August 31, 2007
Exotic and German
In my profession, I see odd vehicles on the highway, from time to time. Oddly enough, the odder the vehicle, the less often I see one of its type. A Ferrari will pop up, a couple of times a year. I followed a Maserati, once, in Buffalo. That, though, is the usual sort of exotic car.
Recently finding myself in Fairport, I noted a strange car traveling in the other direction. Some sort of German military vehicle? No, not quite, I decided. Then it hit me (figuratively speaking), what it must be, unlikely though it seemed... and a look at the tail of the car as it passed confirmed...
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It was an Amphicar, that ultra-rare floating car from the 1960's, as the twin propellers made undeniable.
Looking it up in Wikipedia, I see that it is, indeed, German. "Designed by Hanns Trippel, creator of the war-time Schwimmwagen." Browsing to the Volkswagen Schwimmwagen, I found that it was a an amphibious military vehicle, so the aesthetic feel of a German jeep was, perhaps, not entirely inappropriate. We're not used to seeing civilian amphibious vehicles, which no doubt contributed to such thoughts.
Apparently, fewer than 4,000 Amphicars were produced, and I am highly confident that I had not previously seen one in person. You might ask, then, how I knew what it was. Well, back in the misty mists of history (the latter half of the 1980's), I had regular access to automotive performance magazines such as Hot Rod and Car Craft. One or the other of these publications had a tiny article, giving a capsule history of the Amphicar, with a couple of black-and-white photos. I was reminded of its existence, several years ago, by an appearance in a television commercial for something utterly unrelated, like Pizza Hut, or something.
The phrase "you don't see that every day" may be trite, but it is accurate.
Posted by Mitch at August 31, 2007 01:35 AMYou can find this entry in: General Fun