Amphicar sunk near Beirut ?

D

David Chapman

Guest
Guys,

Through a friend of a friend I heard this story earlier this week:

Back when Amphicars were new (so guess about 1966) a guy and two girls were
cruising in the Mediterranean Sea not far from Beirut in the Lebanon. They
were apparently 5 miles off shore (!) when suddenly the Amphicar sunk. One
of the girls swam the 5 miles to shore to raise the alarm whilst the guy and
the other girl were able to hang on to the wreckage until being rescued.

The person the story came from is now married to one of the girls and
certainly believes it to be a true story, but swimming 5 miles ? even in the
nice warm Med ? and that would imply sea conditions were OK so what caused
Amphi to sink ?

Has anyone heard of this story before ?

The two European sinkings I've heard of is the Amphi that was sunk in an
Indian monsoon (talked about in some contemporary roadtests) the reason
given is the convertible top was down and the rain was so heavy it just
filled up with water, and the Amphi that sunk near Gibralter whilst trying
to cross from Africa to Spain with a load of illegal smoking substances.
(Never seen any reports/photos so could be urban legend)


David Chapman in the UK (just popping outside to check my bilge plug !)
 
M

martyandcaryl@charter.net

Guest
David

Very interesting stories, I would be interested to find out if they,
especially the first one is true. Five miles out, seems like a long
way in an Amphicar.
Don't you have a birthday today? Happy Birthday Cheers.

Marty
BUOYANT in a warm garage in WI

--- In amphicar-lovers@y..., "David Chapman" <davidc@a...> wrote:
> Guys,
>
> Through a friend of a friend I heard this story earlier this week:
>
> Back when Amphicars were new (so guess about 1966) a guy and two
girls were
> cruising in the Mediterranean Sea not far from Beirut in the
Lebanon. They
> were apparently 5 miles off shore (!) when suddenly the Amphicar
sunk. One
> of the girls swam the 5 miles to shore to raise the alarm whilst
the guy and
> the other girl were able to hang on to the wreckage until being
rescued.
>
> The person the story came from is now married to one of the girls
and
> certainly believes it to be a true story, but swimming 5 miles ?
even in the
> nice warm Med ? and that would imply sea conditions were OK so what
caused
> Amphi to sink ?
>
> Has anyone heard of this story before ?
>
> The two European sinkings I've heard of is the Amphi that was sunk
in an
> Indian monsoon (talked about in some contemporary roadtests) the
reason
> given is the convertible top was down and the rain was so heavy it
just
> filled up with water, and the Amphi that sunk near Gibralter whilst
trying
> to cross from Africa to Spain with a load of illegal smoking
substances.
> (Never seen any reports/photos so could be urban legend)
>
>
> David Chapman in the UK (just popping outside to check my bilge
plug !)
 
Top