|
www.Amphicars.com | |
Amphicars and Parts for sale
Last updated July 2010
Background info and buyers guide:
Amphicars are rare so expect to have to travel. Don't believe anything you read in published price guides, there simply aren't enough cars sold to make the figures anything but a guess. The biggest selection of cars for sale will normally be found on the US based International Amphicar club web site. Traditionally prices are about the same throughout the world, maybe slightly less in the USA as there is more supply, they increase year on year by a bit more than inflation, recently there have been some new high prices achieved at auctions in the USA, in two cases over $100,000, Google " Barrett Jackson Amphicar" for more.
In 2010 an Amphicar that looks as good as new and is ready to drive and float (safely) is unlikely to be for sale below USDollars $80,000 - Euros 60,000 - UK Pounds 50,000. A lot of money but if you buy the right Amphicar in the right condition and look after it's likely to be a very good long term investment !
As well as the club site you can of course have a look on Ebay but as always buyer beware, in many cases Amphicars have been listed on Ebay with attractive prices (typically around $20,000) but using photos of a car that is not for sale (in one case using pictures lifted from this website). The buyer might well have built feedback using low value items. After the sale they will typically ask for a deposit of 10% whilst shipping / collection is arranged. As soon as that is paid they will disappear.
Mid range Amphicars are a gamble, you may of course get a good car at a low price but also it could be a bad car disguised. Bodywork is everything, check very very carefully. On many classic cars a mechanical breakdown could be considered part of the fun and you gentle coast to the side of the road but it's not a lot of fun to breakdown on a fast flowing river or in the middle of a lake
Be careful of "rough" cars. A badly repaired Amphicar is no fun at all and can be a real danger if it fails in the middle of a lake. The cost of repairing a rough Amphicar increases all the time, check some of the prices of parts on the Gordon imports website ( www.gordonimports.com ) It is certainly possible to spend as much as $80,000 just on parts to make a rough Amphicar good.
Just the transmission is now around $15,000 (plus shipping from California) and we are getting to the stage where there are very few good ones left, the complexity and special gears made of special materials means any rebuild is unlikely to be cheap - but if an Amphicar has been neglected - especially if it has been standing for a number of years - it would be prudent to assume the transmission is bad. Checking the colour and condition of transmission fluid can be an indication but driving or dismantling is the only way to be sure.
Rust is always a concern. When these cars had lower value many suffered from fibreglass repairs and lots of plastic filler (Bondo). Again be very careful.
Watch out for cars covered with marine paint or any epoxy coating such as POR15. It's an absolute pain to remove it (which normally you will want to do) sometimes dipping the shell or blast cleaning is the only option. Once sorted Amphicars only need standard paint, cavity wax and a bit of care to keep on top of corrosion.
In terms of Amphicar variations, apart from condition the influences are early or late, left or right hand drive and of course colour.
A number of improvement were made around half way through Amphicar production, most noticiable are:
Removal of shields around the propellors.
Better Heater
Improved Handbrake.
Moulding at bottom of side panel - car looks better and it improves structure.
Larger driveshaft tunnels.
All these changes were good, the later cars drive better and are easier to maintain, there is no real benefit to having an early car but choose on condition, that's what matters most.
LHD or RHD ? There were 3778 Amphicars made, less than 100 were RHD. These were converted at the factory and are almost all late cars. A RHD car could be converted back to LHD without too much effort as the factory left the original steering brackets in place. Converting LHD to RHD isn't an option, too much is missing.
I'm tall and RHD cars suit me better, the position of the pedals is better if you have long legs. In theory RHD cars can be lop sided in water with only the driver on board as the heater and battery are also on the right but in reality that isn't really noticable and as Amphicar owners will know, you never have a problem finding a passenger !
So, colours, well they come in and out of fashion now just as they did in the 1960s. Lets get the non standard colours out of the way first, Amphicars have been painted in all sorts of colours and during the 1970s there was a fashion for two tone. I don't think any look as good as the original 4 colours and certainly in terms of value a colour that isn't one of the originals is likely to have a negative effect.
Red is now and always has been the most popular colour, this can either be with white side bumpers and top (generally earlier cars) or black on later cars. Another change on later cars was the dashboard painted crackle black which was very much the sports car fashion in the late 1960s, this works best with red cars.
Green, the original fjord green is a minty green with white side mouldings and white top. This was not a popular colour through the 1970s, 80s and 90s and many of these cars were resprayed red in that period but it has become much more popular in recent years (similar colours are now used on some new cars) and it suits Amphicar really well.
Blue, these cars look more 50s than 60s and generally blue was used on early cars. It can be seen with black but looks better with white. A less common colour now but suits Amphicar well. Green and Blue both look nice with the original wide whitewall tyres (although original spec wide whitewalls are not available and the original tyres are now too old to be considered safe).
White. Original Amphicar beech white I believe doesn't really suit the car, although it means being non standard a creamy white looks better. White was always the rarest colour as of the 4 it perhaps suits the Amphicar least, but was often specified by those who want to sign write their Amphcar. White is normally teamed with black but some cars sold in the US had red top and bumpers.
I'm happy to travel anywhere in the world to appraise an Amphicar for sale. I can give you an honest report of it's value and condition. Sadly I can't do this for love ! I run my own business and so would have to charge my lowest daily rate (currently around £300) plus expenses.
Parts:
The main source is Hugh Gordon at Gordon Imports, 14330 Iseli Road, Santa Fe Springs, California 90670. He has the cars, parts and more than 30 years experience. Website is http://www.gordonimports.com/
Another source of parts is Gord Souter in Canada, amphicar.ca
I have some parts that I don't need here in the UK, specifically I have front and rear shock absorbers, a fuel tank, convertible top frame, radiator, and a few other bits
I have also been tracking down the correct period accessories. I have found the Blaupunkt Frankfurt type X or Y is the "correct" radio for a European Amphicar, this should have the square frontplate and ideally white buttons and knobs. It has 4 waveband and can support one or two speakers (I recommend cutting a hole in the triangle shaped trim panel by the drivers foot to match the air intake hole on the passenger side and fitting a second speaker in there).
The white knob Blaupunkt Radios are very sought after by owners of the Porsche 356 and various other classic German cars, as a result prices are high, expect to pay around $250 for a working radio - but they do look the business, here is a picture of mine:
Cars for sale in the UK,
July 2010.
Declare an interest here, this is my own car that I've owned for around 10 years. As I have two other Amphicars and not enough garaging I've reluctantly decided to sell it.
UK Registered, 1965 Right Hand Drive FBD 362C
As initially rebuilt on the TV show “Salvage Squad” in 2005. (DVD available). Since then stored in climate controlled garage.
Very high quality body restoration using new metal and lead loading. Mechanical rebuild now being finished with new suspension, bearings, tyres. All to a very high standard, owner has been maintaining Amphicars for 25 years and has 2 others.
Car will be ready late 2010. It is in the central UK, 40 miles from Birmingham. I can help with shipping anywhere in the world, Japan and Australia / NZ no problem. Could be converted to Left Hand Drive for other markets as the original brackets are in place.
Mostly standard but with some performance/safety improvements.
Contact David Chapman + 44 1684 878162 Email amphicars at avonlogic.com
Price on application.
Photos below taken during mechanical resoration, more to follow.
Cars for sale in the EU,
April 2008.
UPDATE July 2008, THIS CAR IS NOW SOLD.
Manuel
38.000 EUROS firm price
========================
In October 2007 Coys of Kensington in London sold the following. I'm leaving the ad here for a while for reference.
================================================================================================
Created by Hans Trippel, one of the greatest exponents of amphibious
vehicles, the Amphicar was the first truly amphibious car to go on general
sale. German Trippel had started designing such vehicles in 1932 and two
years later he produced the four wheel SG6 with propeller drive. Although
apparently destined for forestry and estate use, with world war a known
possibility within the Third Reich it soon attracted military interest.
Trippel was duly appointed to Hitler's advisory staff and took over
Bugatti's Molsheim factory to manufacture amphibious military vehicles.
After the end of World War Two, Trippel produced one conventional road
car but it proved unsuccessful and was discontinued in 1957. It was at the
1959 Geneva Motor Show that he exhibited the Eurocar, an all new amphibian,
with monocoque steel chassis and two door convertible body. Two years later
Deutsche Industrie-Werke was established to produce the car, now renamed the
Amphicar, in commercial volumes. Power came from a rear-mounted 43bhp,
1,147cc Triumph Herald engine - rather than the Austin A35 motor of the show
car - with a power take-off from the four speed the gearbox, operated by a
lever, driving twin propellers. The Amphicar Corporation was also
established in America to sell cars there and in Germany Deutsche
Industrie-Werke was renamed Amphicar Ventriebo GmbH and a production plant
set up near Berlin; in 1963 the name again changed, this time to Deutsche
Waggons und Maschinenfabriken.
Although endowed, via all round trailing link/coil spring suspension,
with somewhat ungainly road holding and handling literally akin to a fish
out of water, thanks to its high centre of gravity, very much rear-biased
weight distribution and narrow tyres, the Amphicar was a genuine amphibian.
Afloat, it could travel at 6½ knots - against 68mph on the road where it
also meandered to 60mph in some 43 seconds - with the front wheels acting as
rudders; slowing was achieved by engaging reverse gear and revving the
engine. To promote the car, in September 1965 two British army officers,
Captains Peter Tappenden and Michael Bailey, Sergeant Joe Minto and
professional escapologist Timothy Dill-Russell, crossed the English Channel
from Dover to Calais in two Amphicars. Despite one having to tow the other,
they completed the crossing in seven hours and twenty minutes and used just
£4 worth of petrol for two cars and four people; subsequently the cars
toured Europe. Less successful was another publicity stunt when another
Amphicar was mown down by a ship in the Straits of Gibraltar. With road and
marine regulations, however, becoming increasingly demanding and difficult
to meet, production ended in 1968. Of some 800 Amphicars produced, around
600 went to America.
This example is one of those two very cars that made that famous and
much publicised Channel crossing in 1965. The subject of many subsequent
television appearances over the years, including The Big Breakfast,
Scrapheap Challenge, Sky Classic Car, Fifth Gear and traffic reports on
Thames at Six, as well as being featured in many magazines and newspapers,
the amphibian underwent restoration 10 years ago. Finished in yellow with
white interior, fully earthed and fitted with a bilge pump, it comes with an
original, and comprehensive, maintenance manual, a copy of a feature in the
December 10 1965 issue of Autocar covering the Channel crossing, an official
Amphicar brochure light-heartedly detailing the car, and a V5 registration
document. Offered in good condition, this is a highly unusual, rare and
individual vehicle, and a piece of automotive history, guaranteed to create
absolute astonishment every time it careers off the road into the water.
Ideal for commuting to the City.
Estimate £16,000-£24,000
Edward J Bridger-Stille
Coys of Kensington
Manor Court
Richmond
TW9 2LL
0044 (020) 8614 7888
0044 (020) 8614 7889
edward.bridger-stille@coys.co.uk
www.coys.co.uk
