Amphicar: The Boat-Car That Changed Automotive History
An obsessive German engineer, postwar ruins, the American dream, and one laughing president by a pond—all this is the story of one car. The Amphicar drove down the highway like a regular convertible and drove into a lake like a boat. Produced in production, affordable, with a dealer warranty, it was the only civilian amphibious vehicle in history that anyone could buy. Lyndon Johnson adored it, it was admired at auto shows, and it was destroyed by American regulators. And decades later, it was resurrected—from a rusty wreck into a collectible legend worth up to $100,000. This is the story of how a crazy idea became a cult classic, and commercial failure became immortal.