ID This Boat (or is it just a car?)

[Jim H]

Okay, we're in Paris this week. We take a Bateau Mouches down La Seine, and I'm checking out the barges and other boats:



Hmm, I thought, that barge has a garage on the back:



Okay, so here's the quiz questions for today:

1) Is this just a nice red convertible, handily placed on the back of the live-aboard barge in the middle of Paris? Or is it more? Is it an amphibian red convertible, and if so, what model and year?

Here's a blow up:



Note the unusual piping on the rear bumpers. Also, there's a crane assembly in the foreground that may or may not be obscuring a propeller assembly on the car. The underbody looks suspcious, as does the shape of the bow, but in the end this may be a normal red convertible and not a boat as well...

(Either way, I like the fins.)

2) Second question: The roof on this car park is very low. Does it appear that that there is an obviously way to get this boat on and off the barge? Is the car an ornament, in long term storage, or an easily deployed asset?

I'll leave these these questions to greater minds to ponder... Au revoir!

[sailingdog]

That's an amphibious car. It was called an Amphicar.

[blt2ski]

I was going to say a "DUCK" or some such thing from the title, but that is way too small to be the duck I was thinking of. But I have seen those cars around here, ie Seattle area. A local neighbor had 2 maybe three of them. Still does to my knowledge.

marty

[oceansoul63]

I wonder how they launch it -- the davit behind it is surely too small for such a task.

[SecondWindNC]

That's definitely an Amphicar, but as to how they get it on and off of there, I'm as baffled as the rest of you. That canopy over it doesn't look like it would be easy to remove in order to lift the car off, and there's no readily apparent way to drive it off.

[Yamsailor]

It is called an Amphicar. ONe was just refurbished and relaunched a couple of weeks ago in the Philadedlphia area. See enclosed:

http://www.dryl.org/2007/1967_Amphicar.html
YouTube - 1967 Amphicar Launch

[JLBJR]

Check out the link for all your answers including a video clip. Paris Houseboat*Amphicar - FRONT PAGE - Commission Blueprint review/PlentyofFish reviews/Frank Kern Mass Control review/Porsche girl/Sarah Palin naked/

Here is a copy of the text in case you can't get the link to work.

Paris Houseboat Rental

This is the way to live in Paris - aboard your converted peniche houseboat barge with your Amphicar (amphibious car) lashed to the deck.

The peniche and amphicar is owned by Undersea Architect and visionary Jacques Rougerie. Its a 1964 model of the famous German marque - the Amphicar was the only amphibious mass-produced automobile.

Its powered by the 1147 cc engine from the British Triumph Herald 1200 - "state of the art" in 1961. The Amphicar can steam at 7 knots in the water and 70 mph (113 km/h) on land.

The Amphicar is steered with the front wheels - both in the water and on land.

3,878 vehicles were built before the company went belly up.

Concourse vehicles are fetching above $115K these days.

This particular car was restored here in France, with all the parts imported from the U.S.

BTW there lots of these peniche houseboat barges moored along the Seine - in various states of repair. A good one in a prime position can set you back a million dollars.

Good pictures and info on Amphicars here at Amphicars.com and yet more photos here at Google Images

ParisHouseboatBoisdeBoulogne-thumbnail.jpg
3 bedrooms aboardYou want to rent a luxury Peniche Housboat here in Paris? Have a look at this one moored alongside the Bois de Boulogne

JLBJR

[nolatom]

I remember the Amphicar from some boat shows where my dad, a yacht broker, was exhibiting one in a shopping center swimming pool. This was, I think, around 1962?

Getting the car into the pool was easy, just push it, and then it propelled itself like a boat. The problem I recall was in getting it back out, where you had to switch from propellors to rear wheels. I believe we managed to damage the rear axle in the process.

I was 12 or 13 then, so clouding of memory may have affected what I've said.

And I don't recall that we actually sold any of them. Glad to hear that the councourse owners have $100K in their wallets. Still, as a salt-water sailor in close contact with the North Atlantic (north shore of Boston), I had no desire to try one out in the ocean.

[rayncyn51]

In the early 70's I had an auto repair shop. One of my customers had one of these that I regularly serviced. He used to cruise it around the local lakes. It was fun watching people's faces as he drove it right down the boat ramp into the lake.

Back then the car was kind of a joke. It was worth about $500, and everybody thought the whole concept to be rather humorous. Now they're selling on the high side of 100 grand. Goes to show... be careful what/who you laugh at!

[Jim H]

Originally Posted by JLBJR

Paris Houseboat Rental

This is the way to live in Paris - aboard your converted peniche houseboat barge with your Amphicar (amphibious car) lashed to the deck.

Good grief. They make it sound like you simply pop the car into reverse to launch it, but from our eyes that would be about a 12 foot drop into the water.

3000 euro a week is quite a bit to rent the barge. We're paying less than a third of that for a great one bedroom, full terrace place with a view of the Eiffel Tower (well, the tip at least...).

Fun to be here on new years eve. Having kids along is keeping us from joing midnight fireworks, but we plan to look from our terrace and opening skylights. Pretty fun.