Do we really need sailing and flying cars?

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Ever since the birth of the motor car, people have been pushing the boundaries of its abilities. Further, faster, bigger, better and… beyond. How about cars that can do things that we usually have other vehicles for? Could a flying or sailing car represent the best of both worlds? The answer is no. The flying car is and will be a pipe dream as long as we use existing technologies to power it.

The amphibious vehicle may have proved itself for specific purposes (military, recreation, expeditions, search and rescue, you fill in). But generally, putting wheels and axles on a boat hull or getting a rolling chassis to float is not a very good idea. Mixing cars and boats give less than average land vehicles with bad sailing capacities or poor boats with mediocre driving characteristics. What’s more: they are very expensive to develop and difficult to maintain.

So what was Peugeot thinking in 1925 when they came up with the vehicle seen here? The answer is not quite as exciting as it may look like. This, ladies and gentlemen, is nothing more, nothing less than a marketing mobile. Although several sources will state that this is an amphibious vehicle, it is not. Reputedly Peugeot used to run a boat building enterprise as a sideline to their car manufacture. And to give that the necessary promotion, this vehicle was made from a modified boat hull on a Peugeot car chassis (which one? do enlighten us if you know). There is a propeller but it is non-functional and doesn’t come with a drive shaft. Note that it uses British plates on most pictures available. Perhaps Peugeot Nautic was also promoted in the UK?

Oh - a Peugeot diesel powered amphibious vehicle did make it to the market many years later (this one), but again it didn’t become the success its builders had been hoping for… Told you so.

Words by Jeroen Booij. Pictures from the archive.

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