Stolen Amphicar-Have they no shame?

A high school classmate of mine had a 67 Amphicar. You know one of those that drives on land or in water. I ran into him a couple years ago and he talked about all the parts he had replaced restoring it. Went to take it for a ride a few weeks ago and it was gone. Unbelievable someone would take a classic like this and how in the world would you fence it? So if you see a white Amphicar with Minnesota plates on it, let me know.

Sorry to hear it, those have become quite valuable the last several years. Buy yeah, how easy is it to fence?

He bought it for $650 and figures its worth mayber $40,000 now. The guy is kind of a tycoon. He’s the same one that took us for a ride in 1966 in his 53 Chevy with the roof cut off, down the railroad tracks. Said the wheelbase was the same as the tracks. Had to keep the tires pretty low though so they would wrap around the tracks. Didn’t have to steer or anything, just sit back and enjoy the moonlight. Ah, it was an abandoned track anyway.

“…how in the world would you fence it?”

Is there a VIN on the Amphicar? I suppose the thief might even export it if it’s worth a lot; maybe more in Europe since it originated there.

Don’t know what the VIN is but the police put it in the national computer system.

I would be concerned that someone might have an old gutted beater Amphicar that is nothing more than a few pieces of scrap metal and might transfer any VIN plate or section to the stolen car, thereby giving them a legal car worth a bunch of money.

My sincerest condolences and hopefully the car will turn up and get returned to its rightful owner.

While I would never point fingers at a specific individual at this point, the owner should consider the possibility that the car was taken by someone they know or an acquaintance of someone they know. One hates to think that someone they know would stoop to this but it happens all of the time.

While doing a clutch on an old Corvette of mine many years ago someone heisted the Muncie 4 speed and shifter assembly out of my garage. I was crushed for a few days over this until a good friend of mine said he could come up with a replacement. The replacement turned out to be my very own transmission which he had ground most of the serial numbers off of, slapped some Chevy orange paint on, and was trying to sell back to me. How crass is that? Our friendship ended when my fist hit his face and the cops picked him up.

That’s not the one I see tooling around on the St Croix is it?

Parts is Parts…The pieces are sometimes worth more than the whole…And like OK said, I.D. plates can move from vehicle to vehicle, even sections of frame that have stamped in numbers…

@ok4450 Takes a lot of nerve selling you back your own trans. Don’t want to say too much but I’m sure he’d have friends capable of that. Police said the garage didn’t show any signs of forced entry. Might be an interesting story if they ever figure it out. A couple years ago a guy had a semi trailer loaded with his stuff during remodeling and parked at his truck stop. It disappeared one weekend and I don’t think they ever found it. So who knows anymore.

@shadowfax St. Croix would be maybe 45 miles away so kind of doubt it since we’ve got lots of lakes here. I saw one in Duluth once too so there are a few around.

I sincerely hope that something happens and your friend gets his car back. At least with a 70s era Chevelle or something of that nature one can always find another right around the corner. An Amphicar is a rare bird. Many years ago there was a couple of those things running around here but I have no idea where they are now.

The details about the storage area or garage are unknown to me but here’s something for consideration if there was no forced entry.
An overhead garage door usually has a key code stamped on the outside of the handle mechanism. All someone has to do is take the simple code down to any company that sells that brand of door and buy a replacement key.
With doors that have electric operators there are even ways around those. One can take a transmitter apart, insert an Allen wrench into the screw which adjusts the frequency, and hold the button down while turning the screw. Eventually it hits the right frequency and up goes the door; assuming someone has relied on the operator only to secure the door and not the lock mechanism.

My gut feeling is that whoever took this car is probably someone your friend has talked to face ot face at one time or the other. Pretty darned sad and best wishes that the car resurfaces (pun not intended) at some point.

Good point. Might be at the bottom of the lake. Crazy friend took it for a joy ride and it sank on him? I didn’t know about the transmitter thing but even easier if you’ve got a keypad like mine is to rip the keypad off the door frame and just short the two wires together. I don’t like to advertise it though-makes me feel better.

My first house had an older garage door opener. I was quite anal about checking the door on the way out the driveway. Came home one day and it was wide open!! Worried me but appeared nothing touched. After it happened a second time a few months later, I bought a new one with RF remote pad, digital codes. Never a problem after that.