Amphibious cars, buses launch from Livingston County plant

Velvet Spicer//June 1, 2007//

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A Livingston County manufacturing facility is making a splash with cars and tour buses that cruise on the land and the sea.
Cool Amphibious Manufacturers International LLC designs and builds tour buses capable of maneuvering city streets then plunging into lakes and rivers. Founded by John and Julie Giljam and headquartered in Bluffton, S.C., CAMI manufactures the Hydra Terra at its South Lima, Livingston County plant.
In addition to the company’s original amphibious tour bus, the company has developed a Spyder and a motor coach that operate on both land and water.
Like something from a James Bond flick, the new Spyder is a high-performance sports car that seats four and comes with an optional 502-horsepower engine. The prototype has been sold and seven others are on order. The vehicles start at $155,000.
CAMI also has built an amphibious motor home, the Terra Wind, complete with a Jacuzzi tub, marble floors and leather furniture. Starting at $850,000, two of the luxury recreational vehicles have been ordered. The Giljams drive the original.
“It looks like a motor coach. That’s why people react so strong when we drive it into the water,” Julie Giljam said. “We’ve had 911 calls. We’ve had fire trucks show up. We’ve had people run down with chains. We’ve had all kinds of reactions when we go in the water.”
The Giljams met in 1995 while John Giljam was piloting private airplanes from Florida to New York. Originally from the Rochester area, Giljam at the time owned Hilltop Welding Inc., an emergency-vehicle manufacturer located at the CAMI facility here.
After marrying, the Giljams relocated to South Carolina, where they opened an amphibious tour business on Hilton Head Island, Julie Giljam said. The company used Vietnam-era Army vehicles called Lighter Amphibious Resupply Cargo vehicles for their tours.
“We ran with the LARC line because it was aluminum and we were running on the coast,” she said. “But John hated it. It was a cantankerous piece of equipment.”
So John Giljam designed and built the company’s signature vehicle, the Hydra Terra, from the ground up. He first designed a boat and then added a tour bus on top of it. Giljam added several safety devices to the vehicle, including foam flotation for positive buoyancy and fire suppression systems.
Following the 1999 sinking of an amphibious passenger vehicle in Arkansas, the Giljams were asked to start building the patented Hydra Terra for other tour operators, Julie Giljam recalled. CAMI bills the vehicle as unsinkable due to its flotation foam.
“It took us about nine months going through the regulations with the Coast Guard to get approval to put foam flotation in the Hydra Terras so they have positive buoyancy,” Giljam said. “If you were to split it in 16ths they’re not going to go down. You’ll destroy all the running parts but it’ll remain afloat.”
The company received so many orders that the Giljams closed their amphibious tour business to concentrate fully on the manufacturing side. Some 40 Hydra Terras are in operation around the globe-including two in Albany-and the company has orders for 14 more, Julie Giljam said.
The vehicles, starting at roughly $249,000 and capable of running in both fresh water and saltwater, are manufactured at the company’s 20,000-square-foot Lima facility. CAMI employs some 22 people, including nine here.
The Hydra Terra looks much like a tour bus and seats 49 passengers and two crew members. Tour operators typically begin their trips with a tour of an area’s historic sites, ending with a mariner’s view of the city.
Albany Aqua Ducks, now in its fourth year, runs tours daily from April through October, President Bob Wolfgang said. The sightseeing begins with an historic tour of the city and ends with a trip down the Hudson River.
“In our first three seasons we transported between 60,000 and 70,000 people in the city of Albany on tours and special events,” Wolfgang said. “It’s amazing what it has done for the city and the region.”
Albany Aqua Ducks started with one Hydra Terra and because of its success added a second vehicle the following year. Wolfgang said many of the company’s guests are visitors from outside the region and the country.
“It allows us to serve as liaisons and ambassadors for the city and the region and the state,” he added. “It’s a nice position to be in.”
Following Albany’s lead, tour operators in New York City have commissioned the Giljams for eight Hydra Terras to run in the Hudson River. Julie Giljam also said a businessman approached CAMI for information on starting a Hydra Terra tour of Keuka Lake, which runs from Yates County to Steuben County in the Finger Lakes.
“I’ve not heard anyone mention that,” Greater Rochester Visitors Association Inc. president and CEO Edward Hall said. “It is a fun thing and it certainly seems like something that would be marketable in this area, especially with the canal and the Genesee River. It seems like it’s something that could have a future here.”
The Erie Canal is a possible plus should an entrepreneur want to start an amphibious venture here, Hall said.
“Let’s face it, the Erie Canal is a known brand name,” he explained. “And more and more emphasis is being put on canal development. So it would seem that there would be some opportunity there.”
Hall, familiar with Boston Duck Tours in Boston, Mass., and Ride the Ducks in Branson, Mo., said that for an amphibious tour to work here, an investor or entrepreneur would need to look at both the seasonal nature of the business and the ability to amortize the cost over a certain time period.
“But it would appear that the elements are here that somebody could take a look at it,” he said.
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