See the amazing and unstoppable Marmon-Herrington Rhino in action in this awesome old newsreel feature.

Marmon is a fine old name in Indiana industry, originating as Nordyke & Marmon, a manufacturer of milling equipment in Richmond, Indiana. The company moved to Indianapolis in 1875, and in 1902 it produced its first automobile. The vehicles quickly became noted for their advanced engineering, and in 1911 a Marmon driven by company engineer Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500. The carmaker prospered for decades but as the market for premium automobiles ultimately dwindled due to the Great Depression, it ceased operations in 1933.

Meanwhile, Arthur Marmon regrouped and in 1931 formed the Marmon-Herrington Company in partnership with military engineer Arthur Herrington, specializing in heavy-duty 4WD conversions of cars and trucks, mainly Fords. (Ford/M-H 4×4 vehicles are highly prized by collectors today.) The Indianapolis company was also a prolific maker of city transit buses, light tanks, and specialized, extreme-duty vehicles of all kinds—which brings us to the strange prototype we see here. Conceived by Greek-American inventor Elie Aghnides, the Marmon-Herrington Rhino, as it was called, was designed to combine the best features of wheeled and tracked vehicles, hence the unusual means of propulsion, which Aghnides patented.

The resulting machine as developed by the team of Aghnides and Marmon-Herrington weighed in at some five tons and was propelled by a 110-hp Ford engine. The giant hollow wheels provided flotation for travel on water, aided by a Hanley-Kermath Hydrojet unit at the rear. As the video shows, the vehicle’s abilities were quite impressive, but the U.S. military reportedly determined that the vehicle was too vulnerable to weapons fire and passed on the project. Fortunately, the sole prototype was saved and restored by Eugene Pock, and it has been displayed and driven at thresher meets around Indiana. And thanks to this neat old newsreel item from British Pathé , we get to see it in action, too. Video below.