Amphibious ATV

An amphibious all-terrain vehicle (AATV) is a small off-road, and typically six-wheel drive, amphibious vehicle. They were developed in the early 1960s and quickly became popular in both the US and Canada. These vehicles are now used by enthusiasts and professionals worldwide for recreation and industry.

These vehicles earned their own classification - all-terrain vehicle (ATV). However, after the introduction of small three- and four-wheeled off-road motorcycles in the 1970s and 1980s, these have become better known as ATVs than the original amphibious ones.

(Amphibious) ATVs were made in the United States a decade before 3- and 4-wheeled ATV's were introduced by Honda and other Japanese manufacturers. After the presentation of the Jiger in 1961, numerous manufacturers offered a number of similar small off-road vehicles, that were designed to float and were capable of traversing swamps, ponds and streams as well as dry land. Because they were smaller and much simpler in construction than (amphibious) cars, they were much cheaper to produce and quickly gained considerable popularity. By 1970 there were almost 60 companies producing amphibious 6x6 vehicles. There was even a professional racing association dedicated to the 6x6, holding numerous competitions across the USA. These amphibious vehicles were originally called all-terrain vehicles - or ATVs.

In the early 1970s however there was a rapid decline in sales of this type of ATVs, forcing most manufacturers to cease production. Reasons were:

Only a small number of manufacturers of this type of vehicle remain today.

NATVA (National All-Terrain Vehicle Association) was the official amphibious racing association and had its own magazine. "Races started around 1969, but I don't know when they finally ended. Most of the races were in the northeast and upper midwest. I have a NATVA magazine that shows regions covering the whole country, but as far as I can remember they never had a race schedule for all of them. Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia are the states I know for sure, but there are probably more.

There were four "National" events a year and regionals most every other weekend or so someplace in the country. Most of the teams that did really well owned dealerships or part of an ATV manufacturing company. They had the advantage of cheaper parts and direct tech knowledge from the source. In 1972 and 73 Scott Slonaker was probably the most dominant, then Larry Shorts, Larry Smith, the McKays (all Attex) and the Fischer Scrambler team out of Ashtabula, Ohio. There were an awful lot of competitive Max drivers, but the ones I remember were individuals and not part of a race team. I'm sure there are more that I'm forgetting, and others that took over in later years". The NATVA races were quite the events to attend, attracting thousands of spectators.

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