Water way to drive!

It was not so much a roadster, more a seaster ... a pale green 1957 Buick sloshing steadily towards Florida.

Kept buoyant by a pontoon of oil drums, with a pointed section welded on to form a bow and its engine connected to a propeller, the astonishing contraption was taking 11 Cubans on what they hoped was a voyage to freedom in America.

But with just 30 miles to go of the 90-mile journey, they were intercepted by the U.S. Coastguard as they motored along at a steady 8mph with two refugees sunbathingon the roof. The coastguard took the refugees off the Buick and sank it before sending the 11 back to Havana.

It was second time unlucky for the two men who devised the amphibious car, 45-year-old Marciel Basanta Lopez and 43-year-old Luis Gras Rodriquez.

Last summer, they were caught trying to make the same trip in a converted 1951 Chevrolet truck with ten passengers.

That vehicle was also sunk and its occupants sent back. Undaunted, the two set about cobbling up the Buick. They completed the car-boat despite preventive measures by suspicious Cuban police ... who took away Lopez's driving licence.