The Amphicar: The Little Floater With Big Plans

I grew up in the Tri-Cities (Kennewick, Pasco, Richland) in eastern WA. Before the I-182 bridge was completed, providing a direct link from Richland to west Pasco, one had to drive all the way to Kennewick to cross over the Columbia River and then double back on the other side. Short story long, I remember one family that had (IIRC) two of these in their carport overlooking the river on the Pasco side. The dad used one daily to commute, across the river, to the Hanford site north of Richland. Saved him maybe 1.5 hours per day vs. driving the long way around. Sadly, I never got to personally witness this. And these cars came w/o a rudder--you use the steering wheel; the front tires steer both in and out of the water!

Wow, does this bring back the memories. I rode in one of these things many years ago. My dad was friends with a guy down in South Texas, who had a Studebaker dealership (which should tell ya how long ago that was), and they also sold Amphicars. For years I thought the Amphicar was made by Studebaker, until that childhood memory error was corrected by more recent research. But yes, they were really cool machines. The little 1145cc 4-cylinder inline made 'acceptable' performance, if you weren't in a big hurry. It had a smooth, hydrostatic transfer of power from the wheels to the propellers. You would drive slowly into the water on wheel power, then move the lever and the wheels stopped and the propellers started. The front wheels were the 'rudder', which made the Amphicar steer quite differently than a normal boat. There was an extra lever on each door when when pulled, engaged a watertight gasket in the door sills. These little 'boats' still had various little seepages, which required the use of an electric bilge pump. The exhaust was high-mounted on the trunk lid to keep it out of the water. The hood ornament was the red-green navigation light as on a boat. And as another poster commented here -- yes, the freeboard was not muchl, less than 12 inches below the window sills. I remember sitting in the back seat and dragging my fingertips in the water. So yes, as a boat, you'd definately want calm waters. However, I have read of some Amphicar fanatics operating with the windows closed and the convertable roof up, taking them through some fairly heavy seas. More guts for them than this old guy has, fur sure. We tooled around Laguna Madre in that Amphicar one quiet afternoon, back in the late 60's. I haven't confirmed this but was told, that there was a tragic sinking of an Amphicar near this time (reason unknown), that killed a young family, and this was a death blow to the market. But yes, there are several of these unique machines still around and running. They had steel 'hulls' and rusted -- an inconvienence for a car, but death to a boat. Anyway, thanks for the memory trip.