Time to build the PumpkinMobile. Also, I feel like this would be a great idea for a survival game / research game. Gotta keep running that big land boat and discover Antartica.
My grandfather was a Marine who became the radioman and equipping operator of the Snow Cruiser, I still have large files of documents, magazine articles, memorabilia, video, photographs (including a nice view of the ramp before it collapsed under the weight as shown), Byrd letters to my grandfathers parents and his own personal writings on the project. Working on his version currently, this is a very good piece. Edit- wow, really didn’t expect this kind of input and will do a video, have started gathering my clips, been meaning to so thanks to all for the push Retired as Lt. Colonel, Felix Ferranto, got a mountain named for his work and we just published a book in 2019 “34 Months” detailing his time as. Korean POW, which came a decade later, and haven’t touched WWII yet. Google him, more coming on our website and TH-cam soon. Thanks for the push.
Does that documentation include location information? It would be interesting to find it, maybe even bring it back for display as it is an important part of humanities exploration of the unknown!
What I love about the early to mid 20th Century engineering is that, regardless of how insane some ideas sounded on paper, they gave it a go. Wild planes, hovering-sea behemoths, strange vehicles and ideas all round just had their turn to have 15-minutes in the limelight. As laughable as some things sound to us today, you can't fault them for their relentless pursuit of seeking out revolutionary new ventures and discovery.
We still do it - Space Ship 2, Hyperloop, Iter, Large Hadron Collider - to name a few. The difference is that we can rely far less on trial and error than they had to.
We're not past it yet my dude. Just look at the drivel coming from the likes of Elon Musk. Extreme optimism backed by practically nothing in the way of research and engineering. Moronic ideas that might sound cool in a science fiction novel but sound absolutely ridiculous in real life, and many wouldn't even sound cool in science fiction, but would instead serve best as symbols of an extremely inefficient society and massive wealth inequality. I'll keep faulting people for trying to reinvent the wheel and coming up with all sorts of ideas that aren't round. Be they engineers in the past working on limited knowledge or industry magnates today working on nothing but greed and public misinformation.
@@lucyx3008 I’ve never mentioned Elon once in the comment ;) Also, yeah, guys who actually give funds to CERN are in similar league of making unrealistic promises to boost their PR, collecting people’s money for the sake of those promises and then never delivering (various polititians)
The machine had enough issues to fail as it was, but the GIANT BALD TIRES will always bewilder me. Despite its lack of power, it really could’ve been an accomplishment if the development team put any effort into traction.
@@RazorbackGrasshopper Especially so because they already had tested different types of motorized vehicles in Antarctica in the first three decades of the 1900's. By the 1920's the British found that tracked-vehicles worked the best on thick snow and ice. Some of the early tracked vehicles were modified cars with specially designed snow-tracks going in a continuous loop around the triple pair of rear wheels. Sort of half-tracks for snow. By the 1930's tracked vehicles was nothing new and tanks had progressed quite a bit since World War One. Bulldozers and early excavators also ran on tracks. So why the engineers went back to smooth, tires when continuous tracks (caterpillars) already had been proven to work both in Antarctica and in the other desolate regions of the world, is perplexing. It's perfectly obvious tracks distribute the total weight of the vehicle more evenly and the contact patch with the ground is much larger. I saw another video about this 1939 Snow Cruiser and according to him the engineers had no prior experience with designing a vehicle made to go through rough terrain or snow. What they thought worked in *theory* hadn't even been tested with a small-scale model first. Even by the standards of the 1930's this was amateurish. The insane weight of this thing too should have made somebody yell:"Stop! This is too heavy, it'll obviously be a serious liability and get stuck in no time." And the uneven weight-distribution proved the engineers who designed this thing didn't really know what they were doing. It would appear as if their ambition way outweighed their experience and common sense.
Yeah,nowadays we have studded tires for ice,but even those don't offer insane traction,so given how smooth those huge ass tires are i think the biggest flaw wasn't the lack of power or speed either,it was the fact that smooth rubber + smooth ice = "you spin my head right round right round" =))))))))))
i wonder why they didnt just use any number of the tracked vehicles or even tanks that were being produced for the war anyway. They're both meant to operate in similar offroad conditions and rough terrain as could be seen in antarctica.
@@McLarenMercedes To be fair, heavy tracked vehicles in these early days tended to throw their rigid tracks quite often and unexpectedly, in particular when solid objects (such as rocks, ice or packed snow) got between the track and sprockets/rollers. The heavier the vehicle, the more crew (and machinery, past a certain scale) was needed to reinstall the track, supposing none of its elements got damaged in the event. I'm only speculating, but the choice of wheels that can be bolted on/off with simple hand tools might have been a more reasonable choice considering the weather and terrain conditions the machine would be faced with, as well as fuel constraints since tracks inherently have a lot more friction. Now, using slick tires, this puzzles me as much as anyone else, you live and learn I guess?
I just watched their "Behind the scenes" video on Nebula, which makes it all clear that they evolved on visuals. They started of with basic 3D modelling software and are now getting into the more serious stuff.
also worth noting that the Norwegians drove a snowcat across the antarctic back in the 1950's. The Russians built their own snowcruiser and pulled off something similar in the late 50's, driving to the south pole....of course neither vehicle used smooth treadless tires!
We were on a road trip in Michigan with my 80 year old grandmother who suddenly had a memory return to her from childhood. She asserted she saw a very strange, large vehicle with massive round tires moving very slowly when she was outside waiting for the school bus when she was very young. My dad never heard the story before but knew it had to be Admiral Byrd's Arctic Snow Cruiser making its way to the coast!
it’s true, and it was a huge pain to get to the coast since it couldn’t go via railroad…i have seen pictures of it in Massachusetts causing chaos along the road as it passed by under railroad bridges on its way to the Boston Army Terminal
This is cartoon to what some of these programmes can do must have been on a 1990 budget but it gets the point across maybee the way the guy wanted it too look like nice bit of work defiantly looks like blender was used . I use it myself if you fancy giving ut a go its download able free . I'll tell this for free too you can lose a week in it in a ..,day if you get what I mean ,
This thing really has that retro-futuristic post-apocalypse feel to it. Like something from Snowpiercer. I mean what a concept. It’s an Antarctic research base, a land-based aircraft carrier, and a multi-terrain cruiser all in one vehicle.
Feels like a vehicle in an open-world exploration game that you return to for new missions and resupplying.. And now I've said that I'd quite like that.
Engineers: We're designing the most unstoppable machine meant to handle the most difficult terrain on earth! Also engineers: Yeah, we're gonna put slicks on it.
@@robmausser Funny enough soviets made their own cheap antarctic cruisers based on a preexistent agricultural crawler and these machines are still in use to this day or at least were in use until very recently.
my dad was one of the Seabees that found it in 1958. they actually slept in it, because it was superior to the shelters they had. he said everything worked once they fueled it up and charged the batteries. not sure about the tires, they didn't actually drive it or move it.
@@SlickArmor I’m sure it was mostly buried by snow after sitting there nearly 20 years - no reason to fully dig it out if they weren’t planning to move it.
@@Sashazur I'm sure you're probably right. I just said since they said it started up I'm sure it would have driven if they decided to dig it out and greese it up. Things were built to a very low tolerance therefore they hardly seized up.
even if the diesel engines wouldn’t start they’re just there to charge the generator for the electric motors, you could rig something to bypass them a d run off of battery power until the engines were fixed…the thing just needs some TLC and it’d moved again
As soon as I heard about what this thing was designed to achieve, I know solely from the fact that I had never heard of it before that it was going to be a hopelessly bad failure.
@@blick9538 it would be very over budget "all-American-made-parts" and probably not one big vehicle, but a group of smaller ones that could also be sold to the public.
I cackled when he said that. But I'm a mechanic, not an engineer. We tend to laugh at the suffering of engineers because they laugh at ours. It's a love-hate relationship.
That is simple, when scientists do things its all about theory .Common sence is what the typical scientists lack amd most can't even tie their own shoes.
"We need to design this vehicle's drive system to be reliable in deep snow." "Huge, smooth balloon tires!" Its like the engineers have never seen snow in their lives.
This was made and designed in the Midwest, the guys who made it have seen snow. It’s definitely strange that these guys never took this thing into Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Canada considering how terribly cold those places are. The terrain would be different, but driving on ice and snow should have been tested more thoroughly
Also, the "the threads would fill up with snow and ice anyways". That's the whole point! Snow on snow has really good traction. Did they not have winter tires in 1939?
They did plenty of research. Someone went all the way down to Antarctica, took one look at the penguins slithering around on their tummies, and said to himself, "THIS."
-Hey John! -What? -Should we put any sort of tread on the tires for traction? -Nah mate, sounds like work. -You have a point. It's not like there's several feet of snow and ice where it's going.
@@MarloSoBalJr Don't think its that simple, there is of course a reason behind that decision. It would probably be very challenge to pattern a wheel of such a size or perhaps the added forces would lead to damage. Most projects have to hit deadlines and cost points. You have to cut corners somewhere to hit those points. Part of the process. edit: video explains this point
This is one of those vehicles that looks way bigger than it really is, which is impressive considering it's already gigantic. Also, who greenlit putting smooth tires on a vehicle that was supposed to traverse snowy terrain? No wonder it failed.
Plus they theorized from magazines as shown. And always the information provided isn't guaranteed to be true. They should have given the vehicle spiked wheels.
At 0:34, is that the ship Endurance that they found recently? If so, it gives hope that even if the snow cruiser is down at the bottom of the ocean, we’ll still be able to get a glimpse of it with remote vehicles…
I feel ashamed of never hearing of this before. Something so sensational and wide known 80 years ago is almost completely forgotten today. How short the human attention span is, how quickly the time swallows our lives.
I had a jigsaw puzzle of the Antartic Snow Cruiser as a child in England in the late 1940s/early 50s. I recall that even at a young age it seemed to me that smooth tyres were not a good idea on snow. I also recall that the box that the jigsaw came in mentioned Admiral Byrd, the famed artic/antartic explorer. Great video that provided much infomation about this vehicle.
Intelligent comment. I just clicked on it and thought it was something recent until I read your comment. That explains the smooth tires I guess. I'll finish the video now.
At the Cummins Heritage Center, I just located a number of local news articles about the Antarctic Snow Cruiser. Dr. Thomas C. Poulter was the designer. He visited the Cummins Engine Plant in Columbus, IN in August 1939 to confer with engineers about the engines. The Snow Cruiser was built by the Research Foundation of the Armour Institute of Technology. Clessie Cummins, our Founder, rode on the leg of the trip to the East from Chicago to the Gary Sand Dunes and told his brother Deloss that the new Snow Cruiser was like "tying four pigs together and trying to drive them through a narrow alley."
I had read that, at the time, they didn't fully understand the physics of the snow in Antarctica. At those temperatures it doesn't behave like most of us are used to. Instead of having any stickiness or grip it behaves like a sand. The crystals are frozen so solid they don't pack or stick to one another, so they stay separate. Again, like a fine sand.
@@leviferrero6068 hell no, snow is very very different depending on the temperature, how old it is, how much of it has been laying around and whether the sun has melted parts of it before it refroze
I am kinda surprised by the cruiser's design, honestly. If that thing was designed about the 1939's, then I'd at least expect it to look a lot less ''modern''. I mean sure, the german engineers a few years later would have developed the Horten Ho 229 (another quite functional and yet futuristic looking vehicle/aircraft), but damn! When I first saw the pictures of the snow cruiser, I would have taken it for a vehicle from the late 80's, to early 2000's (1980-2010). It honestly would even fit in a ''sci-fi setting''. But they actually started designing it at 1937? Wow..
Look up the Daily Express Building in Manchester, England. Build in 1939. Looks like it was built in *1989* . Large windows in curved corners and a layout which makes it look more 21st century than 1939.
The part that always stuck with me was that the real flaw with this thing was the tires. If you could replace the tires with an improved tread you might have a viable vehicle for that region.
My father-in-law was on this expedition. I have his scrapbook. He was a corpsman on the USS Bear. He said of the Snow Cruiser (known to the crews as Penguin One) that they used it as a hotel!
Why was the Snow Cruiser's speed in reverse limited? One of the features of electric motors, that they actually have in common with steam engines along with virtually unlimited torque, is that they are just as happy running backwards as forwards; direction of travel shouldn't matter to an electric drive motor. So why was it a problem here?
The writing style in this script is so refined, with every word carrying weight, showing a deep understanding of character psychology and the situations they face. 🖋💬
If we did a modern build of this behemoth I think it could work. Modern electric engines, redone tire design, and new materials could cut weight, increase speed and possibly horse power, and effectiveness in snow and adverse environment
@@snoboring4846 Then we just have to wait for a century until the snow inevitably returns. I'd imagine 400 years ago Antarctica was largely stone and smooth thick ice sheets instead of snowy, and likewise 100 years ago it would've been less snowy than it was 50 years ago, hence why over the seasons the cruiser is now buried in snow even in the warmest months down there. Do keep in mind the start of the 20th Century had droughts, heat waves, wildfires and people dying of heatstroke and/or dehydration. Its just a matter of waiting for the cycle to return to the colder periods once again, a cycle that's been going on since around when man first walked the Earth.
The visuals in this are nuts ! Makes it a pleasure to watch. Always had an itch to see what it would look like rendered , the photos are all old and grainy, so it's hard to get a good feel of the vehicle as a whole. But this video definitely ticks that box. Great stuff
I can only imagine the frustration of the people actually working on this when the project was rushed at the last minute. There had to have been quite a few designers, engineers and mechanics who knew for sure the thing would horrendously fail, especially after even the trip from Chicago to Boston was botched so badly.
Smooth tires on snow was all anyone needed to see that this thing wasnt going to do a fraction of the stuff it's supposed to, but a very innovative idea nonetheless
@@jwalster9412 Yep, maybe hindsight, but as someone who lives in a climate with lots of snow, slicks would be stupid. "No other tires existed" bullshit, tractor tires would be so much better, and they are large, even back then. Next facepalm. "Four 75hp Electric motors". Look, diesel electric IS a good strategy for reliability, but 75hp? You must be joking.. Who thought of that?
In fact it is in a Clive cussler novel . A story about re emergence of the Nazi race in Argentina and hidden infrastructure in Antarctica , a huge ship . I think this vehicle gets borrowed from a collectors stable for an important mission in Antarctica . Enough of cusser novels .
I you liked Clives books check out Christopher Cartwright's Sam Reilly series. 20+ books and they are basically a Dirk Pitt knockoff. But still pretty good.
@@oleksandrchubras9549ep, that's probably why we own everything today. Because whIle you idiots keep insulting us, we're building more better and faster. Funny how you forgot that only a few years after this world war broke out and we literally whooped the s*** out of everybody while fighting two fronts.
The amount of work he puts into the graphics my god it’s phenomenal. If anyone ever wonders why it takes so long for him to pump out videos, this is why. Not because he doesn’t care but in fact contrary to that. He does his research, works his ass off on the video platform and the final product is flawless! Can’t wait for the next video!
This is to me by far the best youtube channel. The quality is insanely good! I also love how it evolved, the best change to me is the tone in the presenters voice. It went from a bit monotone and stiff to a just overal very pleasant and interesting voice to listen to!
I think it should be found!!! It's a testament to our folly but ingenuity! This should be in a museum! Not rotting on the tundra or the bottom of the Arctic sea!
It's incredible that a bunch of brilliant engineers who could design that thing would put slick tires on it. If I was on the team I would insist on tracks I think.
Tracks were still in their infancy back than. Decades later Russia built the Kharkovchankas, check those out. Much better design but not without issues and now tracked vehicles, basically ski hill groomers, are top dog there. Light machine with huge wide light tracks for the win. Engineers usually have a concept but the field operators are the ones who come up with the brilliant improvements out of necessity.
Many years ago, I read a novel by Clive Cussler, where the hero of the story finds the abandoned monster, and after using a chain saw to cut treads in the tires, used it to escape to safety. I don't remember the title of the book, but this video brought back memories of the "idiotic tire design"
@@painkillerjones6232 The expedition seems to have gone well enough outside of the failure of the Snow Cruiser, and I don't think you can blame the Democrats for the engineers deciding that two 150 hp diesels (that is a lower hp/ton ratio than a Tiger II tank) and slick tires for a 34 ton vehicle was a good idea.
This is yet another example of why the testing phase should NEVER be neglected, even if it means delaying an entire project. Many amazing concepts could've worked if they had time for complete tests on their capabilities and limitations, so that flaws could be dealt with. It's funny because it's the same issue I had with my graduation project back in college. It was amazing in theory, but there were not enough tests to find and fix the problems.
It’s also an example of why you need competent engineers. I can’t imagine anyone seriously thinking that skinny smooth tires and low ground clearance would be a good idea for frozen rough surfaces.
Hey, I don’t want to be a bother, and this is just a suggestion: in this (and other) videos, you sometimes mix imperial and metric systems (10 feet wheels / below -80° celsius). That way seems to be a bit confusing to both Americans and the rest of the world, because we both end up not understanding the scale of what you’re pointing out. If possible, could you write down the measurement in the other system on the screen (e.g.: you say -80°C and put a note on the screen that reads “-112°F”, or when you say 10 feet wheels, you put a note that says “3.05 meters”). That’d be great! Love your videos!
Try driving around in the winter in an SUV that has bald tires like those on the Snow Cruiser, and tell me how well you got through the winter storms you encounter.
I have a neighbor who lives on a hill, he neglects his tire so every year when winter comes. Here he comes sliding down the hill, and crashes into the curb at around 20KM/h
People who have never driven in snow honestly make me laugh, cause they have no clue what their doing and even a little snow can cause chaos in some places. LOL But that's just my one side talking, it does take practice though to drive in winter weather and it can be scary even for me when it's really bad. So always in winter weather drive safe and never recklessly. Snow though is fun to play in!!
@J S Maybe time constraint made it so, that new tire size could not be developed. But thats not a perfect excuse... I bet it would have worked better even with "old tractor style" steel wheels. OK - shake-down drive and public displays would have been skipped completely :(
Had to rewatch the pentagon wars clip of the evolution of the Bradley, never ceases to crack me up. Can't imagine being in it for so long, hopefully the arctic cruiser was much nicer.
@@jordy2299 its a large gigantic metal tin can with plates and a cannon attached, it doesnt exactly seem like a luxury yacht with the finest wines available at the drop in the middle of a god damn desert with no air con.
@@themagicslinky1773 Don't forget that Pentagon Wars is propaganda for the "Reformers", a group who quite literally tried making planes that are essentially two wings and a gun with no radar or radio equipment, and want incredibly outdated equipment to be the norm rather than improving designs.
I want to find this thing, I love Antarctica and the history of abandoned man made structures that rest there. Imagine being the first one to set foot in there since either the 40’s or late 50’s
Its believed that the ice shelf it was sitting on broke off in the 60's an the cruiser ended up on the bottom of the sea last seen in the 50's covered under snow
I wish they would talk about a cool engineering project which didnt fail or had a close end. these are all cool but make me wish they succeed or had more funding or time so that they would work.
Britain: "DAMN YOU GERMANY" Germany: "DAMN YOU FRANCE" France: "DAMN YOU BRITAIN AND GERMANY" *all countries scream as they charge at one another* US: "hehe coldboicar go brrrrr"
As much as the engineers failed to recognize a problem here, I really think this is a classic example of how management can write off an entire project
@@Cinnamorollthecut3st which snowmobile would be best to explore the Antarctic for a whole year and carry enough fuel, food, heat and supplies for a whole research team?
Loved the video! Its a shame it was never recovered and brought back to the US. I'm sure it would have made an amazing walk-through exhibit at a museum. Definitely could've been a star attraction for one.
Is it not weird the brits own most of the antartica but their the only ones who could not survive meanwhile norway as the vikings they are made it but only got small pieces
God i want this thing to be found so badly. Just imagine the sight of an abandoned giant machine, covered in ice and snow, or algae and rust, depending on where it actually is
When I saw the thumbnail I was thinking: WTF! Tyres for Antarctica? Just four tyres? Slick tyres? Extremely narrow tyres? I mean in the 1930´s already engineers knew how to improve traction and reduce ground weight for muddy and snowy conditions. Like tracked tractors or tanks. And for a wheeled vehicle increasing the number of wheels and putting wide tires with snow chains on was no secret at that time.
@@easydoz1 Haha, yes! But the tyres were appropiate for that Willys Jeep´s weight. And they weren´t slick. I have an old Land Rover with 7.50x16 tires. They are very slim in comparison with up to date offroad tires. But they weren´t supposed to work in Antarctica! And they aren´t slick!
"In the end the antarctic snow cruiser had clearly been rushed into service, and the result was a machine that had been over designed and under tested. Extreme optimism had seemingly been it's design philosophy." It seems like video games are being developed with the same philosophy lmao.
Those who enjoyed this video are definitely gonna love the Russian version of the antarctic snow cruiser called the "Kharkovchanka" There's a 36 minute documentary about it on TH-cam by a channel called "Calum"
Will...Do you want to try and find it? It's probably not that far from base camp. I think this is one of those opportunities in life where we can both say.... Fk it... Let's do this! What's your schedule look like for the next few weeks? Michael, I didn't want to just leave you out.. So the offer goes out to you as well, you know you'd be welcome to join us.
Mustard doing amazing things here. Not just with aircraft, but now ground vehicles (Excluding trains)! Hopefully, the amazing graphical display will never fail to bring a smile to my face every time!
i'd never heard of this contraption before, definitely gave me fallout vibes
Hey welyn what are you doing here? Hoping they found some pumpkins?
I forget TH-camrs watch other TH-camrs videos 😂
Yes.
Yes!
YES!!!
Time to build the PumpkinMobile. Also, I feel like this would be a great idea for a survival game / research game. Gotta keep running that big land boat and discover Antartica.
honestly i’m surprised that not many ppl have swarmed this comment with “hi welyn” guess i’ll solidify my place here
If we ever find it again, dibs on getting it running!
Now that would be an epic video
Just getting there will be an amazing feat
Shotgun!
@@kanedaku Shot... AW MAN!
MOOK gets to sit on my lap 🤪
My grandfather was a Marine who became the radioman and equipping operator of the Snow Cruiser, I still have large files of documents, magazine articles, memorabilia, video, photographs (including a nice view of the ramp before it collapsed under the weight as shown), Byrd letters to my grandfathers parents and his own personal writings on the project. Working on his version currently, this is a very good piece.
Edit- wow, really didn’t expect this kind of input and will do a video, have started gathering my clips, been meaning to so thanks to all for the push
Retired as Lt. Colonel, Felix Ferranto, got a mountain named for his work and we just published a book in 2019 “34 Months” detailing his time as. Korean POW, which came a decade later, and haven’t touched WWII yet. Google him, more coming on our website and TH-cam soon.
Thanks for the push.
get this popular right now, btw that's really cool maybe you could make your own video about it?
That's incredible.
Does that documentation include location information? It would be interesting to find it, maybe even bring it back for display as it is an important part of humanities exploration of the unknown!
Plz make a video! I love anything admiral byrd
Any id e a where its at?
What I love about the early to mid 20th Century engineering is that, regardless of how insane some ideas sounded on paper, they gave it a go. Wild planes, hovering-sea behemoths, strange vehicles and ideas all round just had their turn to have 15-minutes in the limelight. As laughable as some things sound to us today, you can't fault them for their relentless pursuit of seeking out revolutionary new ventures and discovery.
We still do it - Space Ship 2, Hyperloop, Iter, Large Hadron Collider - to name a few. The difference is that we can rely far less on trial and error than they had to.
We're not past it yet my dude. Just look at the drivel coming from the likes of Elon Musk. Extreme optimism backed by practically nothing in the way of research and engineering. Moronic ideas that might sound cool in a science fiction novel but sound absolutely ridiculous in real life, and many wouldn't even sound cool in science fiction, but would instead serve best as symbols of an extremely inefficient society and massive wealth inequality.
I'll keep faulting people for trying to reinvent the wheel and coming up with all sorts of ideas that aren't round. Be they engineers in the past working on limited knowledge or industry magnates today working on nothing but greed and public misinformation.
Well said
@@EustaH don't insult CERN's actual scientists by mentioning Elon Musk as if he's in the same league
@@lucyx3008 I’ve never mentioned Elon once in the comment ;) Also, yeah, guys who actually give funds to CERN are in similar league of making unrealistic promises to boost their PR, collecting people’s money for the sake of those promises and then never delivering (various polititians)
The machine had enough issues to fail as it was, but the GIANT BALD TIRES will always bewilder me. Despite its lack of power, it really could’ve been an accomplishment if the development team put any effort into traction.
Yea I thought it was really dumb
@@RazorbackGrasshopper Especially so because they already had tested different types of motorized vehicles in Antarctica in the first three decades of the 1900's. By the 1920's the British found that tracked-vehicles worked the best on thick snow and ice. Some of the early tracked vehicles were modified cars with specially designed snow-tracks going in a continuous loop around the triple pair of rear wheels. Sort of half-tracks for snow.
By the 1930's tracked vehicles was nothing new and tanks had progressed quite a bit since World War One. Bulldozers and early excavators also ran on tracks. So why the engineers went back to smooth, tires when continuous tracks (caterpillars) already had been proven to work both in Antarctica and in the other desolate regions of the world, is perplexing. It's perfectly obvious tracks distribute the total weight of the vehicle more evenly and the contact patch with the ground is much larger.
I saw another video about this 1939 Snow Cruiser and according to him the engineers had no prior experience with designing a vehicle made to go through rough terrain or snow. What they thought worked in *theory* hadn't even been tested with a small-scale model first. Even by the standards of the 1930's this was amateurish. The insane weight of this thing too should have made somebody yell:"Stop! This is too heavy, it'll obviously be a serious liability and get stuck in no time."
And the uneven weight-distribution proved the engineers who designed this thing didn't really know what they were doing. It would appear as if their ambition way outweighed their experience and common sense.
Yeah,nowadays we have studded tires for ice,but even those don't offer insane traction,so given how smooth those huge ass tires are i think the biggest flaw wasn't the lack of power or speed either,it was the fact that smooth rubber + smooth ice = "you spin my head right round right round" =))))))))))
i wonder why they didnt just use any number of the tracked vehicles or even tanks that were being produced for the war anyway.
They're both meant to operate in similar offroad conditions and rough terrain as could be seen in antarctica.
@@McLarenMercedes To be fair, heavy tracked vehicles in these early days tended to throw their rigid tracks quite often and unexpectedly, in particular when solid objects (such as rocks, ice or packed snow) got between the track and sprockets/rollers. The heavier the vehicle, the more crew (and machinery, past a certain scale) was needed to reinstall the track, supposing none of its elements got damaged in the event. I'm only speculating, but the choice of wheels that can be bolted on/off with simple hand tools might have been a more reasonable choice considering the weather and terrain conditions the machine would be faced with, as well as fuel constraints since tracks inherently have a lot more friction. Now, using slick tires, this puzzles me as much as anyone else, you live and learn I guess?
Is it just me, or do the visuals improve a lot with every new upload? Easily makes every new video worth the wait!
@Low Tier God huh
Hell yeah, love this content!
@Low Tier God this is the funniest shit i’ve read today
I just watched their "Behind the scenes" video on Nebula, which makes it all clear that they evolved on visuals. They started of with basic 3D modelling software and are now getting into the more serious stuff.
They are the reason for the worldwide GPU shortage
it's sad that all these unique machines get abandoned, i'd love to see them in a museum
it is at a museum
@@guilcarr802 nope, the antarctic snow cruiser was lost.
@@guilcarr802 no its not.
@@lucasrem Coventry's car museum has the world's fastest car, the first (and only one) to break the sound barrier.....
also worth noting that the Norwegians drove a snowcat across the antarctic back in the 1950's. The Russians built their own snowcruiser and pulled off something similar in the late 50's, driving to the south pole....of course neither vehicle used smooth treadless tires!
We were on a road trip in Michigan with my 80 year old grandmother who suddenly had a memory return to her from childhood. She asserted she saw a very strange, large vehicle with massive round tires moving very slowly when she was outside waiting for the school bus when she was very young. My dad never heard the story before but knew it had to be Admiral Byrd's Arctic Snow Cruiser making its way to the coast!
Interestingl
it’s true, and it was a huge pain to get to the coast since it couldn’t go via railroad…i have seen pictures of it in Massachusetts causing chaos along the road as it passed by under railroad bridges on its way to the Boston Army Terminal
Nash
We need to talk about how amazing these 3D models are. This artist is seriously good.
7
Yes They're Damn Good!
@@ЖекенСеитов-е6ы 7
This is cartoon to what some of these programmes can do must have been on a 1990 budget but it gets the point across maybee the way the guy wanted it too look like nice bit of work defiantly looks like blender was used .
I use it myself if you fancy giving ut a go its download able free .
I'll tell this for free too you can lose a week in it in a ..,day if you get what I mean ,
an example of how important blueprints / reference images are. I'm modeling this right now and these images are godsend.
This thing really has that retro-futuristic post-apocalypse feel to it. Like something from Snowpiercer.
I mean what a concept. It’s an Antarctic research base, a land-based aircraft carrier, and a multi-terrain cruiser all in one vehicle.
If you run a channel, you need the weiro gear! TH-cam jobs!
The way you described it made me think "wheres the gun turrets on this thing" 😂
It’s the cold weather version of the Landmaster from Damnation Alley. Which came years later.
Feels like a vehicle in an open-world exploration game that you return to for new missions and resupplying.. And now I've said that I'd quite like that.
The russian one was even better. I can't remember which channel made that video though but it was one of the "Mustard"-types.
Those renders are stunning. Congrats to the 3d artist.
Yeah, the hangar scene jumped out at me. This is going to sound dumb, but we may be looking at the makings of a sequel to Desert Bus VR.
I agree. Imagine how renderings will look in 20 years!
The cameraman on the roof of a car, the crew on the roof of the cruiser as it slips off the ramp is insane
Ahh, so this is what the lads at top gear were hoping to make
Hammond would have crashed it anyway
hAmmOnD WhErE iS BiG ThInG iCe !!?!??!?!? cRaSh iCe aGaIn !?!?!?!
“Hammond you idiot” Jeremy Clarkson. 2007
@@depilot2035 I feel like this thing would've crashed itself before hammond could've set his fingers on it
To night on arctic gaer, hanomd crashes a American Kharkovchanka, James wants to shoots some penguins, and so do i
Engineers: We're designing the most unstoppable machine meant to handle the most difficult terrain on earth!
Also engineers: Yeah, we're gonna put slicks on it.
Its such like 1940's engineering to be like "Treads? No we shouldnt put treads, snow will just get stuck in them" WHAT?
@@robmausser Funny enough soviets made their own cheap antarctic cruisers based on a preexistent agricultural crawler and these machines are still in use to this day or at least were in use until very recently.
They probably were hoping the large diameter and the massive weight would solve the traction.
Prolly thought there was only ragged ice that the slick could grip on.
@@robmausser farm truck thinking
When the world needed him the most, he reappeared.
he's just playing favorites with nebula, that's all
@Low Tier God Lames so jealous of my natural hairline and it shows….
Just wait until he discovers Admiral Richard Byrd
my dad was one of the Seabees that found it in 1958. they actually slept in it, because it was superior to the shelters they had. he said everything worked once they fueled it up and charged the batteries. not sure about the tires, they didn't actually drive it or move it.
I wouldn't doubt that if clicked into gear it would have ambled away. They built things to work back in the day.
@@SlickArmor I’m sure it was mostly buried by snow after sitting there nearly 20 years - no reason to fully dig it out if they weren’t planning to move it.
@@Sashazur I'm sure you're probably right. I just said since they said it started up I'm sure it would have driven if they decided to dig it out and greese it up. Things were built to a very low tolerance therefore they hardly seized up.
even if the diesel engines wouldn’t start they’re just there to charge the generator for the electric motors, you could rig something to bypass them a d run off of battery power until the engines were fixed…the thing just needs some TLC and it’d moved again
As soon as I heard about what this thing was designed to achieve, I know solely from the fact that I had never heard of it before that it was going to be a hopelessly bad failure.
Have you heard of the Kharkovchankas?
@@hakrsakr Oh yea almost forgot about them, Calum made a great video on them.
@@hakrsakr just looked them up there looks like that's what I'll be spending my evening looking into.
soon as I saw the tires I knew this was a fail they put F1 tires on a snow machine 😂😂
@@blick9538 it would be very over budget "all-American-made-parts" and probably not one big vehicle, but a group of smaller ones that could also be sold to the public.
"With so much excitementy and publicity, there was no turning back". The phrase that makes any and every engineer scream in rage.
I cackled when he said that. But I'm a mechanic, not an engineer. We tend to laugh at the suffering of engineers because they laugh at ours. It's a love-hate relationship.
And scientist
I imagine architects have shared feelings haha
What about the famed "too big to fail?"
Ironically they ended up driving backwards...
Kids literally slide down snowy hills riding in inner tubes. WHY did they think this would work, why? :D
because big and cool
Nice to see Goodyear's tire design is a lasting legacy from earlier ages. Don't see devotion to history like that very often...
easy, engineer didnt but they couldn't equip it with tires that would work because of time limitations
@@abramo7700 I like your name 😎
That is simple, when scientists do things its all about theory .Common sence is what the typical scientists lack amd most can't even tie their own shoes.
Honestly it is incredible the slick tires made it past the drawing board.
"We need to design this vehicle's drive system to be reliable in deep snow."
"Huge, smooth balloon tires!"
Its like the engineers have never seen snow in their lives.
Chicago hasn’t seen snow?
This was made and designed in the Midwest, the guys who made it have seen snow. It’s definitely strange that these guys never took this thing into Wisconsin, Minnesota, or Canada considering how terribly cold those places are. The terrain would be different, but driving on ice and snow should have been tested more thoroughly
Yep, the guy who thought smooth tires would do anything at all in those conditions must've had a smooth brain.
Also, the "the threads would fill up with snow and ice anyways". That's the whole point! Snow on snow has really good traction. Did they not have winter tires in 1939?
They did plenty of research. Someone went all the way down to Antarctica, took one look at the penguins slithering around on their tummies, and said to himself, "THIS."
-Hey John!
-What?
-Should we put any sort of tread on the tires for traction?
-Nah mate, sounds like work.
-You have a point. It's not like there's several feet of snow and ice where it's going.
Such a shame. Bunch of idiots in-charge of engineering
@@MarloSoBalJr Don't think its that simple, there is of course a reason behind that decision. It would probably be very challenge to pattern a wheel of such a size or perhaps the added forces would lead to damage.
Most projects have to hit deadlines and cost points. You have to cut corners somewhere to hit those points. Part of the process.
edit: video explains this point
@@KnowledgePerformance7 But the thing is, you absolutely cannot cut corners when it comes to something like this.
@@SirBroccolingtonIII yes clearly. But they did. The machine was not tested in snow before it's deployment.
@@MarloSoBalJr isn't that always the case?
This is one of those vehicles that looks way bigger than it really is, which is impressive considering it's already gigantic.
Also, who greenlit putting smooth tires on a vehicle that was supposed to traverse snowy terrain? No wonder it failed.
Plus they theorized from magazines as shown. And always the information provided isn't guaranteed to be true. They should have given the vehicle spiked wheels.
@@firebird1cool798 maybe steel wheels even
I honestly cant think of a worse choice than smooth balloon tires.
@Low Tier God ... what?
@@2MeterLP no tyres
This thing actually looks awesome
Can’t fool me, that’s some real life footage right there- wait…it’s a 3D model? Well my life is a lie...
That’s what my dad thought
...tion. finish your words, fucking hell.
Well fuck.
Well shit
Illusion 100
I would actually love a minifigure scale Lego set of this.
I need a transformers version now
@@insanimal2 send me your credit card info and I'll make it happen
@@stoptrudeau42 AHAHAHAHAHAHA
that'd actually be cool af, it looks like a Lego set lol
It would fit in the Arctic collection, a very good looking sub-theme of City.
Mustard is everything this transportation vehicle geek needs. Can't tell you how grateful I am for this top shelf content.
Yesh mi bruddah
I wonder if he loves eating mustard.......
@@handlemonium cannabilism
At 0:34, is that the ship Endurance that they found recently? If so, it gives hope that even if the snow cruiser is down at the bottom of the ocean, we’ll still be able to get a glimpse of it with remote vehicles…
So you actually went to Antarctica to get this footage? Im impressed at your effort! *Another great video besties !*
@Jad El Moukaddem r/wooosh
Jk
Hello, love your vid :))
Can anyone link me to a video of Antarctic exploration done in colour video at least?
@Jad El Moukaddem whoosh!
I feel ashamed of never hearing of this before. Something so sensational and wide known 80 years ago is almost completely forgotten today. How short the human attention span is, how quickly the time swallows our lives.
I also didn't know about it...
I had a jigsaw puzzle of the Antartic Snow Cruiser as a child in England in the late 1940s/early 50s. I recall that even at a young age it seemed to me that smooth tyres were not a good idea on snow. I also recall that the box that the jigsaw came in mentioned Admiral Byrd, the famed artic/antartic explorer. Great video that provided much infomation about this vehicle.
American culture buries failures.
I came across it somehow like 2 years ago
Intelligent comment. I just clicked on it and thought it was something recent until I read your comment. That explains the smooth tires I guess. I'll finish the video now.
"The car will be going through snow Johnny!"
What about some Goodyear F1 slicks?
Someone heard they needed to get there fast and had watched just ONE too many drag races.
Smooth tires = smooth brain decision
At the Cummins Heritage Center, I just located a number of local news articles about the Antarctic Snow Cruiser. Dr. Thomas C. Poulter was the designer. He visited the Cummins Engine Plant in Columbus, IN in August 1939 to confer with engineers about the engines. The Snow Cruiser was built by the Research Foundation of the Armour Institute of Technology. Clessie Cummins, our Founder, rode on the leg of the trip to the East from Chicago to the Gary Sand Dunes and told his brother Deloss that the new Snow Cruiser was like "tying four pigs together and trying to drive them through a narrow alley."
Cummins sucks
I think this is the best channel on youtube. Huge fan.
I think to
Dharr man
Idk man, Lemmino is also really good
@@vladimirmakarov7475 no Dhar mann
Gl9vvvv6v
Yvv6
I had read that, at the time, they didn't fully understand the physics of the snow in Antarctica. At those temperatures it doesn't behave like most of us are used to. Instead of having any stickiness or grip it behaves like a sand. The crystals are frozen so solid they don't pack or stick to one another, so they stay separate. Again, like a fine sand.
Yeah snow gets like that pretty quickly below zero. It only stays sticky close to its melting point.
Wow I had never thought of this. I have always just thought snow was snow. How interesting!
Yep, but still.. slick tires to begin with? Amazing brains
@@leviferrero6068 hell no, snow is very very different depending on the temperature, how old it is, how much of it has been laying around and whether the sun has melted parts of it before it refroze
@Dynamo Disc get a life
I am kinda surprised by the cruiser's design, honestly. If that thing was designed about the 1939's, then I'd at least expect it to look a lot less ''modern''. I mean sure, the german engineers a few years later would have developed the Horten Ho 229 (another quite functional and yet futuristic looking vehicle/aircraft), but damn! When I first saw the pictures of the snow cruiser, I would have taken it for a vehicle from the late 80's, to early 2000's (1980-2010). It honestly would even fit in a ''sci-fi setting''. But they actually started designing it at 1937? Wow..
Look up the Daily Express Building in Manchester, England. Build in 1939. Looks like it was built in *1989* . Large windows in curved corners and a layout which makes it look more 21st century than 1939.
@@McLarenMercedes google Bauhaus, it looks like some average modern house, thing was build in the 20s
90s cars are just air stream designs without the chrome
It's almost like oil companies could afford to pay the finest designers around....
That's why it actually failed : futuristic design, but completely unpractical
The part that always stuck with me was that the real flaw with this thing was the tires. If you could replace the tires with an improved tread you might have a viable vehicle for that region.
My father-in-law was on this expedition. I have his scrapbook. He was a corpsman on the USS Bear. He said of the Snow Cruiser (known to the crews as Penguin One) that they used it as a hotel!
Wow that is incredible.
My god, that’s amazing
@@TheCrowOfJudgement This isn't that cool
@@GAMER123GAMING shut please
@@rogertycholiz2218 I just said this isn't that cool. What is so wrong with your ability to understand what is going on?
Why was the Snow Cruiser's speed in reverse limited? One of the features of electric motors, that they actually have in common with steam engines along with virtually unlimited torque, is that they are just as happy running backwards as forwards; direction of travel shouldn't matter to an electric drive motor. So why was it a problem here?
Visibility maybe
Steering system?
My Prius did 107MPH and you're damn right that it should have done so in reverse as well
I cant image driving with backwards steering and facing backwards all day for weeks on end
Back up a vehicle without mirrors and most of your windows blocked. Let's see how long it takes you to figure this question out
Love the choice of music, a small thing but it really does show the detail and thought put in all aspects of your work.
The writing style in this script is so refined, with every word carrying weight, showing a deep understanding of character psychology and the situations they face. 🖋💬
Mustard: Quality over Quantity with the best visuals ever!
But who is he?
"We've built the ultimate exploration vehicle, let's go!"
"Can't, it's damp."
I think I'd have retired after that experience.
If we did a modern build of this behemoth I think it could work. Modern electric engines, redone tire design, and new materials could cut weight, increase speed and possibly horse power, and effectiveness in snow and adverse environment
i mean by the time it's built, there isnt gonna be much snow left to explore
No need, we already saw this kind many times, as those huge truck carry ICBM in Russia.
Basically Snowcats.
Why if we have robots?
@@snoboring4846 Then we just have to wait for a century until the snow inevitably returns. I'd imagine 400 years ago Antarctica was largely stone and smooth thick ice sheets instead of snowy, and likewise 100 years ago it would've been less snowy than it was 50 years ago, hence why over the seasons the cruiser is now buried in snow even in the warmest months down there. Do keep in mind the start of the 20th Century had droughts, heat waves, wildfires and people dying of heatstroke and/or dehydration. Its just a matter of waiting for the cycle to return to the colder periods once again, a cycle that's been going on since around when man first walked the Earth.
That is so sad! There needs to be an expedition to locate this beast and bring her home!
The visuals in this are nuts ! Makes it a pleasure to watch. Always had an itch to see what it would look like rendered , the photos are all old and grainy, so it's hard to get a good feel of the vehicle as a whole. But this video definitely ticks that box. Great stuff
These 3D renders are getting so realistic. This is top quality
I know right
*renderings
I can only imagine the frustration of the people actually working on this when the project was rushed at the last minute. There had to have been quite a few designers, engineers and mechanics who knew for sure the thing would horrendously fail, especially after even the trip from Chicago to Boston was botched so badly.
Honestly, the second I saw the pictures of it, my first thought was "why are the tires, racing slicks?"
Smooth tires on snow was all anyone needed to see that this thing wasnt going to do a fraction of the stuff it's supposed to, but a very innovative idea nonetheless
@@jwalster9412 Yep, maybe hindsight, but as someone who lives in a climate with lots of snow, slicks would be stupid. "No other tires existed" bullshit, tractor tires would be so much better, and they are large, even back then.
Next facepalm. "Four 75hp Electric motors". Look, diesel electric IS a good strategy for reliability, but 75hp? You must be joking.. Who thought of that?
@@novideohereatall someone who only have 1 week to bulid a never built before machine?
They don't want the people to find out the truth.
I hope one day someone finds this truck
This vehicle would be cool to find. Also would be neat to be included in a Clive Cussler book
Atlantis Found!
In fact it is in a Clive cussler novel . A story about re emergence of the Nazi race in Argentina and hidden infrastructure in Antarctica , a huge ship . I think this vehicle gets borrowed from a collectors stable for an important mission in Antarctica . Enough of cusser novels .
RIP Clive cussler
I you liked Clives books check out Christopher Cartwright's Sam Reilly series. 20+ books and they are basically a Dirk Pitt knockoff. But still pretty good.
I'll make sure to check them out
I'm no engineer but my first reaction seeing these "good year" tyres was: "This has to be a joke".
no need to be an engineer to notice garbage design and poor decision, lol
Murican engineering
Yea but people back then were try Americans and everything was made in the USA and not China.
@@oleksandrchubras9549ep, that's probably why we own everything today. Because whIle you idiots keep insulting us, we're building more better and faster. Funny how you forgot that only a few years after this world war broke out and we literally whooped the s*** out of everybody while fighting two fronts.
Goodyear racing slicks no less. No wonder it failed so epicly! 😏
The amount of work he puts into the graphics my god it’s phenomenal. If anyone ever wonders why it takes so long for him to pump out videos, this is why. Not because he doesn’t care but in fact contrary to that. He does his research, works his ass off on the video platform and the final product is flawless! Can’t wait for the next video!
Hello, how are you doing today I hope you’re having a great day so far 👋👋
Until tech gets better
@@amyt5849 -Hi to you too Amy. Have a great new year.
Shut up he doesn't do it himself and it's easy these days
damn that car looks cool, I know it may be childish but damn that looks cool
this has to be the *icing* of the cake that is my day
ill show myself out
good one man
This is to me by far the best youtube channel. The quality is insanely good! I also love how it evolved, the best change to me is the tone in the presenters voice. It went from a bit monotone and stiff to a just overal very pleasant and interesting voice to listen to!
Aaand... I just subscribed to Nebula.
Try lemmino and nexpo
As some British TV presenter used to say: "Ambitious, but rubbish".
I think it should be found!!! It's a testament to our folly but ingenuity! This should be in a museum! Not rotting on the tundra or the bottom of the Arctic sea!
Imagine a survival/exploration game based around this. That would be sick af
That's exactly what I was thinking!
So... You and some friend(s) will have to go to unknown snowy places in a giant vehicle? Seems good to me
I hope some dev is reading this :)
@@mirzaaljic me too, maybe i can just supply some ideas for the mechanics idk
@@Techy404 almost like a dread hunger kinda thing would be cool
It's incredible that a bunch of brilliant engineers who could design that thing would put slick tires on it.
If I was on the team I would insist on tracks I think.
The most successful large snow vehicles are screw driven and most are amphibious.
Easy for you to say in 2021
@john milton John, no need to get worked up.
@@kubabohdan7020 Most people could have guessed how well smooth rubber would grip ice even back in the late 30's.
Tracks were still in their infancy back than. Decades later Russia built the Kharkovchankas, check those out. Much better design but not without issues and now tracked vehicles, basically ski hill groomers, are top dog there. Light machine with huge wide light tracks for the win. Engineers usually have a concept but the field operators are the ones who come up with the brilliant improvements out of necessity.
"What Happened To The Antarctic Snow Cruiser?"
Kimi Raikkonen: "It stuck."
'Kimi drive it in reverse'
'Leave me alone I Know what I'm doing'
Many years ago, I read a novel by Clive Cussler, where the hero of the story finds the abandoned monster, and after using a chain saw to cut treads in the tires, used it to escape to safety.
I don't remember the title of the book, but this video brought back memories of the "idiotic tire design"
Interesting 🤔
Ah yes, the era of international dreams of an Antarctic colony to feed the world's insatiable desire for penguins. We had ambition in those days.
Penguin big Mac's anyone 🐧🐧
When a democrat gets ideas, this is what happens...
@@painkillerjones6232 everything has to be ruined with political bias huh. we get it, you need to point fingers to feel good lmao.
@@cf8979 It is a good comparison to today's administration's "infrastructure" plan.
@@painkillerjones6232 The expedition seems to have gone well enough outside of the failure of the Snow Cruiser, and I don't think you can blame the Democrats for the engineers deciding that two 150 hp diesels (that is a lower hp/ton ratio than a Tiger II tank) and slick tires for a 34 ton vehicle was a good idea.
I feel bad for this vehicle. It's so cool and just so creative. R.I.P
Can we get an F for the vehicle
F
@@hgghmffhggggggggghhhhhhh5056 f
It was doomed from the beginning. Wheels would have never worked in snow.
This is yet another example of why the testing phase should NEVER be neglected, even if it means delaying an entire project.
Many amazing concepts could've worked if they had time for complete tests on their capabilities and limitations, so that flaws could be dealt with.
It's funny because it's the same issue I had with my graduation project back in college. It was amazing in theory, but there were not enough tests to find and fix the problems.
It’s also an example of why you need competent engineers. I can’t imagine anyone seriously thinking that skinny smooth tires and low ground clearance would be a good idea for frozen rough surfaces.
Love your narration.
This channel prioritises quality over quantity, and it’s really good at doing so
These are some of the highest quality videos I've ever seen on TH-cam. Keep doing what you're doing.
Hey, I don’t want to be a bother, and this is just a suggestion: in this (and other) videos, you sometimes mix imperial and metric systems (10 feet wheels / below -80° celsius). That way seems to be a bit confusing to both Americans and the rest of the world, because we both end up not understanding the scale of what you’re pointing out. If possible, could you write down the measurement in the other system on the screen (e.g.: you say -80°C and put a note on the screen that reads “-112°F”, or when you say 10 feet wheels, you put a note that says “3.05 meters”). That’d be great!
Love your videos!
For Canadians it makes perfect sense because we use a weird mix of both anyways
@@brendancross2767 Same with us Brits
I think most of the rest of the world understands it.. using imperial in general and adapting to metric to watch American videos.
Agreed! Feet is difficult for me. I’m slowly getting a feel for it, but still.
@@itissrinivasan most of the world doesn't even comprehend the existence of imperial only British countries recognise it's meaning somewhat
I just wanna say, Volkswagen KÄFER goes VROOOOM.
Does who know what I mean, you’re truly people of culture.
Try driving around in the winter in an SUV that has bald tires like those on the Snow Cruiser, and tell me how well you got through the winter storms you encounter.
If you made it out the block u mean
@@GAndreC I doubt you would even make it out of your parking spot.
I have a neighbor who lives on a hill, he neglects his tire so every year when winter comes. Here he comes sliding down the hill, and crashes into the curb at around 20KM/h
No treads/grooves on tires must prove, that NONE of the designers have ever in their life driven anything on snow or ice. Amazing!
People who have never driven in snow honestly make me laugh, cause they have no clue what their doing and even a little snow can cause chaos in some places. LOL
But that's just my one side talking, it does take practice though to drive in winter weather and it can be scary even for me when it's really bad. So always in winter weather drive safe and never recklessly. Snow though is fun to play in!!
@J S Maybe time constraint made it so, that new tire size could not be developed.
But thats not a perfect excuse... I bet it would have worked better even with "old tractor style" steel wheels.
OK - shake-down drive and public displays would have been skipped completely :(
@@Angeloflight1415_LastelleCrea well it doesn't snow everywhere
@@dv9239 That I am aware of
could have also made them into studded tires, drill the studs into the rubber.
Another time we got really close to getting the land ships from "Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak", but ultimately fell short.
2:56. So from the south pole, you can head eastwards?
I thought living out of a Bradley for a month was rough. I couldn’t imagine a year in that little thing
It's about the size of 2 semi truck high and long.
Had to rewatch the pentagon wars clip of the evolution of the Bradley, never ceases to crack me up. Can't imagine being in it for so long, hopefully the arctic cruiser was much nicer.
Little thing? When did you get dropped on your head?
@@jordy2299 its a large gigantic metal tin can with plates and a cannon attached, it doesnt exactly seem like a luxury yacht with the finest wines available at the drop in the middle of a god damn desert with no air con.
@@themagicslinky1773 Don't forget that Pentagon Wars is propaganda for the "Reformers", a group who quite literally tried making planes that are essentially two wings and a gun with no radar or radio equipment, and want incredibly outdated equipment to be the norm rather than improving designs.
I want to find this thing, I love Antarctica and the history of abandoned man made structures that rest there. Imagine being the first one to set foot in there since either the 40’s or late 50’s
It's all lies
@@calfowler6838 Mood Killer
@@calfowler6838 I think he means ww2 and up but then again very few of them were like that
If they made a game about this mission, I’d play it
Maybe a Snowrunner DLC?
Dieselpunk Antártica survival/exploration game. I'd def play it
@@gianb3952 have you tried Frostpunk? It's exactly like a dieselpunk antartica though more on the building side rather than exploration.
Why you would just be hauling a slow ass vehicle through endless snow lmao
This is an accurate description of Snowrunner.
Its believed that the ice shelf it was sitting on broke off in the 60's an the cruiser ended up on the bottom of the sea last seen in the 50's covered under snow
I wish they would talk about a cool engineering project which didnt fail or had a close end. these are all cool but make me wish they succeed or had more funding or time so that they would work.
You mean this -th-cam.com/video/f6R-h06IsJw/w-d-xo.html
See his video on the bullet train for that
Get used to the way progress happens in steps with failure along the way.
I think there is a channel where they have an bold narrator. I think sth called Megaprojects... Or so
Fund science!
I remember this thing, and it is still one of the most Thunderbirds-like vehicles I've ever seen
I agree, Thunderbirds 100%. Awesome that you remember it from 81 years ago.
Yeah just ashame it didnt work...
@@unfurling3129 lol
Britain: "DAMN YOU GERMANY"
Germany: "DAMN YOU FRANCE"
France: "DAMN YOU BRITAIN AND GERMANY"
*all countries scream as they charge at one another*
US: "hehe coldboicar go brrrrr"
@@whybother1887 Then we laugh back:)
Hilarious...
Well, it didn't brrrr very well sadly
@@mixnmatchflavourbleach2313 The crew did when tryna fix the traction problem lol.
@@luzid_izc3687 cringe
What a doohickey. Gives me some snowpiercer vibes
It's amazing how this thing looks like it was made in the 80s it really feels odd knowing that it was used in the 30s
You should have a look at the 1950 GM futurliner... looks like it was pulled straight from Fallout.
I swear that every time some project flops, wether it's a new machine, a movie, a videogame or anything, it's always because it was rushed.
not always. e.g. the Boeing hypersonic plane was not rushed, but shelved due to unsurmountable technical problems
As much as the engineers failed to recognize a problem here, I really think this is a classic example of how management can write off an entire project
This is the democrats designing the infrastructure bill!!
@@painkillerjones6232 Might want to take some Ivermectin for those brainworms.
@@Jambobist You know I'm right.
The idea of driving reverse all the way to the south pole cracks me up xddd
I would love to see a modern redesign of this beast.
Not needed anymore. We’ve got drones !
we have something else better a snow moblie
Haha don't call it a beast...it's a engineering and design nightmare
@@Cinnamorollthecut3st which snowmobile would be best to explore the Antarctic for a whole year and carry enough fuel, food, heat and supplies for a whole research team?
Loved the video! Its a shame it was never recovered and brought back to the US. I'm sure it would have made an amazing walk-through exhibit at a museum. Definitely could've been a star attraction for one.
Or compete in monster truck races. LOL
dude who would want a rusty slow useless heavy machine they should just made a smaller verison with tracks
@@Cinnamorollthecut3st it still would be cool to have in a museum
Is it not weird the brits own most of the antartica but their the only ones who could not survive meanwhile norway as the vikings they are made it but only got small pieces
The most unbelievable thing is that this was envisioned in the 30s while it looks like something from the 80s.
50 years is not a long time at all
@@DrWhom tell that to your cyborg grandchildren in 2071
@@DrWhom 50 years in something like philosophy might not be much, but 50 years in engineering is quite a lot.
@@DrWhom True...
God i want this thing to be found so badly. Just imagine the sight of an abandoned giant machine, covered in ice and snow, or algae and rust, depending on where it actually is
This Snow Cruiser is seriously cool, proper Thunderbirds stuff. I'd love a model of it. Great video btw.
Engineers: we'll be driving on ice and snow, so..... slick tyres?
Everyone with eyes: wtf?!
"Slick tyres it is!"
In the beginning of the video, I was wondering how rubber tyres would work at -80C.
(Un)fortunately, we never got to find out.
When I saw the thumbnail I was thinking:
WTF! Tyres for Antarctica? Just four tyres? Slick tyres? Extremely narrow tyres?
I mean in the 1930´s already engineers knew how to improve traction and reduce ground weight for muddy and snowy conditions. Like tracked tractors or tanks. And for a wheeled vehicle increasing the number of wheels and putting wide tires with snow chains on was no secret at that time.
@@philp8872 The tires on the 'Wiilys' jeep were thin and tall. But what would of really helped was White stripes on the outside of them.
@@easydoz1 Haha, yes!
But the tyres were appropiate for that Willys Jeep´s weight. And they weren´t slick.
I have an old Land Rover with 7.50x16 tires. They are very slim in comparison with up to date offroad tires. But they weren´t supposed to work in Antarctica! And they aren´t slick!
It looks like a design straight out of classic Thunderbirds!
I thought it was when I saw the thumbnail!
It was the 1940s
Fr
That's exactly what I was going to say. Straight out of the pod in Thunderbird 2.
It really does look like something straight out of Thunderbirds.
My thoughts exactly
I live in the Goodyear building and one of the tires for this beast sits in my hallway as decor! It’s huge
whats the goodyear building?
"In the end the antarctic snow cruiser had clearly been rushed into service, and the result was a machine that had been over designed and under tested. Extreme optimism had seemingly been it's design philosophy."
It seems like video games are being developed with the same philosophy lmao.
Yeah.... we still mad about CyberPunk...
vangard is looking... good?
@@expertxx9923 Woaw.."playable" ? is it where we setting the bar for this game now ? 9 years of dev ... Jesus what a trainwreck
@@Blafard666 well its a improvement at least
@@Blafard666 Did you even played CP2077? After Hotfixes
I would love to own one!
Yeah...
i would to if i could store it, drive it, and generally use it. it'd be more like a glorified tiny house.
Nah you should own a Tacoma instead
Thank you Clive Cussler... for making this machine common knowledge.
Those who enjoyed this video are definitely gonna love the Russian version of the antarctic snow cruiser called the
"Kharkovchanka"
There's a 36 minute documentary about it on TH-cam by a channel called "Calum"
th-cam.com/video/f6R-h06IsJw/w-d-xo.html here lel
I was gonna make this comment if no one else had, absolutely recommended that vid, and his on the snow cruiser as well
The snow cruiser is referenced and even used in Clive Cussler’s book Atlantis Found which is in the Dirk Pitt series.
Man I hate the internet sometimes I am currently listening to Atlantis found again then this pops up on my TH-cam recommendations.
Will...Do you want to try and find it? It's probably not that far from base camp. I think this is one of those opportunities in life where we can both say.... Fk it... Let's do this! What's your schedule look like for the next few weeks? Michael, I didn't want to just leave you out.. So the offer goes out to you as well, you know you'd be welcome to join us.
@@ant7699 bro ur crazy😂😂
Have a like for an epic reference
@@ant7699 actually it would be cool to discover this. Like a time capsule. It needs to be in a museum
Mustard doing amazing things here. Not just with aircraft, but now ground vehicles (Excluding trains)! Hopefully, the amazing graphical display will never fail to bring a smile to my face every time!
The 3rd last video was about a train
Thanks I got New TH-cam Channel from this Video to Learn more Knowledge