Pebble Beach 2008: A car that revolutionized drowning

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I never get tired of that joke....

Oh sure, you may palaver over your Bugattis, may salivate over your Zagato-bodied Ferraris and Astons, may plotz over your Shelby race cars. But how about one of these, huh? You don’t see these every day — unless you do a lot of scuba diving.

Behold the dubious wisdom of the 1963 Amphicar 770, Lot No. 6 at the Gooding & Co. auction on Saturday.

The Amphicar — answer to the question ‘What happens when you combine a lousy car and a lousy boat?’ — was built briefly (1961-68) in Germany, which had a long history of ‘swimmenwagens.’

Called the ‘definitive aquatic automobile’ — though makers of the Aquada may disagree — the Amphicar is powered by a 43-horsepower Triumph four-cylinder engine and has twin props and four-wheel drum brakes. It’s expected to fetch between $60,000 and $75,000.

I asked David Gooding if we could take it for a test float and he looked alarmed. ‘I think the door seals are a little worn,’ he says. There are hundreds of extraordinary cars for sale at Pebble Beach this weekend, but this is likely the only one with its own oar.

— Dan Neil

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