What's It Worth? 1964 Amphicar 770 ..A Not So Great Car And Even Worse Boat.

The popularity and collectibility of the Amphicar has always been a mystery. Not comfy on land it was even less happy on the water. Still all this odd 1960's Uber Technology seemed to almost work.

Produced between 1961-1968 the Winged Boat of a Car was designed by Hanns Trippel and built in Berlin-Borsigwalde. Only 4000 were produced. The Amphicar was designed to be marketed and sold in the United States. Despite its Tepid performance it remains to this day as one of the most sucsessful and collectible Ampibious Vehicles of all time

The Amphicar's sedate Triumph Herald 1147cc engine was mounted at the rear of the craft, driving the rear wheels through a 4-speed manual transmission. For use in the water, the same engine drove a pair of reversible propellers at the rear, with a second gear lever engaging forward or reverse drive.

Once in the water, the main gear lever would normally be left in neutral. By engaging first gear as well as drive to the propellers when approaching a boat ramp, the Amphicar could drive itself out of the water.

All this worked in theory but due to its somewhat portly weight it was a little sluggish on land and flounder like on the sea. Top speed on the water was a relaxed 7 knots and on the highway a Diesel Peugeot slow 70MPH. Despite the lack of UMPH the Triumph sourced engine proved to be reliable and parts cheap to buy.