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Amphicar BUYER

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I am known as Cap'n John in Amphicar circles. I have recently finished restoration of my 1964 Amphicar. Started out that I was just going to "fix the 1/4 panels and make her float" Well, 2 1/2 years later she is totaly gone through! Bumper to props, top to bilge, all nice and shiny! cool.gif

Don't get me wrong here, yes I have about 1500+ hours into the restoration (all but paint/body by myself), but she is also a driver and a swimmer! I have no intention of this car being jewelry. She is way too much fun to just look at! grin.gif

If anyone has anything AMPHICAR, let me know as I am always interested.

Cap'n John

10_04bevinw.jpg

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Dear Captain,Cool car,have not seen one since i was a kid.How fast are they in the water?Did'nt see any fishing poles in the pictures,Should be a good one to troll in.Just a thought,diz tongue.gif

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Captain John welcome aboard the DF. I have been an AACA member for years and recently joined the Amphicar Club as I have a 67. I also have a trailer queen (non Amphicar) that took 4 years of my life to build not counting the money and a Corvette that I have owned for 28 years and restored twice and drive into the ground.

I attended the 2002 Amphicar Celina Convention and 3 weeks ago was at Billy

Snx's annual outing of which we took the Amphicars out all day and had a blast. There is room in this hobby for all weather you drive them or trailer them. In my opinion you will find that the AACA will lean to making a vehicle orginial and most shun the street rods. There also seems to be a wedge between the people that drive there vehicles or trailer the queens. I seem to fit in to both.

My biggest disappointment with the Amphicar Club is that most members that I have met do not care to keep there cars orginial. I am in the process this winter of freshing mine up and have asked members of the club what color the spare tire board is or the gear shifter handle and they look at me like I am crazy as most paint them the wrong colors and really don't care. I want to put the correct factory headlights in and again most say why. My fear with the Amphicar is there will not be any factory correct the way it is heading.

I find the Amphicar Email digest interesting and have read many of your comments. Again welcome aboard and hope we can meet at Celina 2003. smile.gif

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Definately a rare piece of iron. I remember as a kid my father had a deposit down on one and my mom told him 'NO' and we didn't get it (boy has he kicked himself for listening to her). I'll be the first to say that is the first one that I've seen that is white. I've only seen about three or four in my life, but all of the ones that I've seen have been red.

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To answer a couple of questions...

<span style="font-weight: bold">Dizzy</span> - If I have a fishing pole in my hand, steering wheel in the other, what do I do with my beer? wink.gif These cars do about 6 knotts in the water and 70 MPH on land. Mine seems to like about 55 real well. The 1147cc Triumph engine puts out only 43 HP. crazy.gif

<span style="font-weight: bold">Ron</span> - I am a purist as well. I built my Amphi to be as correct as possible. I am not satisfied with anything less. My current quest it to find the rest of the tool kit, correct outside mirrors and passenger visor.

I know what you mean about the "customs" I prefer it to be as correct as possible for historic purposes. Mine is 100% correct with the exception of a handfull of hardware and the hand controls I have built. I got odd looks too when I asked similar "detail oriented" questions about wire and hose routing etc. It can be correct and a swimmer too!

I too was @ Celina. You may have seen me there, or we may have met. I was the only guy in a wheelchair there. To answer your question, trunk boards are glossy gunmetal grey, the gear shift handle is glossy black. wink.gif

As far as trailer queens go, that is OK with me as long as they get shown and are not just stored never to be appreciated by the public (what a waste that is). Every time I have mine out in the water (5+ hours yesterday), it is a education for a lot of people. I have met many good people because of this car. I see that as a plus!

<span style="font-weight: bold">ex98thdrill</span> - The Amphicars came in 4 colors (although some custom colors were done for rescue equipment and at least 1 black factory one was produced). The 4 available colors (in order of production numbers) were Regatta Red - Beach Sand White - Lagoon Blue - Fjord Green

I am lucky enough to have the whole set! 1 newly restored (white), 1 driver (red, non-swimer), & 2 parts cars (blue & green).

Cap'n

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Well, I have to say that these amphicars are just about the coolest thing ever made! There used to be an old amphibious car that sit about 20 miles from our house at the back of a horse trailer sales lot, it was grew up and had been sitting back there for years. Me and my dad went to check out trailers(we had horses back then) and saw it sitting back there. This one was different than any other that I have seen before, it had a MAHOGANY or TEAKWOOD lapstrake deck on top! The guy wanted 500.00 for it, I remember BEGGING my dad to go back and buy it, but he wouldn't, he said it would have took a fortune to fix it up(but I didn't care, it was just too cool). It was really neat looking and you could tell that it was made as an amphibious car from the factory, it wasn't a custom job. I have not been back there in years, would it be a good idea to go check what happened to it? Anybody got any ideas what it was/is? Thanks,

Robert

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58rebelsport - Sure, it would be a good idea and see if it still exists. Seems that many of the Amphicars have undegone customization. This was because until about 10 years ago, there were no parts to be found anywhere. People made due with what was on hand. One guy I know of put a V-6 in his with a home made trans!. Once the parts were discovered, then the cars began being restored.

So it could still be an Amphi, you just never know! If you get a pic, I may be able to ID it for you. Amphicars were (1961--68) and remain the only mass produced amphibious car for civilian use made.

Cap'n

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