Amphicar Article

Yesterday's Flops, Today's Collectibles
By Claire Martin of MSN Autos

One lesson that came out of product launches like New Coke and the Sony Betamax is that too much hype can be a bad thing. The auto industry has had its fair share of flops over the years — cars that didn't live up to the expectations, gained infamy for abysmal sales or performance, or were just plain weird. But those cars didn't disappear from the roads. Many have achieved cult status and become collector's items, sought after by car enthusiasts for their rarity. "Enthusiasts measure success differently," explains McKeel Hagerty, founder and CEO of Hagerty Insurance, which specializes in collector vehicles. "They'll find some odd-duck car that no one has and they want it." Here are the top 10 most coveted car flops.

Amphicar

If you want to put a smile on the face of a kid or a car collector, put him in an Amphicar and drive down a boat ramp. A German-made creation from the 1960s, the Amphicar was built under the premise that there was an untapped market for a car that could function like a boat. "Unfortunately for the Amphicar, it wasn't a good car and it wasn't a good boat," Hagerty says. Choppy conditions or more than about 6 inches of water proved disastrous for the Amphicar. Only 3,878 were built, and they now can fetch up to $56,000.