Amphibious Jeeps a plenty at Corowa Swim-In and Military Vehicle Gathering on the Murray River in March

In fact, the boatshaped vehicle isn’t restricted to the water and storms up river banks with ease to the glee of its owner Manfred Hinkel.

Mr Hinkel and his Seagoing Jeep, which is actually a 1943 Ford GPA, came down from Cooma in NSW to the Riverina this week to take part in the 37^th Corowa Swim-In and Military Vehicle Gathering.

The Australian resident, with a bright German accent, bought the US-built vehicle four years ago near where he grew up in the Black Forest.

Mr Hinkel said the Seep had been built for beach landings and crossing German rivers in World War II but a lot of them had met their end in turbulent seas.

Asked why he wanted to buy the hybrid, Mr Hinkel said it was his “dream” and he was also in the market for the German equivalent, a Volkswagen Schwimmwagen.

It was other like-minded passionate collectors like Mr Hinkel who first came up with the Corowa event.

Khaki Vehicle Enthusiasts committee member Richard Farrant said the first swim-in was a gathering of amphibious military vehicle owners who got together to take their cars for a dip in the Murray.

“They came from all states and found this was the ideal place,” he said.

“Then other military vehicle enthusiasts popped along and it’s just grown from there.

“We still get a few amphibious vehicles but on the whole now it’s anything goes.”

The mad collectors aren’t restricted by their residence being outside of Australian borders either.

Mr Farrant lives in Kent in the United Kingdom, and has been to nine Swim-Ins since 1996.

Another man had made the long drive from Perth in a  Landcruiser to be part of the event.

“We get in the region of 250 vehicles generally,” Mr Farrant said.

The theme for this week’s show is Year of the Chrysler 2 and Year of the Tank. It’s a jam-packed week of activities for the enthusiasts which has already included the wedding of the Khaki Vehicle Enthusiasts secretary and Swim-In organiser Jan Thompson, and will include several school visits in the Border region.

The main event will be a parade and swap-meet on Saturday with hundreds of vehicles to leave Bangerang Park at 9am, heading down Sanger Street and finishing at the Corowa Showground.

The centrepiece of the show will be a German tank.

The Jagdpanzer 38T, a light hunter tank which was used against other armoured vehicles, is being brought courtesy of Rob Lowden from the Australian Armour and Artillery Museum in Cairns.