This is a WaterCar Panther, and while it may look like some variation of a Jeep Wrangler, it’s actually an entirely bespoke vehicle with the ability to travel at 85 mph on land, and 45 mph on the water – that’s more than fast enough for pulling a waterskier.
One of the reasons for this respectable speed on the water is the fact that all four wheels can be hydraulically retracted into the wheel wells, getting them out of the way and ensuring they don’t cause unnecessary drag.
Fast Facts – The Amphibious WaterCar Panther
- The WaterCar Panther is a bespoke amphibious vehicle capable of 85 mph on land and 45 mph on water, featuring hydraulically retractable wheels to minimize drag and optimize speed in water. Its design is inspired by the Jeep CJ8 but shares no components, except the Jeep YJ doors.
- Developed by Dave March over 14 years, the Panther was designed to balance highway usability with speedboat performance, addressing common limitations of amphibious vehicles. It features a lightweight chromoly steel chassis and fiberglass body powered by a 3.7 liter Acura V6 engine producing 305 bhp.
- With seating for four and features like a roll bar, fabric roof, and marine-grade components, the Panther blends practicality and versatility. Its marine jet drive and rear-wheel drive enable rapid transitions between land and water.
- This particular Panther, finished in silver with black accents and low mileage, it has disc brakes, independent four-wheel suspension, and marine navigation controls. It is listed for sale as a 1965 Jeep CJ under a Montana title.
WaterCar: A History Speedrun
Building an effective amphibious vehicle is a task that is harder than it might seem at first, typically they either end up being slow and cumbersome on land, or slow and top heavy on the water. The WaterCar Panther was designed to address both of these issues, being both highway capable and fast enough on water to qualify as a speedboat.
Above Video: This clip from WaterCar shows the Panther in action. As you can see it’s pretty quick both on land and in the water, and the speed at which they drive it into the water is surprising.
The first WaterCar prototype was developed in the late 1990s by Dave March. He was inspired by the classic Amphicar of the 1960s, but he wanted to develop a unique, modern amphibious vehicle. The original plan was just to build one for his own personal use, but as the years went by he realized there was a significant unmet demand for a daily-drivable amphibian, and so he put it into commercial production.
There were three early amphibious prototypes, one of which was the WaterCar Python, powered by a 450 bhp Corvette V8 making it capable of 127 mph on land and 60 mph on the water.
The cost of production meant that the Python wasn’t economically feasible for building in large volumes, and so March developed the WaterCar Panther over the course of 14 years before offering it for sale as a production vehicle for the first time in 2013.
The WaterCar Panther has been in production for 11 years and counting. The company now also produces the WaterCar H1, a Humvee-influenced 4×4 amphibian with impressive capabilities targeted more at government, military, and fleet buyers.
The WaterCar Panther
The design of the WaterCar Panther was influenced by the earlier Jeep CJ8, though it’s important to note that the two vehicles don’t share any parts in common apart from the doors which are sourced from the Jeep Wrangler YJ.
The WaterCar Panther has now been in production for 11 years and counting, with well over 100 built so far and counting. Image courtesy of WaterCar.
The process of building each Panther starts with the chassis, it’s a tubular chromoly steel (an alloy of steel, chromium, and molybdenum) chassis that’s both rigid and relatively lightweight. The body and hull of the vehicle are made from fiberglass, this also helps keep the total weight of the Panther down – the curb weight is just 2,950 lbs (1,340 kgs).
Power is provided by a 3.7 liter V6 sourced from the Acura MDX SUV. This engine has a single overhead cam per bank, 24 valves, and Honda’s VTEC system. It produces 305 bhp which is sent back through a transfer case – this allows it to either power the rear wheels, or to power the marine jet drive for propulsion in water.
The Panther is rear-wheel drive only, and as noted above the speed on land is up to 85 mph with a speed over the water of 45 mph. The 0 – 60 mph time is 4.5 seconds, enough to embarrass more than a few modern sports cars.
There is seating inside for four people, five in a pinch, with two bucket seats up front and a bench seat in the rear. The Panther has a roll bar and a folding fabric roof, as well as a large bullbar up front, pop-up stainless-steel cleats, highway and marine lighting, and a bow-mounted tow hook.
Perhaps the true pièce de résistance of the Panther, other than its speed on land and water, is its hydraulically-operated wheel retraction when in the water. The fact that the wheels can get up and out of the way means that it has a much higher speed on water than we’re used to seeing with amphibians.
The WaterCar Panther Shown Here
The vehicle you see here is an original WaterCar Panther, and it’s had just one owner from new. It seems to have had relatively little use, with just 1,200 miles shown on the odometer.
It’s finished in Silver paint with Black wheel arches and a Gray interior, and it currently rides on polished 15″ Weld Racing wheels which are fitted with 295/75 Firestone Destination M/T tires. It has disc brakes with slotted rotors at all four corners and independent front and rear suspension with that unusual ability to hydraulically lift up into the wheel wells.
Here you can see the jet drive exiting out the back of the vehicle. The engine is mounted behind the seats, and it can power either the rear wheels or the jet drive depending on which mode you have it in.
The dashboard has gauges for fuel level, oil pressure, coolant temperature, and voltage as well as a speedometer and tachometer. It also has switches for tilt trim, navigation lights, and triple bilge pumps.
It’s now being offered for sale on Bring a Trailer out of Massachusetts with a Montana title that describes the vehicle as a 1965 Jeep CJ. If you’d like to read more about it or register to bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
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Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
