Lake Sunapee Survivor: 1967 Amphicar
When I was a kid my mother told me a story about the day she went for a ride in a car that could drive from the land right into the water. The idea of a car which was also a boat intrigued me, but I doubted it because I had never seen such a machine. Well, I came to learn that the vehicle was real and it was called an Amphicar. This 1967 Amphicar is claimed to be original with only 2,933 miles on the clock. Find it here on eBay with bidding at $27,600.
The registration numbers give away this ungainly automobile’s nautical intentions. When it did set sail, it was luckily launched into Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire where the water is fresh and free from salt. Rust is a common problem with these, but this one is claimed to not have any of the nasty stuff. That is truly a remarkable claim for an unrestored Amphicar.
Much of this car is claimed to be just as it came from the factory, including the paint and even the tires. So hopefully the next owner will attempt to preserve as much of it as they can. It needs some brake work and likely a few other things to be road, err, sea worthy, but it is sure to provide the next owner with plenty of summertime fun.
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Comments
I just looked at a very nice restored version at the Detroit AutoRama . Very nice little bit of history .
Gentleman from our church in Columbus, Montana had one in mint green. He frequently was seen on Cooney Reservoir and Ft. Peck putting about. Not very fast land or lake, but very cool nonetheless. He paid less than 3k back in early ’90s.
Nice Find!! 8-)This is RARE if it is truly unrestored & rust free!!Is that 2933 land miles or water miles??I’d give it a very thorough inspection & plan on investing a few $$$ on seals & other critical items before attempting a 1st voyage!!(Oh! & invest in a few life vests!!)-Bear-
I wonder if you can buy a speed-prop for it :)
To my knowledge the Amphicar is unique in being the only production non-military amphibious car, but was not a success. It’s hard to engineer a small, affordable vehicle for amphibious use and end up with something that does really well on both land and water, and that problem held the Amphicar back. One common problem with these was water leaking in through the door openings. It would have been better to avoid having opening doors in favor of external steps or a ladder, but the ladies with skirts or dresses would not have liked that. But it is good to see one of these rare cars coming available on the market with such low mileage and in such good condition. Limiting use to a freshwater lake probably helped bigtime on that point. If it were my car I would freshen it up so that it looked and ran its best and offer it at one of the collector car auctions, probably Barrett-Jackson. With advance notice of the offering it would likely bring strong bidding from people who want it because it’s one of the ultimate oddball cars you can buy.
There are a few of these on the St. Croix river between Minnesota and Wisconsin around Stillwater. Dolphin nailed it – too many compromises had to be made, so it does work, but it’s not much of a car, and not much of a boat. And don’t even think about rough water.
Slow, rust prone or not I have one on my wish list.
“needs brake work”…..they ALL need brake work! They did from new! They were a real treat to stop after you had floated one…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJC7E06IBXI&feature=related
I actually got to ride in one of these things in about 66. My neighbor at the time was an old gear head and I was 12 or so, and he was my hero back then. He brought this thing home and his wife and daughter refused to go in the water with him in it. I went for it, but was nervous to say the least. we took it to the city park boat ramp along the river. we just drove right in the water,, he flipped a lever to get the props turning and we were off. I remember him saying it didn’t steer well in the water, because it had no rudder. we went up and down the river for a couple hours and then just drove right back out. 20 years or so later I got to see one in the water on a big lake we were camping on. it actually looks like a ’57 chevy ragtop when it is in the water.