Ridgeland, South Carolina - Parallel parking a car on a lake isn't easy; John Giljam knows that because he's done it - and on rivers, ponds even the Intracoastal Waterway.
In fact Giljam has not only practised parking on water; he has also become adept at turning sharply on it. (He no longer gets drenched in a curtain of spume when cornering, he will have you know.)
And he has mastered the art of steering clear of critters - geese, mostly, though 'gators have a habit of surfacing at inopportune moments.
Of course it helps to learn these aquatic feats behind the wheel of his latest creation, an amphibious car that cruises on water as easily as it does on tar.
The Hydra Spyder is poised to become the first mass-produced amphibious automobile in America, with its snazzy snout, convertible top, V8 Corvette engine and jet impeller a stainless-steel cone protruding from the rear that propels it on water.
The 46-year-old inventor boasts: "The Spyder is incredibly nimble in the water; it turns smoothly, docks easily."
It has one shortcoming, he concedes. On the water, "the parallel parking really sucks".
Giljam tingles at the idea of anglers taking their cars out on lakes for a day of fishing; of rush-hour commuters bypassing congestion by taking a river as an alternative route; of water-skiers bouncing along in the wake of a speedboat with four wheels.
He said: "I feel I've been born with a gift, and it was for creating mechanical things; that's what keeps me up at night."
By age 39 he had invented - and patented - the world's first unsinkable bus and luxury motorhome. As he sees it, producing amphibious cars on a grand scale would be a "logical" new endeavour.
His Hydra Spyder is not the first of its kind to take to the water. Amphibious vehicles have been around for more than a century and European manufacturers have long dominated the market.
But while some have been able to raise dust on the road most were agonisingly slow in the wet, where wheels create drag.
One well-known washout was the Amphicar which was mass-produced in Germany from 1961-1968. It got up to 113km/h on the road but only 11km/h on water.
In 2003 New Zealand inventor-entrepreneur Alan Gibbs launched the Aquada, an amphibious sports car with retractable wheels and a jet drive that propelled it on water at a maximum of 53km/h.
It made the Guinness Book of Records for the fastest crossing of the English Channel by an amphibious vehicle when Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Atlantic, planed across in 1hr40min6sec.
Creative overdrive
At the time Giljam's company Cool Amphibious Manufacturers International was turning out a dozen or so amphibious buses a year at a factory in Rochester, New York, mostly for tour operators. Eight Hydra Terras are running in New York City.
The Aquada's big splash threw Giljam into creative overdrive. He once told a reporter: "I suppose we just wanted to answer the Brits."
The amphibian he envisioned would have to be faster, tougher, and more economical than the Aquada, which retailed for $300 000 (about R2.3-million).
To switch the resultant Hydra Spyder into "marine mode," the driver simply presses a button, which drops the clutch, disengages the road drive and retracts the wheels.
Plane like a speedboat
Then the jet drive kicks in, allowing the Spyder to plane across water like a speedboat at more than 80km/h.
Base price is $155 000 (R1.2-million) - to which can be added extras such as heatable seats, a custom entertainment system for in-Spyder cinema, Lamborghini door systems and teak interior trim.
You can even have a built-in fishfinder, although this amphibian isn't intended for use on the open sea.
Detroit automakers may be struggling to survive but the future looks bright for Cool Amphibious Manufacturers. Giljam has six orders for Hydra Spyders and hopes to be producing 75 a year within five years. - AP