Thursday, October 14, 2004

The car that swims


Brendan O'Leary remembers the Amphicar because one of the original dealerships was located a block from his house. You could say that seeing all of those weird boat-cars floating down the river back then made an impression on him.

The Amphicar was built in Germany from 1961 to 1968. Total production was 3,878 vehicles. The Amphicar is the only civilian amphibious passenger automobile ever to be mass produced. 3,046 Amphicars were imported into the United States between 1961 and 1967. The Amphicar is rear engined and uses a 4 cylinder British-built Triumph Herald motor producing 43hp. All Amphicars are convertibles, and the civilian models were originally offered in only 4 colors, Beach White, Regatta Red, Lagoon Blue and Fjord Green (Aqua).