Amphicar is boundless

“The car of the future is here today,” boast 40-year-old ads for Amphicar. “The car that swims.”

The only civilian amphibious passenger automobile ever to be mass produced was built in Germany from 1961 to 1968. Of the 3,878 vehicles manufactured, 3,046 were shipped to the United States. When new, the unique cars sold for between $2,800 and $3,300.

One of the dealerships was located in what is now a condominium at Prince and South Fairfax streets in Old Town Alexandria, convenient to the Potomac River.

Just down the street in those days, young Brendan O’Leary was busy growing up. “I remember all the colorful cars lined up outside,” he says. All Amphicars are convertibles and they originally were offered in only four colors:

• Beach white.

• Regatta red.

• Lagoon blue.

• Fjord green.

Young Mr. O’Leary walked by the dealership daily and asked the sales staff the same questions people ask him today:

• Does it float?

• Do the propellers work?

• How do you steer it?

He wasn’t even a teenager when U.S. government regulations went into effect with the 1968 mode- year vehicles and effectively put the Amphicar company out of business. Almost 80 percent of its sales had been in the United States.

But the government regulators in the Department of Transportation were too late. Mr. O’Leary had already been exposed to the Amphicar virus even though he was six years away from having a driver’s license.

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