The Amphicar’s top water speed was 7 knots. Its name, Model 770, reflected its advertised performance of roughly 7 knots on water and 70 miles per hour on land.
The Amphicar was a German amphibious automobile designed by Hanns Trippel and produced for civilian buyers from 1961 to 1968. It was unusual because it was a genuine road car that could also enter the water, rather than a military vehicle adapted for occasional civilian use.
A 1,147 cc Triumph Herald engine sat at the rear and produced about 43 horsepower. On land, it drove the rear wheels through a four-speed manual transmission. In water, a separate drive arrangement powered two reversible propellers at the stern. The front wheels remained in the water as rudders, so steering was handled with the ordinary steering wheel.
Seven knots is about 13 km/h, modest compared with a conventional speedboat. That limited performance, along with the Amphicar’s novelty-focused design, helped make it memorable but commercially rare. Fewer than 4,000 were produced.