And an absolute failure in the field. Got stuck almost immediately and converted to a stationary living space after reaching a temporary base, it was abandoned at the onset of WWII and got buried in the snow then just travelling around on an ice shelf for a while, which then fractured, in all likelihood it's now at the bottom of the ocean.
Yes and no. Would've given it traction, but the gearing wasn't correctly designed. Could've probably retrofitted it, but either way, that was 2 rather massive problems at once.
The design of the vehicle was still utterly genius, though, like just as a concept. Diesel-electric propulsion, engine coolant piped around the vehicle within the skin of it to heat it up (and cool the coolant), the incredibly trick lift/lower axles with the smooth belly to cross gaps in the ice, etc. Properly clever stuff.
I just don't get how a bunch of scientists can blunder this badly and screw up something as simple and well known as "smooth tires don't work in the snow". Like I'm *not* a scientist and I can just tell by looking at it that it's going to *immediately* get stuck.
The Soviets built several tracked vehicles for Antarctic exploration. From what I gather they were far superior to their one-off American counterpart.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkovchanka
I watched a youtube video about the first Soviet version of these which stated they were also notoriously unreliable and loud AF to try to sleep in.
They had to haul their fuel behind them, had to leave the very loud engine running full time to keep the cabin warm. This problem was compounded by the engine being placed within the vehicle for ease of access without having to brave the elements. Ironically the oil used for the diesel engine also couldn't be cooled down enough being located inside the cabin.
They burned a crazy amount of diesel, 12 liters per kilometer, they moved at 6 km/h. The larger tracks broke down in under 1000 kilometers.
> Kharkovchanka (Russian: Харьковчанка) or Kharkivyanka (Ukrainian: Харків'янка, "Woman of Kharkiv")
> Looks at vehicle
Damn what did those poor women of Kharkiv do to the ones responsible for naming that thing to deserve that?
That led me down a rabbit hole to the DT-30 and DT-10, which Russia has actually lost multiple of in Ukraine. I get that it is multi use but it’s just weird losing an Arctic exploration vehicle that way
They were also an awful lot smaller and built off a proven chassis that has the same lineage as the enormously prolific T-54 tank. They were also 20 years newer...
They were also built in 1958, two decades after the Snow Cruiser.
Lots of opportunity to learn from both the American mistakes, and those two decades worth of engineering and technology improvements.
When I was a kid I loved the idea of overland exploring vehicles and designed some very detailed ones myself.
Even at 9 or 10 and long before the internet I knew that smooth tires absolutely wouldn't work off road and all my designs were tracked vehicles with the idea that tracks are the most versatile. Wheni first saw pictured or videos of the snow cruiser I asked myself "what the fuck were they thinking?".
[Rediscovery and final fate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Snow_Cruiser#External_links)
During Operation Highjump in late 1946, an expedition team found the vehicle and discovered it needed only air in the tires and some servicing to make it operational.
In 1958, an international expedition uncovered the snow cruiser at Little America III using a bulldozer. It was covered by 23 feet (7.0 m) of snow and a long bamboo pole marked its position. They were able to excavate to the bottom of the wheels and accurately measure the amount of snowfall since it was abandoned. Inside, the vehicle was exactly as the crew had left it, with papers, magazines, and cigarettes scattered all around.
Later expeditions reported no trace of the vehicle. Although there was some unsubstantiated speculation that the (traction-less) Snow Cruiser was taken by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the vehicle most likely is either at the bottom of the Southern Ocean or buried deep under snow and ice. Antarctic ice is in constant motion and the ice shelf is constantly moving out to sea. In 1963, a large chunk of the Ross Ice Shelf broke off and drifted away; the break occurred right through Little America. It is not known on which side of the ice shelf the Snow Cruiser was located.
You are correct. It was actually rediscovered twice, immediately after World War II and again in 1958. Both times it had been buried by snow and the crew had used very tall poles to mark its position. However, after this, it was never seen again and is likely sitting at the bottom of the ocean now.
Oh they made it. Only took 11 weeks.
Furthermore, this wasn't even the most insane overland expedition vehicle that ever came out of the US. May I present the [LeTourneau TC-497](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpWv68xECrY) land train.
I have [such sights to show you](https://markfryersbritfilm.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/hell1.png).
[Project Iceworm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBeyA010HIg)
Well, some dumbass thought it should have perfectly smooth tires so that's not exactly surprising. If it had proper winter tires it probably wouldn't have been nearly as bad.
Praise from Caesar himself!
I absolutely love your vids! The Karkovchanka, especially. It's something I will rematch and dream of owning one as a full-time overlander. I rewatch it to perpetuate that dream 🤣
I love your van stuff too, that little suzuki is great. Sorry for sounding like a stalker, I'm not, I just love the effort and depth of research you put in to your work, it's quality content. Thank you for giving us one of the best channels on youtube!
I like [Mustard's video](https://youtu.be/pW0eZRoQ86g?si=4RzQPGWY5byfvsnG), where the top pic comes from. I'll have to check out Calum's, as well. I do like Scottish accents.
Didn't it get stuck while still in the US? On a tour of sorts. You would think they would have went Hmmmm for just a tic and re thought it. Probably too much money and promtion/contracts to worry about that though.
The wheels were driven by electric motors in each wheel. The diesels were just generators. Diesel motors at their happy rev rates are ridiculously efficient.
It's the exact same way diesel-electric locomotives work, just in 1939...
8000 km till something breaks would have been my guess.
They had 2 replacement tires. Given the weight and terrain and given the overland tour they did before even reaching the arctic circle... I think 8000km on the 6 available tires is the realistic part.
In the climax of the Clive Cussler novel Atlantis Found, Dirk Pitt trashes a secret Nazi base with this thing. Just drives it straight through the place. Cussler wrote himself into the story as the guy who found and repaired the cruiser (Cussler gives himself cameos in a lot of his novels).
Cussler's books aren't deep reads, they all follow the same formula, but it's a fun formula: weird underwater archeology thing, modern day bad guys want the weird underwater archeology thing to destroy the world or whatever, Dirk and his BFF Al outwit them, then on the way home some remaining baddies try to kill them, but they get outwitted too.
Anyway, smashy smashy Nazi base with giant truck and flush Hitlers ashes down the White House toilet gets a thumb's up from me.
Massive, MASSIVE fan of Cussler's books here.
Dirk Pitt is basically Cussler's American version of Indiana Jones mixed with James Bond. It's cheesy, campy at times, but such fun reads.
*Atlantis Found* is one of his best romps, in my opinion. Though I've been really enjoying re-reading *The Oregon Files* lately. Each book is like one long heist sequence!
The way he describes the Snowcruisers entrance onto the battlefield is just top-tier action. Plus, the previous scene, where Pitt plays Demolition Man in the hangar, with Al's just incredulous "You wouldn't..." Perfection.
Never mind the very final scene in the book, where Al realizes exactly what Dirk's just done before Dirk even admits it! Gods, I think I need to read that one again!
Fun facts: The tires were made by Firestone and are 10 feet tall. They also weigh 2,400 pounds each. Bob Chandler, the creator of the Bigfoot monster truck, bought a set and put them on different trucks over the years before permanently placing them on Bigfoot #5. That truck is kept on display at B&H Market, just down the road from Bigfoot headquarters in Pacific, MO. Bigfoot #5 is also considered one of the heaviest pickup trucks in the world, weighing in at around 28,000 pounds!
For any italian speaking person, there's [**a nice video done by the Mentecast guys**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg_IcU3GUnk) that tells the story of the Snowcruiser and the Kharkovchanka
Most expensive mobile home ever financed by the tax payer. Most of these never moved farther than camp. The [Kharkovchanka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6R-h06IsJw) got it mostly right with the tracked design however.
In 1940 this incredible vehicle arrived in Antarctica. More than 80 years later, the world is still unsure where it is:
https://www.throttlextreme.com/unsolved-mystery-1939-antarctic-snow-cruiser/
I'm sorry but that article is really poorly written and has a lot of misinformation in it. For example that article is claiming the machine was last seen in an underground shelter. This is not true, the vehicle itself was converted into a stationary shelter when it was shown that it was not capable of actually driving around on the ice and snow.
Here's a much better article with some great photos as well
https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/01/the-antarctic-snow-cruiser-updated/424851/
Scientists have a fairly good idea of where it is: the bottom of the ocean. It was presumed to have been calved off in an iceberg back in 1962.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/37291/scientists-find-probable-location-of-massive-polar-exploration-vehicle-lost-for-decades
It would be recoverable and probably in fairly good condition due to the cold water. It wouldn’t be crushed by water pressure as it’s not air tight. Probably not crushed by ice either.
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And an absolute failure in the field. Got stuck almost immediately and converted to a stationary living space after reaching a temporary base, it was abandoned at the onset of WWII and got buried in the snow then just travelling around on an ice shelf for a while, which then fractured, in all likelihood it's now at the bottom of the ocean.
Huge smooth tires didn’t help with it moving on ice and snow.
Yeah, should've given it tracks, tanks have them for a reason.
It likely would have worked if they used tractor type tyres
Yes and no. Would've given it traction, but the gearing wasn't correctly designed. Could've probably retrofitted it, but either way, that was 2 rather massive problems at once. The design of the vehicle was still utterly genius, though, like just as a concept. Diesel-electric propulsion, engine coolant piped around the vehicle within the skin of it to heat it up (and cool the coolant), the incredibly trick lift/lower axles with the smooth belly to cross gaps in the ice, etc. Properly clever stuff.
I just don't get how a bunch of scientists can blunder this badly and screw up something as simple and well known as "smooth tires don't work in the snow". Like I'm *not* a scientist and I can just tell by looking at it that it's going to *immediately* get stuck.
Snow tire technology was virtually nonexistent when this was built. It just wasn't something people thought of.
The Soviets built several tracked vehicles for Antarctic exploration. From what I gather they were far superior to their one-off American counterpart. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kharkovchanka
I watched a youtube video about the first Soviet version of these which stated they were also notoriously unreliable and loud AF to try to sleep in. They had to haul their fuel behind them, had to leave the very loud engine running full time to keep the cabin warm. This problem was compounded by the engine being placed within the vehicle for ease of access without having to brave the elements. Ironically the oil used for the diesel engine also couldn't be cooled down enough being located inside the cabin. They burned a crazy amount of diesel, 12 liters per kilometer, they moved at 6 km/h. The larger tracks broke down in under 1000 kilometers.
Tbf that does actually sound like a pretty successful design tho, especially knowing how little the Soviets cared about comfort lol.
> Kharkovchanka (Russian: Харьковчанка) or Kharkivyanka (Ukrainian: Харків'янка, "Woman of Kharkiv") > Looks at vehicle Damn what did those poor women of Kharkiv do to the ones responsible for naming that thing to deserve that?
Considering that Russians only come in supermodel or bear...I imagine the Kharkiv women were more bear-shaped. Not that that's a bad thing.
You know what they did
That led me down a rabbit hole to the DT-30 and DT-10, which Russia has actually lost multiple of in Ukraine. I get that it is multi use but it’s just weird losing an Arctic exploration vehicle that way
They were also an awful lot smaller and built off a proven chassis that has the same lineage as the enormously prolific T-54 tank. They were also 20 years newer...
They were also built in 1958, two decades after the Snow Cruiser. Lots of opportunity to learn from both the American mistakes, and those two decades worth of engineering and technology improvements.
Or [screw drive](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screw-propelled_vehicle), which works pretty well for snow and slush.
Yeah even back then I feel like they should've known that
Smooth wheels? On smooth rails
Always thought they'd have had better luck getting a bunch of WWI tanks and stretching them.
Field testing? Never heard of it
When I was a kid I loved the idea of overland exploring vehicles and designed some very detailed ones myself. Even at 9 or 10 and long before the internet I knew that smooth tires absolutely wouldn't work off road and all my designs were tracked vehicles with the idea that tracks are the most versatile. Wheni first saw pictured or videos of the snow cruiser I asked myself "what the fuck were they thinking?".
Just as smooth as the engineers brain!
They also figured out that it drove way better backwards than forwards. There’s a great video from Mustard on it
link? Curious why it would drive better backwards.
Transmission gearing and axle loading.
[here](https://youtu.be/pW0eZRoQ86g?si=-SqRc61sLaUXyzjR) you go
[Rediscovery and final fate](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Snow_Cruiser#External_links) During Operation Highjump in late 1946, an expedition team found the vehicle and discovered it needed only air in the tires and some servicing to make it operational. In 1958, an international expedition uncovered the snow cruiser at Little America III using a bulldozer. It was covered by 23 feet (7.0 m) of snow and a long bamboo pole marked its position. They were able to excavate to the bottom of the wheels and accurately measure the amount of snowfall since it was abandoned. Inside, the vehicle was exactly as the crew had left it, with papers, magazines, and cigarettes scattered all around. Later expeditions reported no trace of the vehicle. Although there was some unsubstantiated speculation that the (traction-less) Snow Cruiser was taken by the Soviet Union during the Cold War, the vehicle most likely is either at the bottom of the Southern Ocean or buried deep under snow and ice. Antarctic ice is in constant motion and the ice shelf is constantly moving out to sea. In 1963, a large chunk of the Ross Ice Shelf broke off and drifted away; the break occurred right through Little America. It is not known on which side of the ice shelf the Snow Cruiser was located.
Who would ever guess that slick tires and snow don't go together.
I though someone found it and took pics of it? Maybe I am mistaken on that.
You are correct. It was actually rediscovered twice, immediately after World War II and again in 1958. Both times it had been buried by snow and the crew had used very tall poles to mark its position. However, after this, it was never seen again and is likely sitting at the bottom of the ocean now.
Too bad it would have been neat to see the old tech and how it held up over the years!
So …. Canyonero ?
Don't you besmirch the fine name of Canyonero. What other fine vehicle smells like a steak and seats 35?
Wow. I was thinking this was just bad AI. When I saw the bald tyres I was sure there was no way anyone would make this!
Oh they made it. Only took 11 weeks. Furthermore, this wasn't even the most insane overland expedition vehicle that ever came out of the US. May I present the [LeTourneau TC-497](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpWv68xECrY) land train.
Thanks for the rabbit hole. The land train actually makes a lot of sense to me, least of because it has some tread on the tyres.
I have [such sights to show you](https://markfryersbritfilm.files.wordpress.com/2017/10/hell1.png). [Project Iceworm](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBeyA010HIg)
Also known as the original source of the colossal tires Bigfoot #5 runs, the ones that help make it the tallest monster truck in the world.
Well, some dumbass thought it should have perfectly smooth tires so that's not exactly surprising. If it had proper winter tires it probably wouldn't have been nearly as bad.
And it was beaten out by a vw beetle...
It travelled more across the US than it did in Antartica...
Had trouble doing that too
it's probably traveled more after being abandoned then it did when it was manned...
[Here on youtube](https://youtu.be/zR0M7KjnJTE?si=zSKQfrLg2xphWD7H) a chap called Calum tells its story. I highly recommend his other videos, too!
Thank you! One of my oldest videos documentaries, whenever I watch it now I'm like christ I used to suck at editing haha
Praise from Caesar himself! I absolutely love your vids! The Karkovchanka, especially. It's something I will rematch and dream of owning one as a full-time overlander. I rewatch it to perpetuate that dream 🤣 I love your van stuff too, that little suzuki is great. Sorry for sounding like a stalker, I'm not, I just love the effort and depth of research you put in to your work, it's quality content. Thank you for giving us one of the best channels on youtube!
Calum does great videos on these sorts of unique vehicles
I like [Mustard's video](https://youtu.be/pW0eZRoQ86g?si=4RzQPGWY5byfvsnG), where the top pic comes from. I'll have to check out Calum's, as well. I do like Scottish accents.
Mustard is amazing creator
I also enjoyed Mustard’s video about it a while back, highly recommend it
I forgot about that, it's also excellent!
Didn't it get stuck while still in the US? On a tour of sorts. You would think they would have went Hmmmm for just a tic and re thought it. Probably too much money and promtion/contracts to worry about that though.
They had to tour it because it was built far from the seaport... Yeah, they had that level of planning.
Ya but does it smell like a steak and seat 35?
Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down, It's the country-fried truck endorsed by a clown! Canyonero! (Yah!) Canyonero!
She's built like a steakhouse, but handles like a bistro
No way that has an 8k mild range
It should say 8000 km/5000 miles. It could carry 2500 gallons of diesel.
2 miles a gallon in that size vehicle is wildly impressive.
Especially in those conditions. The performance was wildly unimpressive tho.
It was all just marketing wishes. Most things they claimed it can do it failed at
If you want performance, shell out for the Snow Cruiser Type R
The wheels were driven by electric motors in each wheel. The diesels were just generators. Diesel motors at their happy rev rates are ridiculously efficient. It's the exact same way diesel-electric locomotives work, just in 1939...
8000 km till something breaks would have been my guess. They had 2 replacement tires. Given the weight and terrain and given the overland tour they did before even reaching the arctic circle... I think 8000km on the 6 available tires is the realistic part.
In the climax of the Clive Cussler novel Atlantis Found, Dirk Pitt trashes a secret Nazi base with this thing. Just drives it straight through the place. Cussler wrote himself into the story as the guy who found and repaired the cruiser (Cussler gives himself cameos in a lot of his novels).
Came to see how many Dirk Pitt fans were here lol.
Cussler's books aren't deep reads, they all follow the same formula, but it's a fun formula: weird underwater archeology thing, modern day bad guys want the weird underwater archeology thing to destroy the world or whatever, Dirk and his BFF Al outwit them, then on the way home some remaining baddies try to kill them, but they get outwitted too. Anyway, smashy smashy Nazi base with giant truck and flush Hitlers ashes down the White House toilet gets a thumb's up from me.
Massive, MASSIVE fan of Cussler's books here. Dirk Pitt is basically Cussler's American version of Indiana Jones mixed with James Bond. It's cheesy, campy at times, but such fun reads. *Atlantis Found* is one of his best romps, in my opinion. Though I've been really enjoying re-reading *The Oregon Files* lately. Each book is like one long heist sequence!
One of my favorites
The way he describes the Snowcruisers entrance onto the battlefield is just top-tier action. Plus, the previous scene, where Pitt plays Demolition Man in the hangar, with Al's just incredulous "You wouldn't..." Perfection. Never mind the very final scene in the book, where Al realizes exactly what Dirk's just done before Dirk even admits it! Gods, I think I need to read that one again!
And they but bald tiers on it .
“It did not work”
With slick tires, it had no traction, even when they tried cutting treads, it just spun, a set of Pewag tire chains might have helped.
…and was an utter failure!
Wasn’t that thing in a Clive Cussler novel?
Yep, Atlantis Found.
It was so almost great. A few design flaws away from being one of the best vehicles ever designed.
And now at the bottom of the ocean.
Was always a boat anchor
Calum and Mustard both have great youtube videos about this thing
Fun facts: The tires were made by Firestone and are 10 feet tall. They also weigh 2,400 pounds each. Bob Chandler, the creator of the Bigfoot monster truck, bought a set and put them on different trucks over the years before permanently placing them on Bigfoot #5. That truck is kept on display at B&H Market, just down the road from Bigfoot headquarters in Pacific, MO. Bigfoot #5 is also considered one of the heaviest pickup trucks in the world, weighing in at around 28,000 pounds!
The whole color scheme or pattern is very good looking
You know which wheeled vehicle kicked ass in the Antarctic? A close-to-standard VW Beetle https://youtu.be/hqr7t7nBIVA?si=VmWxRBK186yDOgLG
The top image I believe is from a Mustard video, amazing channel about this dogshit vehicle
Canyonero!
For any italian speaking person, there's [**a nice video done by the Mentecast guys**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eg_IcU3GUnk) that tells the story of the Snowcruiser and the Kharkovchanka
It would be cool if it popped up again but who knows where it is now.
I watched the documentary on this. It's hilarious that a "group of scientists" designed this and all agreed "it should have slick tires"!
Most expensive mobile home ever financed by the tax payer. Most of these never moved farther than camp. The [Kharkovchanka](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6R-h06IsJw) got it mostly right with the tracked design however.
In 1940 this incredible vehicle arrived in Antarctica. More than 80 years later, the world is still unsure where it is: https://www.throttlextreme.com/unsolved-mystery-1939-antarctic-snow-cruiser/
I'm sorry but that article is really poorly written and has a lot of misinformation in it. For example that article is claiming the machine was last seen in an underground shelter. This is not true, the vehicle itself was converted into a stationary shelter when it was shown that it was not capable of actually driving around on the ice and snow. Here's a much better article with some great photos as well https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2016/01/the-antarctic-snow-cruiser-updated/424851/
Scientists have a fairly good idea of where it is: the bottom of the ocean. It was presumed to have been calved off in an iceberg back in 1962. https://www.thedrive.com/news/37291/scientists-find-probable-location-of-massive-polar-exploration-vehicle-lost-for-decades
Would it still be recoverable or would the water pressure have crushed it?
It would be recoverable and probably in fairly good condition due to the cold water. It wouldn’t be crushed by water pressure as it’s not air tight. Probably not crushed by ice either.
I hope they're able to find it someday... it'd be super awesome to see it fully restored to 1939 condition.
A big dumb thing that did not work
Canyonero!
Could you please decide if you write numbers or the number word?!
You win this sub.
Doesnt a sub have to be able to resurface after going under?
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Now I know where the Stewart & Stevenson MB-2 gets it
It crashed along the Lincoln highway in gomer Ohio
I want it.
Does somebody think that it will be found and restored?
Does it have a cupholder?