School children were crying and calling for help when Cooma car lover Tony Nassar appeared to drive a vintage convertible straight into the lake on Sunday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But there was nothing to fear, it was simply the debut outing of Mr Nassar's latest purchase direct from Miami beach, Florida – an Amphicar 770 – on Lake Burley Griffin as part of the annual German Auto Display.
Just 4000 models of the German Amphicars, designed by Hans Trippel, were made by the Quandt group between 1961 and 1968, and were the only mass-produced car that could float of their time.
Car enthusiast and amateur mechanic Mr Nassar had long believed the model was out of reach price-wise.
"Then an auction came up on New Year's Day, and sure enough most people were holidaying so not many people showed up to the auction and I was bidding online with my uncle in Florida, and we ended up winning the bid. I thought, this is fantastic," Mr Nassar said.
Mr Nassar, who also owns Rose's Lebanese Restaurant
Mr Nassar's collection also includes a 1966 Bedford fire truck from Denmark, a BMW Isetta bubble car, a 1971 two-door Ford Cortina, and a nearly six-metre-long Pontiac from the US.
The couple live in town with their children and keep the cars on a nearby property that they also use to grow produce for the restaurant.
His father brought the family to Cooma 30 years ago when he was missing the mountains of Lebanon after immigrating to Sydney, and they decided to stay.
"Dad got me into fixing cars, my brothers and I always tinkered around cars. Dad always bought us older cars and made us pull them apart and put them back together so we could be self-taught," Mr Nassar said.
For the 43-year-old, Sunday's Amphicar ride was a dream come true. "It has been a 20-year dream. I saw it on a calendar, and I like unique vehicles. I always wanted to be able to take it onto Lake Burley Griffin," Mr Nassar said.
