Land Cruiser drives 7km underwater, setting longest underwater drive record

These guys just swapped their sunnies for goggles and aircon for oxygen tanks to attempt the world’s deepest and longest underwater drive. 

A group of serious gearheads in Australia worked for six months to transform this bright orange 1978 Land Cruiser into a waterproof vehicle called the ‘Mudcrab’. 

And that hard work paid off because they just drove the two-ton electric-powered Land Cruiser 7km underwater from one side of Australia’s Darwin harbor to the other.

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The 7km drive took almost 12 hours and reached depths of up to 30 meters. 

Oh, and did we mention it happened in shark and crocodile-infested waters? 

Yep, Darwin, in Australia’s Northern Territory, is surrounded by crocodile-infested waters. 

But that didn’t phase these locals too much. 

“I’m pretty sure a bright orange car coming towards a shark or a croc – they aren’t going to be hanging around, they’re going to be taking off in the other direction,” Mechanic and diver Taylor Smith told 9 News.

To prep for the crazy journey this team of engineers and mechanics poured hours of work into the 1978 Land Cruiser. 

Glen Summers, who headed the EV side of the project, told supercarblondie.com they fitted it with a waterproof electric engine and 150kg water-filled tires. 

“The tires were filled with water because if they were filled with air, they would have been crushed at 30 meters,” he said.

“It has a 90kW electric motor and 30kWh of lithium-ion batteries which were all encased in silicon oil in containers to keep the seawater out.

“And we had to pressure test all electrical components in custom-made pressure chambers. 

“The gearbox and diffs were filled with food-grade eco-friendly grease to keep the salt water out. 

“There was a lot of advanced electrical engineering that went into making this underwater electric car. 

“Otherwise, the car was left original with its Land Cruiser drive train from the 1970s.”

Summers said “the car drove great even down at 30m” but admitted they “got bogged a lot”. 

“It was one hell of a 4×4 track under there!” he said. 

“It was one of the craziest days I’ve been a part of.”

To make the project possible, there was a whole team of guys working behind the scenes including project lead Tom Lawrence, EV conversion manager Glen Summers, mechanical lead Luke Purdy, driver Taylor Smith and dive operations lead Matt Mitchel. 

Summers told supercarblondie.com the guys at Cult Cars have something even bigger planned next. 

But, they’re keeping that project a secret for now. So, watch this space! 

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