famous Blue "Amphicar postcard" - origin found!

[Jon March]

We've all see the classic 60's postcard of the woman driving the blue car coming out of the lake. But I always wondered - who was that nifty woman rocking out of the water? Never did much about it - until this week, when I happened to discover a larger sized postcard online, that included that image, as well as 4 others. The captions on the photos were all in the same font, so it seemed they must have come from the same origin. It was a trailer RV park & motor- dealership in Loveland Colorado. I zoomed in on the skyline, and yup - mountains! So I did a Google map street-view of the original address. Sadly the shady RV park is now pavement and office building....but i "drove" a little further down the road (major road now), and lo-and-behold the launch-area skylines matched up! - Bingo! This 60's dealership was indeed the origin of that photo we've all seen. Then I looked on ebay to verify if that "photo" was a postcard, as I thought I recalled - and yes: A standalone Amphicar-promo dealer postcard ...from the same address. We found the source of the photo! On the rear of the larger postcard is info on the RV park (with lots of Amphis parked like a "Swim") - and the motor-sales division of the operation, listing "Grace Clinger" as the owner. Given the time, it wasnt common for women to own car dealerships... but lets remember, it was Mrs Horace Dodge who made the Amphicar happen, so women were clearly the "driving" force in the Amphicar world! Right on, girls! So, I Googled the owners name, and up came all sorts of info about her - beloved Schoolteacher, War worker, Realestate investor, Landlord, RV park/Motel owner,....and Amphicar Dealer- as "Sweetheart Motor & Trailer Sales"! This location may have been well known to the late John Bevins, but I don't recall seeing the dots quite this clearly connected till now. So here are some pics showing the timeline of the discovery and info on the late great Amphicar dealer, Ms Grace Clinger!





























(I have a call into Museum to correct the "experimental/3 wheel" wording)

....But Grace Clinger was unmistakably a true hero of can-do, Amphicar Spirit!!

 

[dougklink]

If John Bevins was still with us I'm sure he could tell you all about it. I know that because of her dealership there were a ton of Amphicars in that area. When we lived near there the number of people who'd see my car and say they grew up in Loveland and remembered seeing them all the time was amazing.

 

[Jon March]

Fantastic, Doug!!

Grace Clinger certainly put the Amphicar-love, in Loveland!!

 

[Mark Richardson]

Nice investigation and story!

I surmised that she was in the Candid Camera episode as well. Let me know if you find anything that can verify that.

 

[Jon March]

Ahh - it was in Illinois, so the Candid Camera episode was a different driver im pretty sure - she looks different too

 

[RalphF]

When I visited John Bevins several years ago, he took me to Lake Loveland. We were not able to swim that day because the lake was totally frozen! He did not mention this lady or the dealership but I'll bet he sure knew of it!

 

[Jon March]

She seems to have been very well known in & around Loveland!!

An Amphicar icon!