Auto Mobiles

Yup, they’re air bags, but not like you’d expect. Fred W. Crimson’s “U.S. Military Wheeled Vehicles” is probably my favorite book in the Hemmings library because it’s quite the wellspring of odd and wonderful military vehicles such as the above pictured Power Wagon. According to the caption, a Mr. W.H. Albee became fond of the airbag-as-wheel concept and designed several vehicles along those lines in the early 1950s.

One of the earliest applications was this three-roller Dodge Power Wagon. Ground pressure was drastically reduced due to the large ground area in contact with the bags, and the low air pressure (from 2.5 to 6 psi) in the bags. The man under the left rear bag does not appear to be in pain (or else his Army buddy in the cab is just a huge jerk -ed.). The vehicle weighed 9,500 pounds (vs. 5,500 for a normal Power Wagon), and was built by the West Coast Machinery Company of Stockton, California. It used a Chrysler 135 horsepower model IND-18A V-8 engine and a Powerflite torque converter. There was no suspension other than that provided by the low-pressure bags. Although this photo was taken at Sharpe General Depot in California in June 1953, the vehicles were actually tested in Greenland and at Aberdeen Proving Ground in May 1954.

They probably soon discovered that the idea proved worthless when traversing ground that included, oh, anything sharp.

Previous in the March Military Campaign - ever hear of the CJ-4?

Yes, Mattar has left the building, but he also left behind a good-sized stack of old magazines, which I promptly descended upon and started flipping through in search of blog material.

Still trying to think of why Mercury’s “Password for Action” ads for the 1970 model year appeal to me. Here was a relatively stodgy, upscale FoMoCo division trying to play with the muscle car kids with flashy colors and big engines. Did it work? Of course not. Did “Password for Action” really make any sense? Not really, but it kinda grooved with the parlance of the time. Maybe I just like flashy colors.