Anyone who’s seen a “Back to the Future” movie knows that the iconic star of the movie is the DeLorean car, designed be John DeLorean in 1981. Now here is a lucky San Fransisco grad student, Matthew Riese, who adapts this amazing stainless steel car into a hovercraft boat.
Riese raised $5,644 through Kickstarter in 2008. His dream of making a DeLorean hovercraft and showing it off to the world came true as he headed to the San Fransisco bay during the Giants-Rockies game on Friday.
(It’s unfortunate he didn’t take advantage of the time machine aspect of the car and pick up Willie Mays and bring him to the game. That would have been even more amazing.)
How’s the car work? Reise says that, “If you have never seen a hovercraft, the basic concept is that a fan pushes air underneath the middle of the craft and a “skirt” (basically a flexible inner-tube around the perimeter of the craft) traps that high-pressure air under the craft, which lifts it off the ground,”
“Some air is escaping under the skirt at all points at all times, so in theory, even the skirt isn’t actually touching the ground/water (in reality the skirt drags on the ground occasionally). A second fan pushes air behind the craft, driving it forward,” Riese added.
This car has made dreams come true since DeLorean designed and produced the car in the 80’s and less than 10,000 remain today. Although DeLoreans are no longer manufactured, they are still inspirational for anyone who loves beautiful design and classic cars.
Now that the DeLorean has become a time machine and a hovercraft, we are looking forward to the next creative idea. Maybe the next iteration of the DeLorean will be a space craft to Mars or a deepwater submarine. I can’t wait- just remember to take advantage of the time machine.
[Via: PCMag]
