There was an amphibian jet car. It roamed the streets of Lagos flaring out a staccato rhythm of engine beats.



Built by Durojaiye Kehinde Obasanjo out of scrap metal and recycled automobile engine parts, the amphibian jet car came prepackaged with a goal to seek tenancy on land, air and water. That goal was pushed as hard as it could go.

In many of the video littered on the boulevard of youtube, Durojaiye claimed many a time to have spent a better part of his youth building the hovercraft with the ultimate goal to have it air bound. For the most part, it served as a visual spectacle because you couldn't just have that prodigious-snoot-looking vehicle pass you by without giving it a relook. It was big, bold and booming.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/ofvQx87zS2o

And like a werewolf, the amphibian car was a shapeshifter. Durojaiye started out as lean as he could afford. From an aluminium body on four 16" wheels housing just a pilot seat and a simulated motorcycle steering, the car transformed into a huge post-model-T-coupe style hooptie.



I saw him a few times riding durtey, and he seemed to enjoy every bit of it. Durojaiye exudes passion whenever he speaks about his vehicle even while in the face of dispiriting comments from a cluster of naysayers or dealing with many failed promises from political figures to support his project. He claims to have spent about a million Naira in the construction for it to be worthy of its nomenclature; amphibian, and has proof in documented VCD tapes of the machine's movement on land and sea.

However, last week while trying to find better use of wasting gridlock time - typical of Lagos roads - I looked out of the window as if to beckon at a Gala (UAC brand of sausage) hawker, and right beside my gas guzzling Ford Windster was the amphibian jet car, lying on the edge of the street half dead like a wounded traveller, hoping for the stroll-by of a good Samaritan.

Is the dream dead or left till some other time someone decides to care? What if the task-force agency lugs the jalopy away into some bottomless chasm?

Only time will tell. Or better still, Durojaiye.

However, I think this might be an interesting expedition for a few mechanical engineering students to pick up, and work with Durojaiye to fulfil his the dream... of a properly built BuyNaijaToGrowtheNaira Made in Nigeria Amphibian jet car hovercraft. No?

This post was first published here: http://notofcode.com/transportation/2016/05/28/amphibian-jet-car/

Looks like a space shuttle...

This one na real jalopy!

Sinking Tinz