FOR SHEER NOVELTY, few vehicles matched the Amphicar. It solved the Sunday afternoon dilemma of whether to take the car out for a drive or take the boat for a cruise on the lake.
The Amphicar did both, and it guaranteed to attract a crowd.
Billed as “The Sports Car that Swims,” the diminutive-but-buoyant Amphicar was built in Germany from 1961 to 1968 and remains the world’s only mass-produced amphibious passenger car.
The notion that a land vehicle could swim was not new. Amphibious carriages dated back to the 1700s, and Oliver Evans invented a steam-powered amphibious vehicle in 1805 to dredge Philadelphia’s docks. But until the late1920s, most efforts to combine car and boat involved either putting wheels and axles on a boat or putting a boat on a modified car chassis.
Later, a broad range of amphibious recreation, expedition, and search & rescue vehicles emerged. But the most successful amphibians were military, the most familiar being the U.S. Army’s DUKW—known among GIs as the Duck—a six-wheel-drive amphibious truck that saw combat during World War II and the Korean War. General Motors built the vehicles, which the U.S. military originally rejected. The DUKW proved its worth during a rescue of stranded U.S. Coast Guard sailors during a heavy storm. A fleet of DUKWs are still in use as sightseeing boats at the Wisconsin Dells attraction in Wisconsin.
Sadly, the Amphicar was not nearly as seaworthy as the sturdy DUKW. The Amphicar’s parents were German inventor Hans Trippel and wealthy German industrialist Harald Quandt. Trippel’s nautically inspired Amphicar was the first marketable civilian floating car. Quandt, an Amphicar enthusiast, funded its launch.
Quandt’s business empire included a 30 percent stake in Bavarian Motor Works (BMW) and nearly 10 percent in Daimler-Benz. As part owner of over two hundred companies, Quandt had no problem securing factory space for the Amphicar, negotiating the purchase of parts from other manufacturers and establishing a distribution network.
At age 25, Trippel had put propellers on his race car, which led to the creation of his first amphibious car in 1932. His little front-drive two-seater swam, but not well. He went on to develop various four- and six-cylinder amphibious cars, some with four-wheel drive. In between amphibians, he designed several non-amphibious cars, including the Norwegian-built Troll.
Germany’s armed forces used Trippel’s floating four-wheel-drive passenger cars, and Germany’s armed forces used amphibious sedans during World War II. Ferdinand Porsche’s famed Volkswagen Schwimmwagen became a staple of the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS’s amphibious fleets, but even Dr. Porsche bought a Trippel amphibious car to study how it worked.
After the war, Tripple continued his pioneering work with amphibians and unveiled a civilian Eurocar with an Austin A35 engine at the 1959 Geneva Motor Show. It was marketed two years later as the Amphicar with a four-cylinder British Triumph Herald engine. Trippel wanted to base his Amphicar on the VW engine and chassis, but American marine laws prohibited air-cooled engines.
Working on a budget, the Quandt design team relied on existing parts. Engine ancillaries, taillights, and indicators came from England; the steel bodies, instruments, switches, and other electrical fittings, suspension system, and seaworthy gearbox from Germany. The nylon propellers came from Denmark, and the sealed-beam headlights from America. The wide whitewall tires came from Italy, Denmark, and Germany.
Amphicars were built by IWK, a Quandt subsidiary, in factories in Borsig, in West Berlin, and Lubeck, Trippel’s hometown. Just 35 cars were built in 1960, and although a production run of 100,000 cars was IWK’s break-even volume, only 3,878 Amphicars were ever built. All were four-passenger convertibles and were called the 770, named for the Amphicar’s top speeds of 7 knots on water and 70 miles per hour on land.
Designed for the American and European leisure markets, Amphicars were offered in Regatta Red, Beach White, Lagoon Blue, and Fjord Green. All had white folding cloth tops, except for Beach White cars, which had black tops. Honoring its birthplace, the Amphicar’s steering wheel hub depicted a rendering of Holstentor, the western entrance to Lubeck, a port city on the Baltic Sea.
Amphicars debuted at the 1961 New York Auto Show and at the Miami, Florida, Boat Show. From 1964 Amphicars were sold in the United Kingdom. Advertised as a way to save marina fees, a total of 3,046 were sold in the United States, and the rest ended up in Europe. For use as a rescue vehicle, IWK offered an optional stretcher that was mounted to the rear of the Amphicar.
The 14-foot-long Amphicar had 9.5 inches of ground clearance for easy travel up and down the boat launch. Optional rear bumper guards shielded the propellers from running aground in shallow water. The rear-mounted 43-horsepower Triumph Herald engine drove the wheels through a two-part, four-speed Hermes gearbox. It delivered four speeds and reverse on land, and forward and reverse gears on water. The transfer lever sat next to the conventional gearshift on the center console.
Once on the launch pad, the Amphicar driver simply had to put the bilge plug in, secure the front luggage deck, flip up the lower locks to seal the doors and drive into the water.
Once afloat, the driver switched the water transmission into forward and the propellers took over. The front wheels then acted as rudders. The Amphicar had only 14 inches of freeboard, so avoiding wakes with the top down was a must if you didn’t want to get wet.
To exit the water, the driver had only to steer the Amphicar toward land, engage first gear before the Amphicar hit the ground, and once the wheels were on land, disengage water drive.
If any water got into the car, the Amphicar’s electric 6-gallon-per-minute bilge pump could be activated by a dashboard switch. Bilge water was ejected through an outlet at the rear. Amphicars were equipped with navigational lights, marine horn, engine fan, and a delayed starter, which could be overriden. Optional equipment included a radio, anchor, life preservers, distress flares, fire extinguisher, and paddle.
The Amphicar’s steel body/hull was made watertight by continuous welds and lead seals of the joints. Doors had double locks and door openings were sealed with twin rubber strips. Because dual licensing was required in most states, Amphicars often sported Coast Guard registration numbers on their fenders. Whether used in salt water or fresh, Amphicars came with a six-month or 6,000-mile warranty.
Amphicars rode on an 82.7-inch wheelbase and had four-wheel independent coil-spring suspension. On land, the Herald inline four-cylinder engine required a bit of shifting, but the car cruised easily at 70 miles per hour. The high, aft-mounted engine gave the Amphicar a clumsy 40-60 weight distribution and chronic oversteer. The Amphicar’s narrow 6.40 x 13 tires also contributed to the car’s mediocre handling on land, but narrow tires made better rudders than wider tires.
Rust always threatened to put a damper on the Amphicar’s fun, not only of the steel hull but of the linkages and cables inside it. Seals shrank over time, allowing tiny amounts of water to seep in and begin the corrosion process. Owners also had to dry their brakes after each swim and frequently grease brake linkages and universal joint bearings.
New Jersey–based Amphicar Corp. was IWK’s American sales and distribution arm. Its president, Englishman Charles A. “Tony” Haigh, launched a multimedia ad blitz for the Amphicar. Radio and TV stations used Amphicars for disaster coverage. Sporting goods retailers and boating outfitters featured Amphicars among the rifles, fishing reels, and life jackets
In 1964 Amphicar joined Pepsi-Cola for a splash into the water in a “Come alive! You’re in the Pepsi generation” TV ad. As part of the promotion, Pepsi bottlers were offered the chance to buy Amphicars at a $1,200 discount. Several bottlers took advantage of the offer and used Amphicars in various promotions. Afterward, they sold them to friends and employees. In 1965 British racing legend Stirling Moss was seen in print ads piloting an Amphicar down the Thames River in London.
Amphicar buyers included U.S. President Lyndon Johnson, who was often seen piloting his Lagoon Blue amphibian on the lake at his Texas ranch. Johnson reportedly liked to pile unsuspecting visitors into the car and then careen into the lake (exclaiming to everyone that the brakes were broken). Johnson’s press secretary, Pierre Salinger, also bought an Amphicar.
Mechanix Illustrated’s Tom McCahill predicted the Amphicar owner would be the hit of the season at the local lake, while Car and Driver deemed the Amphicar a lousy car and even worse boat. A reviewer in the November 23, 1963, issue of The New Yorker was more impressed with the combination car-boat, calling it delightful.
In 1965 two Amphicars waddled down Alaska’s Yukon River, and two others crossed the English Channel in 1968, miraculously surviving gale-force winds and 20-foot swells.
Amphicars were originally priced at around $3,300—not a cheap car in the early 1960s—but the price reduced in later years to about $2,800. Nevertheless, sales fell short of expectations, and the Amphicar didn’t last long enough for the Quandt team to make improvements. Bigger engines, a fiberglass hull, four-wheel drive, flotation gear, more leg room, and chromed brass fittings never came to fruition. Smog and safety regulations in America ended the Amphicar’s viability in late 1967, and when Harald Quandt died in a plane crash in September of that year, it lost its financial champion.
Often criticized for its drippy 1950s styling, there were two series of Amphicars. The 1961–1964 cars had a one-piece bumper and different sheet metal, axle shafts, and propellers. The 1965–1967 cars had better shafts and propellers, different body parts and a two-piece bumper.
Despite the Amphicar’s high maintenance and corrosion-prone hulls, they have a devoted corps of owners who regularly gather for “swim-ins.” One such fan, Keith Mathiowetz of Scandinavia, Wisconsin, has been obsessed with Amphicars since childhood and is a current member of the International Amphicar Owners Club.
“My interest in Amphicars began when I was about eight years old,” he says. “Growing up in the late 1960s in Red Wing, Minnesota, a Mississippi River town, I saw a white Amphicar drive into the river while my family and I were at a local park. I already loved cars, so I was immediately attracted to the Amphicar’s uniqueness and knew that someday I’d have one,” he remembers.
Mathiowetz bought his complete—but extremely rough—1964 Lagoon Blue Amphicar in 1983. It was one of several remaining on the car lot of former Minneapolis Amphicar distributor Richard Holt. Holt was the largest Amphicar distributor in the Twin Cities area during the 1960s, and he still had a few leftover Amphicars well into the 1980s.
“He told me when I bought mine that he had sold it new to a man who later traded it in for a new 1967 Amphicar,” Mathiowetz said. “After the trade-in, the blue car sat on the lot for over fifteen years. The engine had seized so the car was inoperable.
“After I bought the Amphicar, it languished in various garages. College and job relocations prevented me from doing a proper restoration. However, I did begin buying new old stock [NOS] and good used parts and storing them for future use. Restoration began in 2006 and is ongoing. The engine and transmission have been rebuilt, and the body has been repaired and repainted. I’m currently assembling the car.”
Amphicars are a real restoration challenge, Mathiowetz said. Although they’re considered a mass-produced car, they all have a hand-built, individual quality to them, which makes fitting and adjusting parts difficult. It’s not like working on a Chevrolet or Ford.
Because this car is also a boat, special attention is needed to prevent water leaks. Every external hole in body/hull—for attaching bumpers, brake lines, headlights, taillights, steering gear, propeller shafts, and so on—must be sealed, usually with special gaskets. Generally, parts aren’t difficult to obtain, but they are expensive.
“I’ve driven many types of cars and there’s no automotive experience that compares to the thrill of driving an Amphicar into and out of the water,” Mathiowetz said. “No matter how much you know about an Amphicar, and how much confidence you have in its abilities, the transition from land to water will make your heart race every time.”
The final body and paint work of Mathiowetz’s car was completed by fellow Amphicar enthusiast Tom Maruska of Duluth, Minnesota. Maruska broke a sales record when he sold his own restored 1964 Amphicar at the 2006 Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale for $115,000, plus an 8 percent buyer’s commission. Typically, Amphicars sell for $45,000–$70,000, depending on rarity and condition.
At any price, the Amphicar continues to attract nautically minded collectors around the world. These hardy souls think nothing of venturing off terra firma in search of marine adventure, even if the going is slow and not without some peril.
Even with all of its compromises and drawbacks, the Amphicar makes people smile.