A nautical fanatic has turned a once sunken boat into a road legal, drivable car. Mark Ray designed and built his dream motor after his wife Robyn bet him that he could not do it. Robyn, had been diagnosed with breast cancer and felt that Mark needed a project to take his mind from being her full time carer. He spent over $7,500 on merging a GMC Jimmy with a sunken and recovered Sea Ray Bow Rider. After stripping the boat of its motor, out drive and interior – including the floor – he built it into the car that had been taken apart and left with only its chassis, seats and motor.
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MotorTranscript
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 the boat car.
00:22The boat car started about three years ago. My wife had breast cancer and after her surgery
00:27I was taking care of her. And she came in the bedroom and said to me,
00:31why don't you build a boat car? And I had no idea, what's a boat car?
00:34So I looked at it, I researched it, and she said, I bet you can't do it.
00:38And in a year I built it and I won the bet. And I kept the boat car.
00:44Mark was given a recovered 18.5 Sea Ray Bowrider boat for free,
00:49which was stripped of its motor, outdrive and interior.
00:53He bought a GMC Jimmy, which was cut apart, and the boat was installed on top.
00:58It was then down to Mark to add the finishing touches, and he couldn't resist the nautical theme.
01:04People ask me frequently, how do you get in my boat car?
01:07I go, you get in the back of the ladder. They go, but where's the door?
01:10I go, this is a boat, it's not a car. So we've been asked that so many times,
01:15I ended up putting on door handles. These are fake door handles.
01:19You climb up the ladder, and you're in.
01:22I even have a handy dandy propeller. Doesn't do much, but it sure does look good.
01:28Fishing rod holders. And of course Scully, he looks out 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 from the open road.
01:40This 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.
01:49The boat car does move along pretty fast. It's got a 4.3 V6.
01:54Won't burn rubber, but it does run good.
01:57To make it street legal, the vehicle had to be fitted with head and tail lights.
02:01Indicators, a horn, seat belts and mirrors.
02:05Practicality, it's fun, but it's not real practical.
02:08Mark's creation has won trophies and plaques at car shows.
02:12But it also stops traffic when he takes it for a spin on the school run.
02:16People are crazy. I'm driving, and all of a sudden I hear the cars honking, and people waving.
02:23My daughter and I have seen people videotape and run right off into the shoulder.
02:27It 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.
02:35What'd you drive?
02:36Oh, 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.
03:00I'm not trading it, and I'm not selling it.
03:03I had one guy offer me jewelry, and I told him, you keep your jewelry.
03:07I'm keeping the boat car. It's going to be passed down to the kids.
03:09It's going to be passed off the piano.
03:11Even though you're getting married.
03:13I'm not paying for the kids.
03:15Even though you're going to rocket the boat car.
03:17Sometimes, you're going to go wild expresil if you're answering town.
03:19I'll take that young chased around you, and I'm going to push out.
03:22How that Wam perimeter says it's not doing there.
03:24知道 it's not falling out of your schedule again and you keep that up from the middle of it here.