These folks need to form a team for "Junkyard Wars." There's a picture in
the article!
Jamie
'92 Prelude Si (not amphibious)
Speed Demon Racing
http://www.mindspring.com/~jsculerati/sdr
----- Original Message -----
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3094795.stm
A group of 12 creative Cuban migrants have used a 1951 Chevrolet pick-up
truck equipped with floats to make a break for the United States
The converted flatbed truck-turned-boat sailed to within 65km (40 miles) of
theUnited States, over half the distance fromCuba.
But the US Coast Guard intercepted the vessel and repatriated the nine men,
two women and one child.
Under US immigration policy, any Cubans reaching land are allowed entry, but
any stopped at sea are returned home.
The vessel, which used empty barrels to float, was cruising towards the
Florida coastline at about 13km/h (eight miles per hour) using a propeller
attached to the truck's driveshaft when it was spotted by a US plane.
The Cubans said that they had driven to the shore in the truck, belonging
the uncle of one of the would-be migrants, and converted it on the beach.
"We assembled everything in six hours," Perez Gras told the Associated
Press.
"If they had let us get to Key West, we would have been able to drive it
right onto the sand," he said.
Several of the men sat atop the green truck and others were apparently under
the bright yellow canopy that covered the back of the vehicle.
It had been at sea for 31 hours by the time it was intercepted.
When US officials saw the boat, "they couldn't believe their eyes", the
Coast Guard said in a statement.
"The drive shaft of the truck had been dropped from the back axle and was
now used to turn a propeller. 55-gallon drums had been lashed together to
form a pontoon on either side of the vehicle," the statement said.
"We thought that they would let us in because it was so outrageous," said
another member of the group.
But for all its inventiveness, the truck fared no better than its passengers
and did not make it to land.
It was sunk by the US Coast Guard who deemed it "a hazard to navigation".
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