A Rare Glance at the Coveted 1967 Amphicar
Author: Jason / Date: August 9, 2022 / Tags: 1967 Amphicar
(RareCarMarket.com) – As time passes and cars age, new classics emerge every year. But not every classic is as cool or unique as the Amphicar. Thanks to RamblinAround on Youtube, we get a rare glance at this unique German-made car/boat hybrid.
The Quandt Group in West Germany manufactured less than 4,000 of these cars between 1961 and 1967, and they were well ahead of their time. Dubbed the Amphicar 770 due to its ability to travel 70 mph on land and 7 knots in the water, it may be difficult to see why such a revolutionary car died out.
As history shows, many people imported these cars to the US. However, in 1968, the newly established Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) set certain emissions and mileage regulations the Amphicar 770 simply couldn’t meet, curtailing sales and imports of the vehicle.
The Amphicar consists of a complete hull with two water-tight sealing doors. Once in the water, the driver would put the manual land transmission into neutral and engage the manual water transmission. How cool is that?
President Lyndon B. Johnson especially loved this car. He often took unsuspecting guests for a ride and then suddenly drove towards the lake, acting as if the brakes were out until splash! They were on the water, not in a car drowning.
You can obtain an Amphicar, but you’ll pay a pretty penny (close to $100,000 at the time of writing) as there are only around 400 left worldwide today.
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