Finzilla
1964 Amphicar

Tom Jones
Sun Prairie, WI

Tom found the shell of this 1964 Amphicar in Alaska and hauled it home to Wisconsin. These four passenger vehicles were introduced in 1961 and were manufactured in Germany for four years. It has a rear mounted 1147 cc Triumph OHV 4 cylinder engine that was rated at 38.3 HP when new. Tom added dual side draft Weber carbs to the nicely detailed engine.

Tom had a vision for this unique little car and started out by adding fins from a 1958 Chrysler and named his project "Finzilla". The louvered engine cover was a donated hood from a GM truck. These cars originally had a soft top and were called cabriolets. Tom chopped the windshield 2" and added a removable hard top. After the car was painted and put into ship shape condition, he enjoyed boating on many lakes in his area and showing it at Amphicar club meets.

When Tom wanted to change the somewhat square looking front end, he decided a bullet nose would look good and went about locating a 50 Studebaker front end. This took tons of work to narrow and shorten the front end so it would mate with the Amphicar's body. Tom added Ford headlights to the Stude fenders and because the front end had to be solid, he filled in the grill opening and behind the bullet and the "grills" were hand painted on the solid panel under the bullet. 

The photo below shows Tom having a blast in Finzilla with the top removed.