Photos by James DeCamp, courtesy Mecum Auctions.
While legend has it the original Volkswagen Beetle could float, Chevrolet’s rear-engined answer to the Beetle and its many variants never developed a similar reputation. However, if a couple of imaginative GM engineers had their way, it very well might have, given that the prototype they built – the Corphibian amphibious Corvan, which will head to auction in January – actually kept above the waves.
Richard E. Hulten and Roger D. Holm likely drew inspiration from another rear-engined German vehicle, however. The Triumph-powered Amphicar washed up on American shores in 1961, and though it didn’t come anywhere close to the Volkswagen’s sales volume, it nevertheless generated plenty of interest, surely enough to reach Hulten and Holm, two GM engineers who decided to give the Amphicar some home-grown competition.
Their idea: seal up the bottom of a new-to-the-market Corvan, add a couple of props and rudders, and see if their vision floats. So they formed a company – Hulten-Holm and Company, which apparently existed just for this one brief side project – rented a garage in downtown Pontiac, Michigan, and obtained a brand-new Loadside from Mathews-Hargrave Chevrolet just a few blocks away. Then they went to work.
According to Ken Hand, president of the Corvair Society of America and one of the few people in the world familiar with the Corphibian, Hulten and Holm chose the Loadside rather than the similar but more popular Rampside because, without that ramp cut into the side of the truck, it would take less to waterproof the rig. “It was also the lightest truck they could come up with and the one with the best balance,” he said.
The duo started by extending the rear of the Loadside by two feet. The additional room would house the hydraulic reservoir and motors that turned – via a belt system – the twin propellers mounted behind each rear wheel as well as the electrically operated rudders behind each propeller. A hydraulic pump mounted to the stock flat-six engine provided the required pressure. They then sealed off the underside with a fiberglass “underpod,” as Hand called it, and added controls for the props and rudders in the bed.
Hulten and Holm dubbed the result the Corphibian and reportedly embarked on a two-year development program with General Motors, including plenty of in-water testing. The program ended with General Motors turning the concept down, however; by then, it became evident that amphibious vehicles would only ever amount to a niche product, one that would cost far more for GM to develop than it would be worth.
Following the testing period, Hulten stashed the Corphibian away with merely the 120 test miles on it. He then held on to it until 1993, when amphibious vehicle enthusiast Wally Wheeler of Waterford, Michigan, discovered and bought it. That’s when Hand, Wheeler’s neighbor, first became aware of the Corphibian and offered some parts to help get it going again. Wheeler added a few miles to it before he sold it at auction to the current owner, Mike Hollen, who notched up the mileage to 157 before he recently had Hand freshen it up.
“It drives fine on the street,” Hollen said, “but we’ve never had it on the water.”
No pre-auction estimate has been released. The Corphibian will cross the block as part of Mecum’s Kissimmee sale, which will take place January 15-24. For more information, visit Mecum.com.
More gadget review in www.mamaktalk.com
