No, this is not an imaginary machine from a science-fiction movie or a ’30s workbench magazine. Presenting one of the most amazing vehicles ever built: the Antarctic Snow Cruiser. See it in action in this rare period film.
Nearly every fact about this unique vehicle is preposterous: nearly 56 feet long, 19 feet wide, 16 feet tall; gross weight 75,000 lbs.; four giant tires 10 feet in diameter; two 672 CID diesel-electric powerplants and four electric motors capable of propelling the monster at 30 mph. This fantastic machine from 1939, formally named the Antarctic Snow Cruiser, was invented not by Jules Verne but by Dr. Thomas C. Poulter of the Armour Institute of Technology, and constructed by the Pullman Co. of Chicago at a cost of $150,000. If you’d like to learn more technical details about Big Bertha, as the beast was also known, an excellent source is the June 1985 story in Special Interest Autos by our good friend Bob Lichty. (Fortunately, the full article is available on the web at Hemmings Daily.)
For its sea passage to Antarctica to provide transportation for Admiral Richard Byrd’s third expedition, the Snow Cruiser was actually driven over the road from Chicago to Boston, which proved to be an adventure in itself. Once the monster arrived in Antarctica in January of 1940, it proved to be a spectacular failure—incapable of finding traction on ice or snow except in reverse. Abandoned by the scientist-explorers, the giant vehicle was found in the snow in 1946 and again in 1958. However, in the mid-1960s, a major chunk of the Ross Ice Shelf broke off and drifted away, and it is not known if the Cruiser is now buried in ice somewhere or resting at the bottom of the ocean.
But meanwhile, we have this rare color footage of the Snow Cruiser at a stop at Westfield, New York on its inaugural journey from Chicago to Boston. Among other things, here we can marvel at how the machine dwarfed not only the human observers but all the other vehicles on the road. Video below.
When I 1st saw this a while ago, and I’m no engineer, I thought, there’s no way. It’s just too darned big and heavy. This is an amazing story of a colossal blunder, and they went ahead with it. Aside from the road trip, where the Snow Cruiser went in the ditch in Ohio, ( see video) the unloading off the boat once it got to the Antarctic was another huge problem. It seems, the wooden ramps they used were not strong enough to hold the vehicle. Once on the snow, clearly, as stated, it wouldn’t move. It was obvious right away, it should have had tracks, which I believe was a consideration when building it, but went with tires. I believe the scientist’s lived in it for a while, stationary, and an expedition came several years later, to find it had been sinking in the ice and was not retrievable, and was gone several years after that. Quite a story.
Great observations, Howard. Goodyear originally engineered the 10-ft tires for a Louisiana swamp vehicle, and apparently they worked well enough to be used here. Baffling, isn’t it. It seems a major reason for Byrd’s third Antarctic expedition was geopolitical: to discourage potential enemies from attempting territorial claims in the continent. Perhaps a large, imposing vehicle on all the newsreels was a part of that strategy.
That’s quite possible. Look at the attention it got. ( I must admit, I’d go and see it coming through town) Apparently, it had accommodations for 4 people, 6 fuel tanks and even an airplane. ( not sure how that would have worked) http://www.thelivingmoon.com/41pegasus/01archives/Snow_Cruiser_1939_files/motor_1.jpg
With a little digging I found the original tire application. Gulf Oil marsh buggy used for field exploration in Louisiana. See Popular Science March 1937 p. 40, avail. online via Google Books.
Interesting, strange vehicle. Was browsing antique toys on eBay last night and saw one of these, never saw one before.
Lots of thinking went into the construction I’m sure, but some rather odd decisions were made. Slick tires do not have much traction, so I don’t understand that decision. They might have thought they would float on top of the snow instead of sinking in, but some lugs would have sure helped in the traction department. And carrying two spares? How in the heck were they planning on changing a 10 foot tall tire? Even modern heavy equipment with tires like that has to have a crane to replace them. I don’t see how they were going to drag one of those ten foot tires out of the back end change a flat! I think a bull dozer like track would have been much more useful.
And the large, flat design looks like it would be a magnet for snow and ice accumulation. After a few days of snow and ice storms, it would look like a huge Popsicle. Very strange thinking.
I’ll bet nobody tries to keep me out of the carpool lane with that!
If only there was some snow in the country of manufacture where they could have tested it before shipping it to Antarctica…
Droll.
Just reading the Clive Cussler book ‘Atlantis Found’ and this vehicle features in a life and death trip to the South Pole. It does mention the slick tyres grooved with a chain saw,, and the useless gearing that was altered for use on the snow.
Cussler has always seemed to feature vehicles that he actually owns in his over the top [but fun] books.
So does he actually own this thing? Anyone know?
A bit unusual to come across a vehicle in a book that features in the same period as this article.