The Amphicar 770 is an example of a classic that seemingly began rising in value overnight, and certainly the case of a car you could have bought cheaply – if you got in before the jump in prices. Now, examples like this 1966 model that aren’t terminally rusty consistently fetch a fair price, with bidding already over $16K and five days left in the auction. It hails from Arizona, which is about the last place I’d expect to find an Amphicar. Find it here on eBay and now living in Tennessee.

The Amphicar, despite the novelty of the concept, wasn’t a huge seller. Feedback at the time indicated it wasn’t particularly good at one of its two main tasks – motoring or boating – but it did make it possible to do both. The Amphicar could reach speeds of 70 m.p.h. on land, using the powerplant out of a Triumph Herald. Of course, if used in anything other than fresh water, expect these to rust out fairly quickly – and even in fresh water setting, long periods of damp on-land storage have rendered many of these Amphicars into scrap.

The interior remains quite nice on this example, and given Amphicar’s liberal use of pastels, keeping it clean can be a trick. There’s a passionate following for these amphibious cars, which is one of the more attractive reasons to owning one. The club support and water-based events with fellow enthusiasts looks like a very good time, and even President Lyndon Johnson was famous for piloting one of these around his Texas property (and of course, as the story goes, heading downhill towards a lake and screaming at his passengers that he had lost the brakes.)

These Amphicars were a German creation, which I sometimes forget given their finned styling. When I devise theories as to why the prices are rising, one guess is that no other manufacturer has put forth an honest-to-goodness solution for a combined road- and boat vehicle. Not that you need one, but Amphicar deserves the credit for taking this wild concept and building it to scale; sadly, the enthusiasm for the brand and concept arrived too late to make it a long-term success. Have any of you ever owned or ridden in an Amphicar?