July 1, 2024
PUBLISHER’S CORNER
My summer in 1996
By Eloise Graham
Jim and I were college students working summer jobs. I worked at a restaurant, and Jim worked at Tuttle Creek Marina in Manhattan, Kansas. It was at the marina that Jim saw and fell in love with the Amphicar. What better way to celebrate a first anniversary than to buy an Amphicar.
Now exactly, what is an Amphicar? Well according to Wikipedia, it “is an amphibious automobile which was launched at the 1961 New York Auto Show. It was made in West Germany and marketed from 1961 to 1968.” The Amphicar was good for fun. It was not quick, a Triumph 4 cylinder engine and top water speed was about 8 knots, but it was iconic, unique and friendly.
My first water ride in our new acquisition was somewhat surreal. The doors have rubber seals around them to keep the water out. There is a lever on the door to latch the seal before going into the water. Doors were latched, we started driving down the boat ramp. Entering the water, I could have sworn my feet were getting wet, but they weren’t. And… you ride so low in the water, not up high like in a boat. I was pretty sure we were sinking. Then we leveled off, and it was a lot of fun.
Unique is probably the best way to describe it! When in the water we would hear comments like, “Hey, the road is up there!” “Are you lost?” “There’s no streets in these streams.” Or if we were driving down the road, we would hear, “Looking for a lake?” The river is that-a-way.” One time my father-in-law was driving Amphi (Our name for her) down the boat ramp at Tuttle Greek. Now this particular ramp is quite wide. 
Bob was just casually driving down the middle, probably waving at people as he was ready to enter the water. A guy came out of nowhere, reached in the car and grabbed the keys from the steering column. He was sure Bob was intoxicated and didn’t know what he was doing driving a car into the lake.
One afternoon as I was going to work, I got pulled over by a State Trooper. Jim and I had been out on the lake earlier that day. As I was driving to work, I could hear water sloshing in the bilge below. So I pulled the bilge plug release and water started squirting out the back. Now I was driving in the left lane of a divided four-lane with full access. I needed to turn left, go across the other two lanes and enter the parking lot of the restaurant. Suddenly there were red lights flashing behind me. No left shoulder so I had to go to the right lane and stop on the shoulder there. The trooper got out of his car and walked up to me saying, “Ma’am you weren’t doing anything wrong, but your car is leaking something might bad.” He had not ever seen an Amphicar so I had to show it off to him. I had passed my turn, so I had to go on to next crossing and come back.
