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Amphibious Encyclopedia · Amphibious boats

WaterCar

WaterCar is a Southern California company that designs and builds amphibious vehicles. Founded by Dave March in 1999, it has produced six generations of machines, from an early sports-car prototype to today's WaterCar EV, an aluminum boat with an electric road drive and an outboard engine [1][2].

  • Amphibious boats
  • 1999 to today
  • United States

Origins

WaterCar grew out of founder Dave March's habit of rebuilding machines to work better. The company's own account says the story started with a 1964 Amphicar and a young Chad, and that WaterCar was founded in 1999 in Southern California [2].

Over the following quarter century the company built six generations of amphibious vehicles and was granted 28 patents along the way [1][2].

The machines

The first prototype, the Sports Car, had a fiberglass body, a Subaru engine, jet propulsion in the water and hydraulically retracting wheels, as reported by Autoblog in 2004 [1][3]. The Gator that followed was a rugged, go-anywhere design built on a Volkswagen engine and chassis [1].

The Python was the performance chapter. It used a Corvette LS-series V8 and a Dominator water jet, and it earned a Guinness World Record as the fastest amphibious vehicle in its day [1][2][4]. That record belongs to the Python's history, not to WaterCar's current boats.

The Panther brought the idea to customers. It appeared on Jay Leno's Garage and Top Gear and in Forbes and MrBeast videos, and in 2014 Dave March drove one from the Fountain Valley shop, launched into Newport Harbor and crossed roughly thirty miles of open Pacific to Avalon on Catalina Island before driving it home [1][2][5]. The H1 followed with an aluminum body and a 430 hp Chevrolet LS3 V8, and taught the company to work with the material its current boats use [1].

Today's WaterCar

The current WaterCar is under 20 ft (6.1 m) long with a 6.5 ft (2 m) beam. Its aluminum hull is welded inside and out with computerized pulse-arc welding, a 115 hp Mercury Pro XS outboard drives it on the water, and an electric system drives it on land [1][6].

It is sold in three models: Adventure for fishing, hunting and exploring, Signature for cruising and entertaining, and Commercial for professional operations [7]. On the road it is built as a low-speed vehicle, and on the water it is a recreational boat, so owners follow both sets of rules [8].

More on WaterCar.com

Sources

  1. The Machines, WaterCar. www.watercar.com/machines
  2. Our Story, WaterCar. www.watercar.com/story
  3. Auto anfibia Watercar, Autoblog Italia (2004). www.autoblog.it/post/70/auto-anfibia-watercar
  4. Python WaterCar amphibious performance, New Atlas (2009). newatlas.com/python-watercar-amphibious-performance/13323
  5. The WaterCar Panther is the latest take on amphibious vehicles, MotorTrend. www.motortrend.com/features/1507-the-watercar-panther-is-latest-take-on-amphibious-vehicles
  6. Amphibious vehicles: the floating electric car from WaterCar, BOOTE. www.boote-magazin.de/en/boats/sport-boats/amphibious-vehicles-the-floating-electric-car-from-watercar
  7. How much does a WaterCar cost?, WaterCar (2026-11). www.watercar.com/how-much-does-a-watercar-cost
  8. What is an LSV?, WaterCar. www.watercar.com/what-is-an-lsv

Last reviewed November 2026. Spotted something to correct or add? Tell us and include a source.

About the Amphibious Encyclopedia

WaterCar has designed and built amphibious vehicles in Southern California for more than 25 years. We keep this encyclopedia so anyone curious about vehicles that cross between land and water has one place to start, with the sources listed for every fact.

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