Page 32 - 2010 Lake St. Clair Guide Magazine
P. 32
Have you seen the with her was the first
newest and for sure day of Spring 2009.
the cutest car on the lake? The ice had just melt- Tom is very comfortable driving in
ed off Anchor Bay and the water now and has been as far as
If not, keep an eye out for her the water was around Detroit, and almost made it under the
this year with license plate IFLOAT2. 33 degrees. He drove Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron be-
She is Regatta Red, which you can her in and out of the fore waves started breaking over the
see in full color in the online “virtual” water four or five windshield from the wind and pass-
Guide at www.lakestclairguide.com. times that day be- ing freighters…he’s going to try again
I was lucky enough to track fore the butterflies of this year. Getting around the Lake
down Mr. Tom Harley when riding driving a car in the is also fast, with the ability to “drive
water ceased. Also on land” to the many places with the
my bike this past summer, and spot- early in the spring help of the numerous DNR sites.
ted her at her home port in Fair Ha- on Anchor bay he
ven, at the north end of Lake St. Clair. was in some pretty
Tom is very proud of his new good white caps with the waves break-
car, and was kind enough to share the ing over the windshield. He stayed
following information about her… warm and dry with the convertible
top and windows up and heaters blast-
Tom bought the 14’ ing..the heater doesn’t really blast he
1964 Amphicar from George said, but he was warm enough. The
Gray, TV Game Show Host 14’ Amphicar was very stable in those
from the Weakest Link, waves. When entering or exiting the
and other various game shows in St. water, you have both the wheels and
Louis. He paid in the low $30’s, props engaged; then disengaging one
or the other once on land or water.
There is an extra door locking
handle that when engaged, pulls the
door tighter so there is no water entry.
Plus, it cannot be opened by mistake.
The car also has a locking throttle con-
trol so when in the water, you can take
your foot off the accelerator pedal.
Probably because it’s a 1964,
but like any great car project, has in- it only has an AM radio, however, the The Amphicar gets 34 MPG on land,
vested a few more dollars over the antenna is telescopic so he can ride un- and 1.5 GPH in the water, giving
past year getting her “car-ship-shape .” der some pretty low bridges. It has two him about eight hours on the wa-
Tom’s first time in the water propellers in the rear, and oddly, they ter with his 12 gallon tank, which
both turn in the same direction unlike is mounted in the trunk up in front.
a twin screw Cruiser…I would guess Surprisingly, Tom had her near 70
parallel parking might be a problem. mph on land, but normally cruises
at a comfortable 7mph in the water.
There were 3,046 Amphi-
cars shipped from Berlin, Germany
to the U.S. in the 1960’s. The origi-
nal cost was between $2800-$3300.
(For comparison, in 1960 the aver-
age car cost was $2,752.) Tom be-
lieves there are around 600 still run-
ning today. Continued on Page 38..
The author, publisher, or seller assumes no liability with respect to the use of information contained herein. Page 32
