Completing the Mission
40 years prior (to the same weekend) in 1983, our adventurous forefathers attempted to drive from Mandorah to Mindil in a similar car, with 60 SCUBA divers as the under water drivers. Being a diesel, it needed large heavy snorkels to the surface to breath. The car ran fine, nearly made it, but hit a large rock underwater bringing the attempt to an end before it could be complete.
1983 diesel-powered attempt
This project needed completing, and the time was right to attempt it again with an EV, that doesn’t need to breath from the surface. (We also added sonar so we didn’t hit rocks, and used commercial divers with surface-supply air rather than SCUBA tanks).
This project was supported by, and features in the TV series called Cult Cars: Landcruiser on Apple TV and Foxtel/Binge.
How could some aussie bogans build such a piece of technology?
For the subsea and electrical engineering, the core engineering team has international links to some of the most advanced subsea and electric vehicle projects in the world.
For the mechanical, we had top tier fabricators and welders - the car was developed and built between Brisbane, Newcastle, Melbourne and Darwin.
There was a lot of general subsea and ocean experience in the team, as commerical divers themselves are elite underwater tradesmen.