Amphicat

History

The Amphicat began in Canada with Beehoo Industries of Ontario. According to the Space: 1999 Catacombs reference site, Beehoo sold the US distribution rights to Mobility Unlimited of Michigan in 1966 and kept the Canadian and export markets. The US manufacturing rights later passed to Magna American of Mississippi, which took over Mobility Unlimited in 1970 ^[2]. Wikipedia places Mobility Unlimited in Auburn Hills, Michigan, and says Magna American built the vehicle in Raymond, Mississippi, for several years ^[1]. The Canadian and US versions differed mainly at the rear transom ^[1][2]. In Spain, the inventor José Artés de Arcos built the design as the Artés Gato Montés ^[1].

The Amphicat is also part of the story of the Argo. Ontario Drive and Gear built a special forward-and-reverse transmission for it, and Wikipedia credits that work with leading the gear maker to develop its own vehicle ^[1]. Riders West tells the same story without naming the vehicle: an amphibious maker that ODG supplied went out of business, leaving finished transmissions that became the start of the first Argo in 1967 ^[6].

Design

The body is a two-piece shell of vacuum-formed ABS plastic that also serves as the hull ^[1][2]. A 16 hp (12 kW) air-cooled engine sits behind the seat and drives all six wheels through an automatic torque converter ^[1][3]. The driver steers with two levers, one for each side. Pulling a lever back slows or brakes that side, so the vehicle turns like a tank ^[1][3]. A gear lever under the seat gives normal, slow and reverse ranges, and the slow range is meant for water and hills ^[3].

The Space: 1999 example, a Canadian Beehoo machine, has a Sachs Wankel rotary engine. It measures 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) long and 1.35 m (4 ft 5 in) wide and weighs 218 kg (481 lb) ^[2][3]. Like other six-wheel amphibians, the Amphicat floats on its tub and moves slowly through water by turning its tires ^[4].

The six-wheel amphibious ATV family

The Amphicat belonged to a short-lived boom. The Jiger, introduced in 1961, is usually credited as the first of these machines ^[4]. The 6x6 was developed in the early 1960s, and by 1970 almost 60 companies were building amphibious six-wheelers, a racing association held events, and Sears sold its own model ^[5]. Other makes included Attex, the Coot and the Argo ^[4], and the Allis-Chalmers Terra Tiger, which was designed by Marvin Feldmann and used a 10 hp or 18 hp JLO two-stroke engine ^[7].

The boom ended in the early 1970s. The ROUTE6x6 history site points to the Arab oil embargo, Honda's three-wheeled ATC, which sold for about $800 when an average six-wheeler cost about $1,500, and poorly built machines from new companies ^[5]. Most makers closed within a few years. Four survived, and after Attex and Hustler folded in the mid-1980s, Argo and Max were left as the main six-wheel builders ^[5].

On screen

Customized US-built Amphicats were the buggies driven by the costumed hosts of the American children's show The Banana Splits (1968 to 1970) ^[1][2]. A red Canadian Amphicat, repainted yellow, became the Moon buggy in the British series Space: 1999 ^[2]. That machine was later owned by the Cars of the Stars museum in Cumbria, England, then by an Italian fan. It was offered at auction in November 2022 with an estimate of GBP 80,000 to 120,000 but did not reach its reserve ^[2].

Related entries

• Argo amphibious ATVATVs and work machines · 1967 to present
• SherpATVs and work machines · 2012 to present (series production from 2015)
• HydratrekATVs and work machines · 2008 to present
• Amphibious cars in film and televisionRecords, people and culture · 1960s to present
• How amphibious vehicles workHow it works ·