Oppizzi amphibian (1934)

The Oppizzi amphibian was built in 1934 by Lorenzo Oppizzi. Born in Coli, in the Italian province of Piacenza, in 1900, he emigrated to Argentina in 1923. He started out as a lorry driver and later set up his own engineering works, which became one of the country's first makers of truck bodies.

Oppizzi's enthusiasm for metalwork and his inventiveness led him to build an amphibious vehicle in 1934. He drove it through the streets of Lanús, Avellaneda and Quilmes, south of Buenos Aires, and took it onto the waters of the Río de la Plata. No technical details survive in the archive.