Mark Richardson
Member
Fighting Coho Salmon on Lake Michigan in an Amphicar
Hugh Prescott owned a 16mm film camera and was responsible for the fantastic film clip taken at Bearcat Motors in 1967 which highlights his red car in front of the dealership. He demonstrates the folding fighting chair on the rear engine cover while festooned with a snappy captain’s hat.
He is also credited with taking part of the film footage of an eventful Coho Salmon fishing trip, also in 1967 and stars in the film. Barakat himself told me he took most of the footage of the red car from the white Sheriff’s car.
From the Bearcat Files, I have a VHS tape of the conversion from the July of 1967 16mm film done in 1993 which shows the group who travelled “up north” to Frankfort, Mi to do some fishing with two Amphicars.
In 1966 the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) decided to try to revive the lake Michigan fishery which had been depleted and overrun with the invasive sea lamprey eels and alewife, which is a kind of herring.
The DNR planted 658,760 1.5-inch Coho Salmon smolts in the Platte River and Bear Creek near Frankfort in northwest Michigan. The fish would grow in the rivers and migrate out to the deeper waters of Lake Michigan, and they feasted on the lamprey and alewife there for the next year.
By Labor Day of 1967 the Coho Salmon had grown to an average 12 pounds with many as large as 20 pounds, and there were thousands of them migrating back to the river to spawn. Waiting for them was a rush of fishermen to try their luck at landing the prized fish. Salmon fever had begun.
The area was not prepared for the onslaught of fishermen who came from many miles away to reel them in, including our group in the video. The stores ran out of lures, they ran out of gasoline, and then they ran out of beer, and now they were really in trouble. The area did not have enough boat launches, hotel rooms, or public restrooms for the throng of visitors to the lake trying to take advantage of the bounty. The word was out, and the rush was on to harvest the bounty of free salmon.
Taking full advantage of the opportunity, the film footage shows the team, including Barakat himself, at the cottages getting Amphicars and tackle ready to head out to Lake Michigan. They hit the water at the Frankfort pier and going out took footage of the Frankfort North Pier lighthouse, which was originally built in 1873.
The cars venture out into the big water with the million-dollar homes and large sand dunes at the shoreline a constant companion. They are seen bobbing along back and forth in both cars while slowly trolling for the salmon. Hugh Prescott’s red car was leading the way, and he is shown seated in the fighting chair hooking into a big fish and landing it with a net. It was roped and tied onto the door handle of his Amphicar and is still attached as he drives back to the cottage where more salmon are on display. Fantastic footage!
The white car is the actual car Bearcat Motors donated to Sheriff Frank Irons & Lt. Donald Kratt of the Oakland County Michigan sheriff's office in 1967. It is clearly marked as such and sports a bow railing on the front installed after the presentation of the car. It was used primarily as the “camera car” for most of the adventure, which shows lots of other action shots with the cars and the group. They were fishing out of this car as well but not shown catching one.
It is a fantastic adventure at a time when the cars were new and being enjoyed to the fullest. They most likely drove the Amphicars 460 miles there from Detroit. It is a treasure to be able to capture, digitize (thanks goes to Dan Gibson from katestrackshack.com) and share this rare footage with the Amphicar community and attempt to tell the story as completely as possible with the information I have. The cars are always the stars, but some of the owners were very interesting characters too then, as they are now.
To gain perspective for yourself on the sheer bravado of this Amphicar fishing adventure, Google the infamous September 23, 1967, Coho Salmon fishing tragedy in Lake Michigan that claimed seven lives when a violent storm came up quickly and left over 100 fishing boats strewn on the Frankfort and Platte Bay area beaches. That event happened just 60 days after this Amphicar fishing trip in the same exact Lake Michigan port!
The two Amphicars in the video were the red demo car owned by Hugh Prescott and Bearcat Motors, now owned by Craig Oiler as found after over 30 years in a garage in Detroit by Matt Desano. It still had the bow railing and distinctive tach in the dash in place of the clock, which was moved over to the glove box lid. The white sheriff car also has a bow railing and distinctive graphics and lettering on it indicating it came from BearCat Motors. Both cars have the blue BearCat dealer stickers on the back panel. I am still looking for the white sheriff car and would love to know where it might be. The VIN code is 106 522 360 sold as a 1967.
www.youtube.com/@BearCat1967
Hugh Prescott owned a 16mm film camera and was responsible for the fantastic film clip taken at Bearcat Motors in 1967 which highlights his red car in front of the dealership. He demonstrates the folding fighting chair on the rear engine cover while festooned with a snappy captain’s hat.
He is also credited with taking part of the film footage of an eventful Coho Salmon fishing trip, also in 1967 and stars in the film. Barakat himself told me he took most of the footage of the red car from the white Sheriff’s car.
From the Bearcat Files, I have a VHS tape of the conversion from the July of 1967 16mm film done in 1993 which shows the group who travelled “up north” to Frankfort, Mi to do some fishing with two Amphicars.
In 1966 the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) decided to try to revive the lake Michigan fishery which had been depleted and overrun with the invasive sea lamprey eels and alewife, which is a kind of herring.
The DNR planted 658,760 1.5-inch Coho Salmon smolts in the Platte River and Bear Creek near Frankfort in northwest Michigan. The fish would grow in the rivers and migrate out to the deeper waters of Lake Michigan, and they feasted on the lamprey and alewife there for the next year.
By Labor Day of 1967 the Coho Salmon had grown to an average 12 pounds with many as large as 20 pounds, and there were thousands of them migrating back to the river to spawn. Waiting for them was a rush of fishermen to try their luck at landing the prized fish. Salmon fever had begun.
The area was not prepared for the onslaught of fishermen who came from many miles away to reel them in, including our group in the video. The stores ran out of lures, they ran out of gasoline, and then they ran out of beer, and now they were really in trouble. The area did not have enough boat launches, hotel rooms, or public restrooms for the throng of visitors to the lake trying to take advantage of the bounty. The word was out, and the rush was on to harvest the bounty of free salmon.
Taking full advantage of the opportunity, the film footage shows the team, including Barakat himself, at the cottages getting Amphicars and tackle ready to head out to Lake Michigan. They hit the water at the Frankfort pier and going out took footage of the Frankfort North Pier lighthouse, which was originally built in 1873.
The cars venture out into the big water with the million-dollar homes and large sand dunes at the shoreline a constant companion. They are seen bobbing along back and forth in both cars while slowly trolling for the salmon. Hugh Prescott’s red car was leading the way, and he is shown seated in the fighting chair hooking into a big fish and landing it with a net. It was roped and tied onto the door handle of his Amphicar and is still attached as he drives back to the cottage where more salmon are on display. Fantastic footage!
The white car is the actual car Bearcat Motors donated to Sheriff Frank Irons & Lt. Donald Kratt of the Oakland County Michigan sheriff's office in 1967. It is clearly marked as such and sports a bow railing on the front installed after the presentation of the car. It was used primarily as the “camera car” for most of the adventure, which shows lots of other action shots with the cars and the group. They were fishing out of this car as well but not shown catching one.
It is a fantastic adventure at a time when the cars were new and being enjoyed to the fullest. They most likely drove the Amphicars 460 miles there from Detroit. It is a treasure to be able to capture, digitize (thanks goes to Dan Gibson from katestrackshack.com) and share this rare footage with the Amphicar community and attempt to tell the story as completely as possible with the information I have. The cars are always the stars, but some of the owners were very interesting characters too then, as they are now.
To gain perspective for yourself on the sheer bravado of this Amphicar fishing adventure, Google the infamous September 23, 1967, Coho Salmon fishing tragedy in Lake Michigan that claimed seven lives when a violent storm came up quickly and left over 100 fishing boats strewn on the Frankfort and Platte Bay area beaches. That event happened just 60 days after this Amphicar fishing trip in the same exact Lake Michigan port!
The two Amphicars in the video were the red demo car owned by Hugh Prescott and Bearcat Motors, now owned by Craig Oiler as found after over 30 years in a garage in Detroit by Matt Desano. It still had the bow railing and distinctive tach in the dash in place of the clock, which was moved over to the glove box lid. The white sheriff car also has a bow railing and distinctive graphics and lettering on it indicating it came from BearCat Motors. Both cars have the blue BearCat dealer stickers on the back panel. I am still looking for the white sheriff car and would love to know where it might be. The VIN code is 106 522 360 sold as a 1967.
www.youtube.com/@BearCat1967