Creative Builder Is Selling His Extraordinary Boatcar and Planecar on eBay Motors
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Mark Ray has a flair for creating outlandish vehicle concepts. His Boatcar and Planecar, unique rolling sculptures that draw crowds wherever they appear, are now offered on eBay Motors.
Mark Ray
Ray—who owns a paper-shredding business in Alpharetta, Ga., near Atlanta—is more of a conceptual vehicle-artist than a hands-on builder. “I’m not the type of individual that gets their hands real dirty with ripping metal and cutting things,” he said. “I’d rather come up with the idea, write the check, and then have the vehicle when it’s done.” He relies on local body and fabrication shops to bring his fantastical visions to life.
Ray’s voyage into the world of extreme automotive customization began in 2015 when he first conceptualized the Boatcar. “If I say I can do it, I’m going to do it,” said Ray.“We got the project done in a year.”
The finished vehicle, which required a lot of trial and error to build, combines a 1994 GMC Jimmy SUV with a 1997 185 Sea Ray Bow Rider. “It was a total learning experience,” said Ray. “We had to go back to the drawing board many times, with a total of two cars and three boats used in the process.” Mark chose the Bow Rider for its curved windshield design and the ease of fitting the Jimmy’s 4.3-liter V-6 engine, which is hidden from view by a diamond plate hood.
While the Boatcar isn’t seaworthy, it’s considered a street-legal car in Georgia. “I did six months of research before we started the build,” said Ray. “As long as you have all of the lights and mirrors, it’s legal.” The paint job is strictly DIY. “I bought $150 of Rust-Oleum primer and painted the vehicle after studying the process on YouTube,” he explained. “It was brushed and rolled, with no drip marks.”
Next Project Takes Off
After a year of piloting his Boatcar around Greater Atlanta, Ray was ready for a new challenge. In 2016, he came up with the wild idea of building a Planecar—by fusing a 1999 Chevrolet Tracker with a 2003 Cirrus SR22 airplane.
The Tracker’s four-wheel-drive powertrain, which consists of a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine and four-speed automatic transmission, is stock. An Atlanta-area body shop removed the Tracker’s pillars and roof. Then a local fabrication shop melded the SR22’s fiberglass fuselage with the vehicle’s platform—leaving the plane’s windscreen and canopy intact. The result is a spacious interior, which has been fitted with a single bucket for the pilot, a bench seat in back for passengers, and plenty of room for cargo.
The SR22’s unique integrated parachute system remains in place, along with its overhead ripcord. (The explosive rocket was removed.) A Cessna propeller on the front fascia spins freely as the vehicle travels at speed. Like the Boatcar, the Planecar is street-legal due to its side-view mirrors and required signal lights, according to Ray. The horizontal tail fins were trimmed by about 1.5 feet on each side to ensure roadworthiness. The Planecar was repainted in 2018 by a professional shop, in metallic blue to match the current Cirrus color scheme.
Ray once claimed that he would never sell his fantastical creations. But a new inspiration has taken hold—prompting him to sell both vehicles to make room for his latest project. He’s in the process of using a seven-passenger Cessna 421 with a 2005 GMC Sierra HD pickup to build a seven-passenger airplane-limo suitable for rental.
See more photos of Ray's Boatcar and Planecar, and make your bids for these incredible creations.
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