
02:41It's brought a lot of comic relief to my mom's cancer treatments and everything.
02:45People look at the boat car and go crazy and she laughs about it.
02:51Mark spent $10,000 and one year building the boat car.
02:55He's been offered $30,000 for it, but he's determined to keep his pride and joy in the family.
03:01I'm not trading it and I'm not selling it.
03:03I had one guy offer me jewellery and I told him, if you keep your jewellery, I'm keeping the boat car.
03:08It's going to be passed down to the kids.
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