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Munich - Amphicar 770
An Amphicar 770 spotted at Motorworld Munich.
The Amphicar 770 was the first civilian amphibious vehicle, produced by the German company Amphicar in the 1960ties.
So far it also remains the only civilian amphibious vehicle that ever entered mass production.
Unfortunately sales were too low, partly because the car was blasted by the motor press on its main market in the USA as being too small, too slow on the road and too slow on the water. Therefore the company had to shut down after only a few years of activity. This blasting by the American motor press may have been caused by some envious "Not invented here" syndrome...
Actual performance was as to be expected for such a vehicle:
120 km/h on land
12 km/h on water
And actually the car was surprisingly seaworthy:
It was tested on the Baltic Sea in force 8 winds.
Two cars actually crossed the English Channel in 7 hours.
The car could be left in the water (e.g. docked at a jetty) for several hours.
The comparable (though military) US product Ford GPA "Seep" was slightly larger, but actually even slower (80 km/h resp. 9 km/h) and had an abysmal seaworthiness.
Maintenance of the Amphicar was a nightmare, though:
After each operation in water it required greasing at 13 points, one of which required removal of the rear seat and the car had to be lifted off the ground to reach some others.
Finally: Despite what what is written on some websites (including the English Wikipedia), the development of the Amphicar is completely independent of the more famous Volkswagen Schwimmwagen. The Schwimmwagen is a Porsche development.
The developer of the Amphicar, Hans Trippel, was poineering amphibious cars and has developed other amphibious vehicles long before the Schwimmwagen came into existence. One such amphibiuos car was the "Trippel SG 6", whose military variant was built at the at the Bugatti works in Molsheim, France.
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
Munich - Amphicar 770
An Amphicar 770 spotted at Motorworld Munich.
The Amphicar 770 was the first civilian amphibious vehicle, produced by the German company Amphicar in the 1960ties.
So far it also remains the only civilian amphibious vehicle that ever entered mass production.
Unfortunately sales were too low, partly because the car was blasted by the motor press on its main market in the USA as being too small, too slow on the road and too slow on the water. Therefore the company had to shut down after only a few years of activity. This blasting by the American motor press may have been caused by some envious "Not invented here" syndrome...
Actual performance was as to be expected for such a vehicle:
120 km/h on land
12 km/h on water
And actually the car was surprisingly seaworthy:
It was tested on the Baltic Sea in force 8 winds.
Two cars actually crossed the English Channel in 7 hours.
The car could be left in the water (e.g. docked at a jetty) for several hours.
The comparable (though military) US product Ford GPA "Seep" was slightly larger, but actually even slower (80 km/h resp. 9 km/h) and had an abysmal seaworthiness.
Maintenance of the Amphicar was a nightmare, though:
After each operation in water it required greasing at 13 points, one of which required removal of the rear seat and the car had to be lifted off the ground to reach some others.
Finally: Despite what what is written on some websites (including the English Wikipedia), the development of the Amphicar is completely independent of the more famous Volkswagen Schwimmwagen. The Schwimmwagen is a Porsche development.
The developer of the Amphicar, Hans Trippel, was poineering amphibious cars and has developed other amphibious vehicles long before the Schwimmwagen came into existence. One such amphibiuos car was the "Trippel SG 6", whose military variant was built at the at the Bugatti works in Molsheim, France.
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.