1943 VW Schwimmwagen WWII Amphibious Car for Sale

Solution to global warming and floods? Buy an amphibious car, a sturdy one, like they did in World War II. Say a Volkswagen Typ 166, or Schwimmwagen, which literally means swimming car. It’s the world’s most produced amphibious car in history and we tracked down one for sale in Poland.

The ad description reads that this particular Schwimmwagen had only one owner between 1959 and 1965, who used it as a daily driver. Then the swimming car had a long vacation until 1995, when it got fully restored and driven 2,000 km (1,242 miles) in the CAAR rally.

In 2014, it also received a rebuilt engine and gearbox. It has all the original equipment plus a gun mounting in case some zombie apocalypse starts. And you also get more spare parts if you’re willing to pay some extra. By the way, the current bid is set at $50,000 (€40,400). Pretty expensive for a WWII Beetle.

That’s all the ad discloses, but we can tell you the power comes, or should come if it’s indeed original, from a 4-cylinder air-cooled boxer engine mated to a 4-speed manual gearbox which also gives you full 4x4 in first gear and reverse. Don’t get your hopes too high though - it only makes 25 hp at 3,000 rpm.

For water sports, the Schwimmwagen is fitted with a screw propeller that can be lowered from the rear deck engine cover and connected to the crankshaft via a simple coupling.

VW Schwimmwagen Typ 166 for sale - photo gallery