Project Sink or Swim

Yes I read the details on another site which seemed a bit odd, selling something not fit for purpose on sea or land when he has built and sold so many, maybe it was just a 'Friday' car and a picky owner?

I remember the kit cars he used to sell 30 years ago, nearly bought one at one time!

Good luck with it and have fun. You have a PM from me.

Gary

funkyjimny wrote: Yes I read the details on another site which seemed a bit odd, selling something not fit for purpose on sea or land when he has built and sold so many, maybe it was just a 'Friday' car and a picky owner?

It's worth reading the bit on his site. He sent out a standard car which was to be inspected, returned and then adapted to be used by a company as a tour boat for paying customers- obviously a few more safety features required for that sort of thing. They sued him before he'd even made the adaptations. So it wasn't the finished product for that particular application, and that's where the 'not fit for purpose' bit arose from.

The courts obviously didn't agree with Tim Dutton's version of events but it does seem a bit strange that they have made so many, apparently without any other major incident. The earlier SJ version was being manufactured in the US.

Dutton version doesn’t tally with court version and as said he should have known what he was doing and been capable of communcating clearly with clients.
His kit cars tended to be well designed and functional but they were without exception fugly and lacking style and aerodynamics so perhaps boats might be a better bet!

ZukracerV6 wrote:

trextr7monkey wrote: As I recall the Tim Dutton amphibious Jimny was a disaster resulting in a court case. Good luck with this although I think Jimny will perform best as a terrestrial machine. If I was planning an amphicar I'd be looking at the Argocat for inspiration

Tim is very upfront and open about the court case and even publishes it on the website.

Tim Dutton Court Case

You can read it yourself and google other stories, I've meet the man and seen the machine and made my own decision. to date he has made about 230 ampibous cars, and hundreds possibly thousands other other kit cars with one notable court case. Every story has two side. You can make your own decision, I have!

I've driven argocats both on land and water and while they are an amazing go anywhere machine there really not ideal for driving long distance etc.

Well said mate. You have obviously done your research and sticking by your guns. If I had taken all the reviews the motoring press had said about the Jimny before I bought one I wouldn't have. Whereas I read the reviews of the people who had actually purchased one and they all loved them. I do believe sometimes you do have to go with your heart not your head. Hope the build turns out well for you. Dutton has created some amazing products, sure yours will be the same.

Ok, the donor jimny has been stripped of a few parts like the transfer case, steering box, wiper mechanism, steering column, exhaust, propshafts and gear lever.

These will be modified to fit the Surf, the transfer case will have an extra power off take fitted to power the jet drive.