Who doesn’t remember the quirky Amphicar of the 1960s? You know, the little car that could ride on water or the small boat that could drive on land. Built in Germany, production ran from 1961 to 1965 with registrations running as late as 1968. Fewer than 4,000 were built with most shipped to buyers in the U.S. This Amphicar is from 1964 and is currently a collection of parts and pieces. Assuming it’s all there, the nifty little car/boat is in Harrison Township. Michigan, and is available here on Facebook Marketplace for $25,000. Barn Finder Chuck Foster scores again in the tips department!
This Amphicar should, of course, be considered an amphibious vehicle with its name a simple merger of that term and “car.” With the U.S. being the target market, they were built to meet both DOT and Coast Guard standards, so navigation lights and other equipment would be part of the mix. For propulsion, each Amphicar came with a Triumph-supplied 4-cylinder engine that had a displacement of 1148cc. Speed wasn’t a primary concern as 43 hp was about all you could squeeze out of the motor.
From the seller’s description (and the photos), we assume this car was taken apart for a restoration that never got into high gear. Some things have been rebuilt, such as the driveshafts, while the rest may be an assortment of new and old parts. The former may include the top, bearings (for what?), clutch kit, tires, and more. We’re told that not much has been done with the body and a lot of primer over red seems to be prominent. From what we can see, is this a good project at the seller’s asking price?
Assembly required can be a nightmare . These are cool cars when running .
GLWS!
Nothing like a ground up restoration. Buy car grind it up into 40,000 pieces and walah, a ground up restoration or a 40,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. If your not familiar with the car, I would pass.
I’ve restored numerous cars, and worked on many boats, and while I always liked these, I’d be afraid to even get my feet wet with this one, which is likely what would happen…
That is why they were all convertibles and the manual recommended you lower the top before operating on water.
I’d have to wonder if it would be possible to engineer a reinforced-fiberglass replacement body/hull on that. Rust is what killed most of them; and there was no sophisticated painting or plating in their factory. Like the old fiberglass Jeep CJ tubs…just put the running gear on the glass tub and motor on down the ramp, free from rust worries…
Some of the rusted hulks may come out from under backyard tarps, for that.
I wouldn’t even list this thing, besides have it go in the water after restoring
Looking at the pictures I feel that there is one too many zeros in the asking price. Concours level restoration has brought close to $100K at action. A quick search online and I found several in running but rough condition for around $30K. When you buy a disassembled project you never know if the whole car is included. Boxes and piles of parts get moved around a lot.