1964 Amphicar


How many years? Nah, that can't be right... It isn't 2009 already? Is it??
Well, it is 2009 and as with so many good intentions, life gets in the way. My family is growing up and my business is ever expanding and taking up all my time. The boy is growing up and he even is skiing with me now (thats a mind blower for me). I bought a larger shop and added more staff and all that comes with that and so and and so on. Life marches on and time passes by, far too quickly I might add.
A few months ago, out of the blue comes an email from Dave "the wave" asking if I am OK because he checked this web site and didn't see any Amphicar updates. If you don't know who Dave is check out his web site and company, Midwest Amphicar, on the other page. So although I'm sure Dave's email was just a follow up to see how the car was doing I didn't dare reply and tell him that everything still sits exactly where I left it back in 2006.
Then a few weeks ago my son told me I better get working on the Amphicar because he wanted to go for a ride in it. That was the trigger, I have to get going on this project. It has to get done. So to that end I have brought the Bismark from storage at home here to the shop. So now that it is in front of me every day I will get cracking on it.
OK, Amphicar purists, and those who hate change, should click back to ebay now so they can keep looking for parts for that stock bildge pump, because you aren't going to like what I'm doing.
The way I look at, this car had its shot at a bone stock and pampered life and it didn't get one. It got used instead and because it is no longer original and can never be original again (it can only be restored at this point) I'm going to do this car my way. If feel for you purists out there, and if this car was pristine with low miles then I wouldn't mess with it either, but it isn't... its in bits in my shop... so I'm going to rebuild it my way, and that means resto-mod. Resto-mod means a clean looking restoration but where original systems are sub-standard, or just plain not cool enough, they get tossed in favor of better parts, usually with modern technology. So no factory original bildge pumps and the like for me.
After doing a ton of reserach Amphicars and searching what people had done to make them better I did found reoccuring themes: Lack of power, Overheating, Fueling issues and such. So the plan is to address those issues out of the gate to make a car that I plan to use and drive.
So let GET GOING!
One issue is lack of power. So the stock engine is toast. C'mon, I'm the guy that dropped a Saleen supercharger on his Mustang wjhen it was still new, you didn't think I was going with the stock engine did you? After researching the good and bad luck people have had with larger engines in Amphicars I settled on something outside the ordinary and went with a fully built up, but also dead nuts relibable 1300cc with all the tricks.

Here you can see the new 1300 going together. Instead of taking my first stab at a Triumph engine, I spoke with Chris at PRI and told him what I needed and how it was going to be used. We came up with a pakcage that would feed my need for more power, but also work very well in the Amphicar and also add a lot of reliability.

Roller rockers and a fully flowed head might sound like overkill for some, but like I said, I want this car to work correctly and if that means a little extra to get a little extra, I'm all for it.

The new engine will solve the lack of torque issues and with the planned cooling and fuel delivery system updates a number of common Amphi-down-sides will all
be addressed as well. Now that the engine is built it is time to start getting rid of all the rust and doing the mock up of all the systems. Stay tuned.


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