Misc Amphicar Ramblings

  • Thread starter Daniel & Kathy Gibson
  • Start date
D

Daniel & Kathy Gibson

Guest
Hi Gang

Just came back from a very nice quick sunset cruise on Lake Arlington.
Had a pontoon boat full of senior citizens out cruising the lake. They
got such a kick out of Das Boot. Asked all kinds of questions.

Anyway, I just finished washing the car down, and was thinking of a few
things. So, here they are!

A few parts substitutes I came up with on DB:

A 1949 Jeep dimmer switch is a perfect replacement for the Amphi part.
Even the mounting bolts swapped! Autozone had it in for me in one day.

I purchased a front marine light from Hugh. They were out of bases, so I
went up to AutoZone, and purchased one of those tear-drop shaped running
lights for a truck. Cut the sides off of it to skinny it up, and it
worked perfectly. The socket is even the type for the low wattage bulb
Hugh sells, and the marine light cover screw hole aligns with the
running light base.

The Volkswagen master cylinder works very well. I just had to cut an
inch or so off of the threaded rod that pushes into it. $28 at the local
Bug Stop. I highly recommend it over trying to rebuild the old one.

The Lockheed repair kit LK10539 has perfect replacement seals for the
front wheel cylinders. I think I spent a total of six bucks buying the
seals at Sportscar Warehouse. The rear cylinders are apparently 1959
vintage VW Beetle.

Other things of note (to me)

Al Heath's CD is a real boon (and so are Al and his wife!). I got one
from him when I first started on this project, and I have used it a
bunch! I just hope that one day my web site will be on a future version!

Do you guys put your cars away wet? I always feel guilty if I do not
raise the front deck lid, raise the doors and open the trunk, and wipe
down all the edges. I usually leave at least the trunk open all night to
dry out.

The best thing I ever did on this car was go down to Discount Tire, and
order my tires there. They got me a pretty good discount from Coker on
the BF Goodrich Silvertowns (100 bucks each, mounted, balanced, and 5
new tubes). My sole original Vrederstein now lives in the trunk, fully
inflated. I think that nothing sets off these cars like the wide whites!

For the first three months I have driven this car, I thought my
windshield wipers were off of a Beetle. They were so low. Just for
grins, I pulled on one of them, and whaddya know...they are adjustable!
Now I can see through the middle of my windshield after a big wave! Duh
on me!

This weekend we took the car out to Joe Pool lake for a church outing.
The best moment was after we had driven off the shore a few times for
rides, and the Baby-Hitler Lake Police showed up, and started yelling at
us through his bull-horn: "You there, stop launching your car into the
lake!".

It was a lot of work to get this thing working, but it was worth it. The
kids have already told me (and so has the wife) that we can never get
rid of it because we are now "famous"!

There. I feel better for having gotten that all off of my chest.

Later!
Dan
'64 Das Boot
 
R

rogtwo@aol.com

Guest
In a message dated 7/16/03 7:36:20 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
dkgibson3@attbi.com writes:

> This weekend we took the car out to Joe Pool lake for a church outing.
> The best moment was after we had driven off the shore a few times for
> rides, and the Baby-Hitler Lake Police showed up, and started yelling at
> us through his bull-horn: "You there, stop launching your car into the
> lake!".
>

Dan, I assume powerboats were legal on this lake? What was this cop
thinking????

Roger
White '63
Seattle


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 
R

Randy Bograd

Guest
I agree Dan, it is a lot of work putting one of these on the road, but
definitely worth it. I bet every Amphi owner enjoys a local claim to
fame. I was swimming last week in the Potomac River (north of DC),
sharing the river with a bunch of Wave Riders.They finally caught a
glimpse of the Amphi and all swam over to check it out. They were so
interested to see how I take it out of the water, they all lined up
behind me to follow me in. I looked like the mother goose with her
goslings behind. What a hoot.

Randy
Blue '67


On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 21:37:23 -0500 Daniel & Kathy Gibson
<dkgibson3@attbi.com> writes:
> Hi Gang
>
> Just came back from a very nice quick sunset cruise on Lake
> Arlington.
> Had a pontoon boat full of senior citizens out cruising the lake.
> They
> got such a kick out of Das Boot. Asked all kinds of questions.
>
> Anyway, I just finished washing the car down, and was thinking of a
> few
> things. So, here they are!
>
> A few parts substitutes I came up with on DB:
>
> A 1949 Jeep dimmer switch is a perfect replacement for the Amphi
> part.
> Even the mounting bolts swapped! Autozone had it in for me in one
> day.
>
> I purchased a front marine light from Hugh. They were out of bases,
> so I
> went up to AutoZone, and purchased one of those tear-drop shaped
> running
> lights for a truck. Cut the sides off of it to skinny it up, and it
> worked perfectly. The socket is even the type for the low wattage
> bulb
> Hugh sells, and the marine light cover screw hole aligns with the
> running light base.
>
> The Volkswagen master cylinder works very well. I just had to cut
> an
> inch or so off of the threaded rod that pushes into it. $28 at the
> local
> Bug Stop. I highly recommend it over trying to rebuild the old one.
>
> The Lockheed repair kit LK10539 has perfect replacement seals for
> the
> front wheel cylinders. I think I spent a total of six bucks buying
> the
> seals at Sportscar Warehouse. The rear cylinders are apparently
> 1959
> vintage VW Beetle.
>
> Other things of note (to me)
>
> Al Heath's CD is a real boon (and so are Al and his wife!). I got
> one
> from him when I first started on this project, and I have used it a
> bunch! I just hope that one day my web site will be on a future
> version!
>
> Do you guys put your cars away wet? I always feel guilty if I do
> not
> raise the front deck lid, raise the doors and open the trunk, and
> wipe
> down all the edges. I usually leave at least the trunk open all
> night to
> dry out.
>
> The best thing I ever did on this car was go down to Discount Tire,
> and
> order my tires there. They got me a pretty good discount from Coker
> on
> the BF Goodrich Silvertowns (100 bucks each, mounted, balanced, and
> 5
> new tubes). My sole original Vrederstein now lives in the trunk,
> fully
> inflated. I think that nothing sets off these cars like the wide
> whites!
>
> For the first three months I have driven this car, I thought my
> windshield wipers were off of a Beetle. They were so low. Just for
> grins, I pulled on one of them, and whaddya know...they are
> adjustable!
> Now I can see through the middle of my windshield after a big wave!
> Duh
> on me!
>
> This weekend we took the car out to Joe Pool lake for a church
> outing.
> The best moment was after we had driven off the shore a few times
> for
> rides, and the Baby-Hitler Lake Police showed up, and started
> yelling at
> us through his bull-horn: "You there, stop launching your car into
> the
> lake!".
>
> It was a lot of work to get this thing working, but it was worth it.
> The
> kids have already told me (and so has the wife) that we can never
> get
> rid of it because we are now "famous"!
>
> There. I feel better for having gotten that all off of my chest.
>
> Later!
> Dan
> '64 Das Boot
>
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R

rogtwo@aol.com

Guest
In a message dated 7/16/03 4:29:06 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
dkgibson3@attbi.com writes:

> They do not want people launching off of the shore. Apparently some
> boneheads have gotten their cars stuck launching PWCs. Earlier when I
> was out in the water, a cop pulled alongside to check out DB. She told
> me about the launching rules, but when I pointed out it was not too
> likely that I would get stuck, she told me to go right ahead. Baby
> Hitler showed up later.
>

Ahh, but your not "launching" off the beach. You are just putting your
beached boat back in the water! :) :) :)

Roger


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 
D

Daniel & Kathy Gibson

Guest
rogtwo@aol.com wrote:
>
> In a message dated 7/16/03 7:36:20 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
> dkgibson3@attbi.com writes:
>
> > This weekend we took the car out to Joe Pool lake for a church outing.
> > The best moment was after we had driven off the shore a few times for
> > rides, and the Baby-Hitler Lake Police showed up, and started yelling at
> > us through his bull-horn: "You there, stop launching your car into the
> > lake!".
> >
>
> Dan, I assume powerboats were legal on this lake? What was this cop
> thinking????
>
> Roger
> White '63
> Seattle

They do not want people launching off of the shore. Apparently some
boneheads have gotten their cars stuck launching PWCs. Earlier when I
was out in the water, a cop pulled alongside to check out DB. She told
me about the launching rules, but when I pointed out it was not too
likely that I would get stuck, she told me to go right ahead. Baby
Hitler showed up later.
 
N

nelson625@aol.com

Guest
Dan -
I'm probably late into this matter, since I have not been on line in
several days. First real question- does your Amphicar have a current Coast
Guard registration and all the Coast Guard required equipment needed ? If so,
what
was the net result of your encounter with this bull-horn equipped official?
Vic "Splash" Nelson near Daytona.


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
 
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