I know this should go in the classifieds section, but, even though this is late notice, I wanted anyone going to Celina without an Amphicar this year know about it. I need to sell my red 1964 Amphicar, #101244, IMABOAT, with 4,677 miles on it. (I drove it up to Celina in 2006, 2008 and 2011, in case anyone remembers seeing it there.) I have to work this Saturday so I can't take it to Celina this year.
However, we live in Worthington (a suburb on the north side of Columbus, Ohio) about 2 hours away from Celina, so if anyone were passing through this way and wanted to look at it, or if anyone were flying in to come to Celina and wanted a car to drive at Celina, you could call me, Jim Bihari, at 614-915-7210 to talk about it. Looking for the best offer over $30,000. Need to sell it to pay off some debt and put a down payment on a house. I'd been hoping to get more for it (!) but it's got some things that need looked at, and I've been too busy with jobs and kids and babies to freshen it up for sale. There are a lot of details below, but the big picture is that it was an original low mileage car I bought in 2005, restored in 2005 (body) and 2006 (engine completely rebuilt), though I kept the interior original. Had a lot of fun with it for the last 6 years, it drives and swims fine, but it's problems include: 1. small rust bubbles appearing under paint at front of hood (worst spot), bottom of doors and bottom of rear fenders, 2. Engine seems more sluggish going up ramps in past couple of years--it still drives 65 but seems to have less power on ramps than it used to--haven't had time to check the timing etc. 3. Driving back from Celina last year, it seems like maybe it lost maybe a couple quarts of engine oil (very confusing to me), though I did accidentally leave the dipstick out, but I haven't driven it enough this year to notice any oil loss. 4. It does still leak some land transmission oil into the bilge area, despite having located and fixed a transmission case hole in 2007. 5. Possibly due to unknowly having driven it with low land transmission oil in 2006(?), it seems like bearings make noise when in 4th gear above 65 mph--I just don't drive it faster than that and have put over 4,000 miles on the car since I first noticed this noise. 6. This past year, it starting having some electrical short that will slowly drain the battery if the battery is left hooked up and it's not driven for a week or so--just noticed blue dash light remains lit when car is off. 7. Original interior is starting to show wear and tear from all the fun. Car still looks great in parades or on street though. Some history about it:
I bought if off of ebay in 2005 as a white, supposed 50 mile original car, last titled in 1971 I think. We thought the low mileage could be believable due to (5 original tires showing little wear--I kept one as a spare and sold the over 4 tire to John Bevins, an original clutch plate showing little wear, it never had holes drilled for license plates front or rear and had some dents underneath which made me think it may hve been used more as a boat). My Dad and I stripped everything off the car and had the body stripped to bare metal inside and out by Les Key at All Car Excellence in Columbus http://allcarexcellence.com/index.shtml and then had it painted red inside and out. It had a quarter sized hole in the rocker panel repaired with metal and some pinholes under the battery tray fixed with fiberglass. (Les took many dozens of pictures of the car when it was being prepped and painted on the dolly). When I put it back together, I used mostly stainless steel bolts and screws, including all stainless brake lines and fuel line. Put in an electric fuel pump and radiator fan. Put in front and rear seatbelts, using a piece of bed frame rail to attach rear seatbelts (can be easily removed in minutes ). In 2006 it had the 1147 engine rebuilt by Les Key with new pistons and everything. We drove it to Celina that year and found that had leaked a lot of transmission fluid from the land transmission to inside the bilge area. Also that year or next, the bearings for the propellers started to get noisy and when my Dad and I were replacing them, we noticed that there appeared to be a small hole in the land transmission casting--it looked like it was made that way. It is the old style transmission and on the driver's side, opposite to where you fill it with 90 weight oil on the passenger side, it is manufactured with some recessed hole that looks like it could have been threaded and fitted with a drain plug, but never was. Deep within that recess, it had a small hole completely though the case that was likely cast that way, and would allow oil to leak out. We just tapped that recess and threaded a pipe plug into it to fix it completely. My Dad and I wondered if that transmission hole could have been the reason that car was only driven 50 land miles back in the 60's? As mentioned above, it still leaks some transmission oil, perhaps through a gasket?
Oh, that's a long enough message, if you want to know more about it, or if you need a car to drive in Celina this year, call me at 614-915-7210. Thanks,
Jim Bihari
However, we live in Worthington (a suburb on the north side of Columbus, Ohio) about 2 hours away from Celina, so if anyone were passing through this way and wanted to look at it, or if anyone were flying in to come to Celina and wanted a car to drive at Celina, you could call me, Jim Bihari, at 614-915-7210 to talk about it. Looking for the best offer over $30,000. Need to sell it to pay off some debt and put a down payment on a house. I'd been hoping to get more for it (!) but it's got some things that need looked at, and I've been too busy with jobs and kids and babies to freshen it up for sale. There are a lot of details below, but the big picture is that it was an original low mileage car I bought in 2005, restored in 2005 (body) and 2006 (engine completely rebuilt), though I kept the interior original. Had a lot of fun with it for the last 6 years, it drives and swims fine, but it's problems include: 1. small rust bubbles appearing under paint at front of hood (worst spot), bottom of doors and bottom of rear fenders, 2. Engine seems more sluggish going up ramps in past couple of years--it still drives 65 but seems to have less power on ramps than it used to--haven't had time to check the timing etc. 3. Driving back from Celina last year, it seems like maybe it lost maybe a couple quarts of engine oil (very confusing to me), though I did accidentally leave the dipstick out, but I haven't driven it enough this year to notice any oil loss. 4. It does still leak some land transmission oil into the bilge area, despite having located and fixed a transmission case hole in 2007. 5. Possibly due to unknowly having driven it with low land transmission oil in 2006(?), it seems like bearings make noise when in 4th gear above 65 mph--I just don't drive it faster than that and have put over 4,000 miles on the car since I first noticed this noise. 6. This past year, it starting having some electrical short that will slowly drain the battery if the battery is left hooked up and it's not driven for a week or so--just noticed blue dash light remains lit when car is off. 7. Original interior is starting to show wear and tear from all the fun. Car still looks great in parades or on street though. Some history about it:
I bought if off of ebay in 2005 as a white, supposed 50 mile original car, last titled in 1971 I think. We thought the low mileage could be believable due to (5 original tires showing little wear--I kept one as a spare and sold the over 4 tire to John Bevins, an original clutch plate showing little wear, it never had holes drilled for license plates front or rear and had some dents underneath which made me think it may hve been used more as a boat). My Dad and I stripped everything off the car and had the body stripped to bare metal inside and out by Les Key at All Car Excellence in Columbus http://allcarexcellence.com/index.shtml and then had it painted red inside and out. It had a quarter sized hole in the rocker panel repaired with metal and some pinholes under the battery tray fixed with fiberglass. (Les took many dozens of pictures of the car when it was being prepped and painted on the dolly). When I put it back together, I used mostly stainless steel bolts and screws, including all stainless brake lines and fuel line. Put in an electric fuel pump and radiator fan. Put in front and rear seatbelts, using a piece of bed frame rail to attach rear seatbelts (can be easily removed in minutes ). In 2006 it had the 1147 engine rebuilt by Les Key with new pistons and everything. We drove it to Celina that year and found that had leaked a lot of transmission fluid from the land transmission to inside the bilge area. Also that year or next, the bearings for the propellers started to get noisy and when my Dad and I were replacing them, we noticed that there appeared to be a small hole in the land transmission casting--it looked like it was made that way. It is the old style transmission and on the driver's side, opposite to where you fill it with 90 weight oil on the passenger side, it is manufactured with some recessed hole that looks like it could have been threaded and fitted with a drain plug, but never was. Deep within that recess, it had a small hole completely though the case that was likely cast that way, and would allow oil to leak out. We just tapped that recess and threaded a pipe plug into it to fix it completely. My Dad and I wondered if that transmission hole could have been the reason that car was only driven 50 land miles back in the 60's? As mentioned above, it still leaks some transmission oil, perhaps through a gasket?
Oh, that's a long enough message, if you want to know more about it, or if you need a car to drive in Celina this year, call me at 614-915-7210. Thanks,
Jim Bihari
alas I only have two problems. Extra Time and Extra Money.
