1. Amphicar:
“Car of the Future Here Today” – Sink or Swim
History / Frequently Asked Questions
March 5th, 2011
FINAL PRESENTATION
Ypsilanti Classic Car Warehouse 1st Saturday Open House 1

2. Executive Summary
Subject Amphicar Sink or Swim History Date: March 5th, 2011
Presenter: Paul Rasmussen Sponsors: B. Milliken
Contributors: Rene’ Pohl, David Chapman, David Derer, Greg Zinkosky
Synopsis of Topic
• What is an Amphicar?
• Hanns Trippel Origin
• WWII Connection and ties to 3rd Reich
• Alligator/Eurocar at Geneva Show
• BMW Quandt Family Connection
• Business Case
• Early Production
• Coming to America
• End of Production (company under water)
• Cult Status and Celebrity Ownership
Conclusions
• Future Collector Car Status
• Q and A
2

3. What is an Amphicar?
ANSWER
• Amphibious all hand built car from Germany in the early 1960’s
– Amphibious = goes on land and water
• Hence, designated model number was “770”
– 7 = 7 mph in water
• 70 = 70 mph on land
• Priced same as Jaguar or Stingray Corvette when introduced
• Utilizes Triumph Herald 38 PS (German) or 43 (U.S.) horsepower engine
– Herald was TRIUMPH’S answer to Volkswagen Beetle
• 4 speed land and 2 speed (forward / reverse) water transmission
• Front tires act as rudders to steer in water just like on land
• Twin nylon rear props or “screws” provide water propulsion
• Only functional rear fins on a car in the world – protect engine from water splash!
• Came with bilge blower (only US-version) and functional marine lights
• Has to be insured and registered as car and boat (only Haggerty will do this in U.S.)
• Fast car in water, fast boat on land………claim to fame…..first out of water too…..
3

4. Who Was The Father of the Amphicar?
ANSWER
• Hanns Trippel, German engineer and inventor
– Made his DKW Race Car “amphibious” in 1934.
• Hanns Trippel, the Nazi in Germany during WWII
• Trippel caught attention of Adolf Hilter / 3rd Reich in 1936
– Trippel commissioned to make amphibious SG6 prototype
– VW Type 166 “Schwimmwagen” was competition for SG6 prototype
– Less than 800 Trippel SG6 models produced in total.
• About the size of a Chevrolet SWB Tahoe
• Built in Bugatti Factory in France taken over by Nazi’s
• Only about 10 SG6’s remain today
•
4

5. Hanns Trippel having fun / ACTION photos………..
5

6. Who Was The Father of the Amphicar?
ANSWER continued
• Hanns Trippel, the Prisoner in France
• Trippel imprisioned for 4 years by French for membership of Nazi SS.
• Also Trippelwerke produced air-torpedos (weapon manufacturing)
– Banned 4 years after prison from amphibious production
• Hanns Trippel, the amphibious entreprenuer
– Started back in mid 50’s with Alligator/Euro prototype
– Strong reception at 1959 Geneva Auto Show
– Boasted Austin engine and design similar to Amphicar today
– Triumph Herald engine was selected as it was cheapest.
– IWK/DWM Amphicar Corp. wished to use the engine of the new OPEL Kadett A,
– However, Opel would not sell Trippel the engine
– The Triumph Herald engine was second choice. 6

7. Which Person / Company Funded / Built the Amphicar?
ANSWER
• Harold Quandt, owner of BMW group
• No BMW parts on the Amphicar
• Harold died in plane crash in 1964
• Amphicar production ended 2 weeks after his death
• Reason: Quandt Family losing money on Amphicar
• Manufactured by the Quandt Group at first in Luebeck and then Berline Borsigwalde
• Many Borgward engineers retained to work on Amphicar after Borgward went out of business
• Design of Amphicar has similarities to Borgward Coupe (except it does not float very long!)
• Only Borgward parts on Amphicar are front brake cylinders
7

8. What was the Amphicar Business Case / Business Model?
ANSWER
• Forecast of 20,000 units per year
• Fully tooled for this production
• Actual production around 1,000 per year
• U.S. cost around $4,000 per car
• Goal: export to U.S. for bulk of volume
• Reason styling similar to 1957 Chevrolet
• Parts Bin Car: almost all parts came from other cars
– Props from Denmark
– Seal Beam headlights from U.S.
– Axles from Mercedes
– Rear taillights from Mercedes Garbage Truck
– Front marine light (Hella) from late 50’s German aircraft
– Door handes from mid-50’s Audi
– Engine from Triumph Herald
– Transmission from rear engine Hermes Delivery van (Germany)
– Gear set similar to Porsche 356
8

9. Which celebrities have owned Amphicars?
ANSWER
• Lyndon B. Johnson US President after JFK
– had one on his ranch in Texas to shock people
• Alan Jackson – country singer – just sold his at Barrett Jackson for $120k last month
• Madonna – rode in Amphicar during video shoot, liked it, bought it
• George Lucas – from Star Wars
• Dan Ackroyd – has owned several
• Madonna car was in Video for "start me up" - it's on Youtube
• Famous, spoon bender Uri Geller had one.
9

10. Amphicars have been in what famous Movies?
ANSWER
• Pontiac Moon – Amphicar stars through out
• R rated movie called "A happening in Africa" (good one)
• "The President's Analyst",1967 or Analyst Men"
• Best Movie: "Cotton Pickin Chicken Pickers"
10

11. What are Amphicar Miscellaneous Claims to Fame?
ANSWER
• Crossed English Channel and Soo Locks many times
• With one broken prop, will still go straight backwards but in circles going forward
• Never needs more than 3 jack stands due to ultra rigid square tubular frame
• Drives straighter down road with full tank of gas
• 30 mpg on highway, 1.5 gallons per hour in water
• New transmission is most expensive part on Amphicar at $15k
11

12. What are Amphicar Miscellaneous Claims to Fame con’t?
ANSWER
• Put windows and top up when big waves come – works very well
• Has cruise control (sort of)
• Amphicar clubs in U.S. (International Amphicar Club) and Germany (Amphicar Club Berlin)
• Many owners in Germany Club are original owners or have fathers that worked at plant
• Lots of fun, easy to work on (most of time), all parts available
• Good investment with high liquidity (ok laugh here)…….
12

13. What are Other Amphicar Interesting facts?
ANSWER
1147 Herald engine had best performance/rate/temp ratio in world and was brand new in 1961.
It wasn't choosen for price.
In fact, Trippel didn't consider price on any Amphicar parts - engineering first.
Prototypes used A series Austin engines.
A Mercedes engine was also tried but too heavy and made back end of car sink down
Couldn't use aircooled due to US coastguard regs so no VW.
Early cars had brass props but if they caught on something propshaft rippedout of hull.
Nylons lower break point makes it safer.
13

14. What are Other Amphicar Interesting facts continued?
ANSWER
Berlin factory is still there.
The W in DWM (parent company name) refers to trains not cars.
Main production was railway carrages.
Style wasn't Chevy, colour schemes/fabrics were taken from something else in 58/59 (Pontiac)
Killed off by 1967 safety regs in States mainly due bumper height and lack of catalytic converter
14

15. What are Other Amphicar Interesting facts continued?
ANSWER
Morgan worked hard and got a low production exemption but Amphicar gave up.
98 RHD cars made.
No funding to retool so gloves box/speedo mount panel were made of glassfibre.
Later cars always seem to drive better but not sure why.
Steel for body was manufactured in UK by British Steel.
It may have been stamped or pressed in the UK as well.
Pressing was done cold so any welding has to be done carefully
Even after 50 years the metal "springs" TIG is best.
15

16. Amphicars, they just want to have fun now……
16

17. The End….Sink or Swim.. Amphi Ahoy………….
17

18. Back Up
18

19. Possible Amphicar Brand Positioning If Still In Production….
Just Brands – no love Brand Love
High
Yugo Toyota (Prius)
Customer Respect
Tremblant BMW
Audi
Ferrari
Jeep
Subaru
Tesla
Fisker
Amphicar (?)
Commodities – no respect / no love Fads
Chery (China) Saturn
Oldsmobile (90’s / 00’s)) HUMMER
Low
Mercury (in 90’s / 00’s) Saab
Pontiac/Plymouth (in 90’s and 00’s)
Low Product ‘Love’ High
19

20. Specifications
Engine: Triumph four-cylinder engine of 1147 cc, 8.0 compression ratio, rated at 38.3 bhp
Chassis/body Overall length: 14.250 ft (4.343 m)
Overall width: 5.083 ft (1.549 m)
Height: 5.000 ft (1.524 m)
Turning circle: 36.833 ft (9.398 m)
Wheelbase: 7.000 ft (2.134 m)
Front track: 4.000 ft (1.219 m)
Rear track: 4.083 ft (1.245 m)
Fuel tank capacity: 10.5 imperial gallons
Empty weight: 2,315 lb (1050 kg) (includes fuel and oil)
20

21. Where would Amphicar Brand position today in Market Place if still going?
LOVE
Product Respect + Product Love = Brand Love
LOOKING FOR LOVE
iPhone/
iPad
Known for Something
People Love
Known for Something
Amphicar
People Care About
Known for Something Toyota
(Prius)
Different
Ford
Known for Something
Nissan-
Infiniti
Known
GM
Unknown
21

22. •How to determine which city manufactured your Amphicar: Luebeck or Berlin?
•Can we tell from the serial number in which German city the car was manufactured e.g. Berlin, Lubeck?
•No, unfortunately not. The were two production lines: Lübeck and Berlin.
•The numbers were shared between both places, that means contingents of each years number were given to each production
line.
•There might have been production number listings, but of course with the end of production such documents are lost. You can
only say, if it is a 1960 ealy model, it is 100% made in Lübeck, if it is a 1961 or early 62 model there is a good chance it was
made in Lübeck.
• But from 1963 to 1965 Amphicars were almost only built in Berlin.
•While Berlin was only production place, all improvements were experierenced and developed in Lübeck.
•So in case you have a prototype, a Bodesee edition, police- or rescue vehicle, it was built in Lübeck.
Fender Lip, black dash and chrome windown frame options: available on for which model year Amphicars?
•We have been told by original owners of the Amphicar that any year Amphicar could have the fender lips, chrome window
frames or the black dash.
•All of these were part of a package and offered at extra cost by the Dealer.
•We have also heard this was done later on to help sell the cars
Which model year Amphicars were shipped to US vs. which remained in Germany?
•On the question of "do the model years relate to where the cars ended up" e.g. are all the early cars ('61's / '62's) in America
and the later cars ('63's and 64's) in Germany or is it the other way around?
•Well, this question is really difficult to answer.
•The Amphicar was designed for the US market. So most of the early produced cars went to the US. In many German papers
and books they say that Amphicars in Europe were only available as re-imports from the US, but first hand information from
Germany says this is not true.
Amphicars were available in Germany as well from the beginning production.
Otherwise, early 1961 models should have had a bilge blower hole in the side and some don't. All cars that went to the US had
this bilge blower.
22