A 34-year-old man transformed his Land Rover into a “007 submarine”.
A Range Rover classic from 1987 got a new life after being turned into a fully functioning submarine. The man behind the master plan is 34-year-old Nathan Gibbons from Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
Nathan got the incredible idea after he and his friends, Andrew Tuffs and Blake Capuano, drowned the car’s engine while driving through a river in April, Daily Mail reveals. Gibbons managed to plunge the vehicle underwater and drive it through an 8ft-deep Nottinghamshire pound for 15 seconds. At the time, only the duct-taped engine “snorkel” and the car’s roof were above the water.
The dad-of-three has since been compared to a “rural James Bond.”
The incident reminded Nathan of the 1977 Bond movie “The Spy Who Loved Me”, where actor Roger Moore played the iconic 007 agent driving the amphibious Lotus Esprit S1 underwater.
Explaining what happened, Gibbons said:
“It only took five minutes with a drain pipe and duct tape to extend the snorkel. It already had one on there but we wanted to make it taller so it could go right under. I wasn’t nervous at all – it didn’t really bother me. I just said, right I’m going. I held my breath, put my hand over my mouth and nose and I had my eyes shut. It didn’t really feel like the car was moving. I could just feel the rumbling that it was still running. 15 seconds feels like a long time when you’re underwater.”
He added:
“For that 15 seconds you feel like you’re in that James Bond car.”
The 34-year-old explained that he felt as if he was in an actual submarine.
However, as the windows were open, the water quickly filled up the car. But the experience was way too exciting for the trio, so they tried it again. In fact, they used the Land Rover as a submarine quite a few times.
“I did it loads of times. We were going to go deeper, but I’m glad I didn’t because I wouldn’t be able to hold my breath. Blake had to bail the first time we did it and I nearly did because when I went to hold my breath I did it too early, but when I felt the front end lift that was it, I thought ‘we’re on our way out’. I was pretty proud of it. It was just something we wanted to do as a few mates. I can’t believe how crazy it’s been on the internet. I’ve had friend requests from all around the world.”
Nathan couldn’t believe the overwhelming social media attention he got after turning his car into a 007 submarine. As for the initial idea, he shared:
“The idea came after we were driving down the River Doe Lea in April and they’d dredged it out where they’d built a new bridge, so when it got to this deep part it went straight down and filled the engine with water.
It took us two hours to get it out, so I thought ‘Right, when the weather picks up the next plan is to go fully submerged’. It was nice at the weekend so we drove down. I’ve seen videos and every time they do it, they either break down or don’t go deep enough but I wanted to get it fully under.”
Gibbons believes that a newer Range Rover model would not have what it takes to cope underwater.
The rural James Bond says that today’s cars have too many electrical parts, so they won’t make it underwater. However, his 80s model was perfect for the job.
The next thing Nathan wants to do is inventing an effective system so he and his friends “can actually breathe and then do the full length of the pond.” He commented:
“We’ve got to repair the Range Rover first, but we’ve got a little Smart car and we’re on about making it do a jump in the water.”
