Through the years various attempts were made to design an amphibious passenger vehicle. Until the Amphicar, the only known amphibians were military vehicles, Ducks, Otters, and Ferdinand Porsche's famous Schwimmwagen (originally military, but used as a passenger vehicle after the war). These were always either camouflage or olive colored. Thanks to one German inventor, Hans Trippel, we have the worlds only mass-produced passenger amphibious vehicle designed for every day use, the Amphicar

Trippel worked on amphibious vehicle designs all his life.  He began his career in the 1930's working for the German war effort. When the war ended he found his idea of designing a passenger amphib was not taken seriously, causing problems gaining the needed financial support to make his dream a reality. However Trippel was not a quitter. The time it took him to find the support allowed him to build several prototypes and perfect his design. He finally found his support through Harold Quandt, of BMW.  It happened that the Borgward company went out of business around that time and Trippel was able to obtain their designers, engineers, etc..

Quandt Industries was able to provide the political and financial support for sales to occur primarily in the States. Strong trade relations with Great Britain allowed Quandt to obtain the rear-mounted 43 HP Triumph Herald engine, and the electrical components. The Bellino company of Italy providing the body moulds. A Hermes transaxle (based on the Porsche 356 with a special water drive) allowed the prototype to enter into production in 1961. This qualifies the Amphicar as the first "world" car.

Various complications, such as the use of two facilities in the production (one in Borsig and the other across the Iron Curtain" in Lubeck), caused the Amphicar to carry a very high sticker price of $3400. (For comparison, the VW Beetle sold for $1200 at the same time.) When the maintenance and rust problems were added to the price it caused the sales to be terrible. From a total of 3,878 units sold between 1962 and 1968, only about 300 are left in the world today. 

The unique qualities of the Amphicar found it being used in advertisements from Popular Mechanics magazine, the New York Worlds Fair, as well as, a James Bond "Thunderball" promotion. Even though many improvements were needed, the original prototype is quite seaworthy and performs adequately on the road.

Several events occurred which spelled doom for the Amphicar: the unfortunate death of Harold Quandt in an airplane crash in 1967, after which his family lost interest and the car fell under new U.S. standards for emissions and bumpers.  When the factories closed there were many parts leftover which eventually found their way to the states. Despite many experiments, the best and only mass production passenger amphibious vehicle that is still available today is the Trippel Amphicar.