A FOOLISH casanova tried to impress his girl by taking her for an illegal spin on a Darwin city beach in his best mate's borrowed four-wheel-drive - only to get bogged and watch it disappear under the Arafura Sea.

The uninsured Nissan Patrol, with NSW plates, vanished completely under the incoming tide, which peaked at 6.2m just after 8am. By 11am it slowly emerged, roof racks first, as the tide receded.

Bemused long-grassers camping at Mindil watched the man drive down the beach towards the rocks early yesterday morning before turning to the water where he hit a patch of soft mud and got bogged.

"He was screaming at the car," said Karl Miller, 47, from the Tiwi Islands.

"The tide was coming in and he was shouting: 'f***'.

"What he want to drive out there for? It's a soft place."

The owner of the car and a mate dug the wheels out with shovels at noon yesterday.

The 40-year-old construction worker had tricked his motor up with expensive, high-performance parts so he could take his two adult sons on a driving trip around Australia.

"It had $60,000 worth of work done to it," the stunned owner said.

The metal glistened sadly under the bonnet, soaked with sea water, as a curious egret watched the men hard at work.

The man, who did not want to give his name, said he was from Port Stephens, NSW, and had only been in Darwin a week.

"I don't know what to do now," he said.

"I've only got me dog and me truck. It's all I've got."

He said he was asleep at a friend's house in Parap when his mate rang him early yesterday to tell him that the vehicle was stuck.

"He got out and was knee deep in water," he said.

"I came flying down but it was too late.

"It's stuck like a suction cup."

The tow truck driver said it would take two trucks to get the vehicle out.

Most people know they are not allowed to drive on Mindil Beach without a permit.

But in the early hours of yesterday morning it somehow seemed like a great idea to take the uninsured Nissan Patrol to the waterline as the incoming tide was rising fast.

The Tiwi Island long-grassers, in town for Christmas, said the bogged driver appeared to be alone.

But the tow truck driver said he had been taking his date on a spin.

The car owner said he had forgiven his mate.

"We're still friends. It's only a car.

"He didn't get hurt."

"He thought he'd go drive along the beach and didn't realise where the tide was."