If you ever find yourself in or around Austin Texas, take a short ride to the
Johnson City and the LBJ ranch and take the tour. You
will see Lyndon Johnson's Amphi car along with a great story about how he used
to give visiting dignitaries rides around the ranch in
it and without warning, drive right into the Pedernales river.
Joe
Philip E Bacon wrote:
>
> I too, have taken a "cruise" in an Amphicar. In 1962 I was working as an
> apprentice Landscape Architect for a firm that was installing public
> works landscaping for Gulf American Land Corp., developers of Cape Coral,
> near Ft Myers Fla., on the Caloosahatchee river. One of the novelties
> used to impress land buyers (lots $50 down, $20/month) was an Amphicar,
> in which the salesmen would give buyers a ride, gliding down a ramp
> (built for boat launching) into the river. I took several rides with
> salesman friends....a rather eerie experience, since the vehicle did not
> inspire confidence either as a car or a boat. As I recall, the gimick
> came to an end one day when an overweight lady, alarmed at the serious
> list, decided to get out and opened the passenger door before they were
> completely ashore. The Amphicar sank, as did I suppose, the land sale.
> Phil Bacon 72 TR6
>
> On Wed, 26 Apr 2000 16:07:20 -0400 David Massey
> <105671.471@compuserve.com> writes:
> >
> >Message text written by INTERNET:Gbouff1@aol.com
> >>The post about the amphi car reminded me of my only experience with
> >the
> >vehicle. Over 30 years ago I went to my senior class picnic at the
> >Frank
> >Davis resort in Moodus, Connecticut. (for the benefit of our older CT
> >listers, who may remember). They were giving rides on the river or
> >lake in
> >
> >the resort's amphi car. I have always been around boats so I just had
> >to
> >go
> >for a spin. While a very novel idea, it is really designed for
> >fording
> >small
> >bodis of water. It is definitely not a rough water boat, as it is very
> >
> >unstable and has limited manuverability. But at 18 years old it was
> >still
> >a
> >lot of fun!
> >
> >Gary Bouffard
> ><
> >
> >What I had always heard about the Amphicar is that it was a lousy
> >boat,
> >too. I guess that was right. ;-)
> >
> >Still a fun concept.
> >
> >Dave
>
> http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj.
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