LBJ would prank guests at his ranch by driving his car into the lake.
Not many people were lucky enough to own an Amphicar, the only mass-produced civilian amphibious vehicle, but at least one of them put theirs to good use. Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, used his Lagoon Blue model to prank unsuspecting guests at his ranch in Stonewall, Texas, by driving it into the lake without warning. On land, the Amphicar looked like any other car; once in the water, propellers turned it into a boat.
One victim of the prank, Joseph A. Califano Jr., served as LBJ’s special assistant for domestic affairs at the time. As the car began rolling down an incline at the lake’s edge with Califano in it, he recalled the president shouting, “The brakes don’t work! The brakes won’t hold! We’re going in! We’re going under!” It took him a few moments to realize he was safe, but LBJ teased him for his reaction later: “Did you see what Joe did? He didn’t give a damn about his president. He just wanted to save his own skin and get out of the car.” Good thing Califano wasn’t in the Secret Service.