Why don't they make cars to float?

[Bennyboy]

Seems to me this would be a pretty simple thing to do with today's computerized machinery that allow for low tolerance manufacturing processes.

Yet this week another car in my area goes underwater in the Sacramento river. About once a month we have this happen here in Sac and I am sure we are not the only area that this happens in.

And today in Car talk int he paper there is a story about this very thing (with perhaps the dumbest son of a bitch ever)in the story. Same thing, car sinks. Why?

[flvegan]

1. Why do people in Sacramento try to drive in the river?

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

6. lol....

[LeftyMom]

11. Less traffic.

Barely.

[Rabrrrrrr]

2. Is it worth the expense and material waste to outfit millions of cars with float technology,

just because a couple go in the water each year?

No, not really.

It's a good idea, but not worth the cost.

There were some cars made in the 1950s (maybe 60s?) that are amphibious, and there's a worldwide organization of owners of them. I can't remember the name of the cars, but I saw a little snippet of it on TV once, at one of their annual gatherings.

[flvegan]

3. The Amphicar, I believe.

[Bennyboy]

7. My Friend Bill Hill has one fo those....

The BoatCar to be exact. He uses the hell out of that thing to be a media whore. The press here in town loves that car and he gets to promote his tattooing business (Wild Bills) on a lot of local TV shows and in the papers.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/bennyboy420/Cars/photo#5078745970668221202"><img src="" /></a>
he has a ton of unique cars....

Doesn't it make sense that if they just made the passenger compartment water proof the car would float?

And we have levee roads all over the place here and around the Delta....

[AlCzervik]

4. the car in the water thing seems to happen in a few different spots around

our area, it always seems to be the same stretches of road it happens on. Maybe their shold be more street lights and markers.

[marzipanni]

5. Another reason to love my first car...

http://www.adclassix.com/ads/67vwbeetlefloater.htm

[cloudbase]

8. They did.

National Lampoon had a field day with a take off on this ad.

[TheMightyFavog]

9. Get you one of these WWII classics!

VW Typ 166 Scwimmwagen


Or , if gosse-stepping and high leather boots aren't your thing try the mighty DUKW, just like they have at Wisconsin Dells!

[Javaman]

10. Come on! because if they floated the Mafia wouldn't buy them! Jeez! nt

[LeftyMom]

12. Stronger guardrails on the levee roads would likely be cheaper.

But I don't know how far one needs to protect dumbasses who haul ass down the 160 in the fog, for example, from themselves.

[KamaAina]

13. Ask VW why they stopped making the Beetle

"If Ted Kennedy drove a Volkswagen, he'd be President today." :P