It was 1978 when the Italian GIORGIO AMORETTI set out to cross the Atlantic on board his Styrofoam VW Beetle named AUTOMARE. The Spanish authorities prohibited him from going to sea that year, however, he always had that idea in mind so in 1999 he resumed planning to cross the Atlantic on board a floating car.
Tragically, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer that prevented him from carrying out his idea so his sons and a friend of Giorgio’s named Marcelino took over.

On May 4, 1999, from the Canary Islands and specifically from La Palma, their three children and Marcelino set out to cross the Atlantic on board their floating cars, specifically, a VW Passat and a Ford Taunus of the time stuffed with food and water.

Avoiding the Civil Guard, they put their two cars afloat linked by ropes while holding the lifeboat that each car carried on top. They used what would be a kind of balloon as a candle. Navigation of the pirate era we see in the movies.

On May 14, 1999, two of the three brothers retired due to dizziness and returned to land. Marcelino and the third of the brothers were still on target. On May 25 the two adventurers who were still at sea lost all contact with the mainland when their INMARSAT satellite phone broke down and it was not until July 5 that they managed to fix it, their father had died on May 28, they were not told Nothing for the consequences that could have on a psychological level in them.

On August 31, 1999 and no more and no less than 119 days later and 4,700 km the two young people arrived on the French island Martinique to the applause of the curious.

This is how he paid tribute to his father and friend of Marcellin. Do not miss the gallery of images from the trip and the video put together by the late Italian company Autonauti.