The Weird History of Screw Propelled Land Vehicles: Slant Sixes, Big Blocks, and all! 

I appreciate even the non race topics just as much. You always present a good topic.

I wonder what thread pitch those screws are. coarse thread screws for racing, fine thread for crawling.

Keep up with the vastness of mechanical diversity Brian, it’s very much appreciated! Great work!

What a surprise, never expected you to cover screw vehicles. Good stuff Brian

I am one of the designers of the actual Lunar Roving Vehicles. My supervisor and I did the design for the "mobility subsystem" electric drive, 4-wheel, with dual Ackermann steering. During the early development of the LRVs, there were screw drives considered, since the Lunar dust was considered to have the consistency of fluffy talc, and later this was shown to be true on the Moon in certain spots. One vehicle got bogged down, and the astronauts sank up to their ankles to get it out. I have a couple of videos of the screw-drives which were tested at our GM/DRL laboratories, before the actual design parameters were established. NASA and US-Army did radar studies of the moon, and found that the dirt was usually much more solid. A facsimile of the Moon dirt was delivered to us, and used in carousel testing of the wheels, to determine the traction and wearout features. The wheels were redesigned several times, based on this testing, including dodging of large boulders. The carousel test videos are also available, including the simulation of 1/6-Gravity, here on Earth...

That Snow Motor was awesome, makes me want one now.

Colin Furze made one that worked pretty well, and documented the whole process.

I never realized just how fast those things were in the right conditions, 30mph through muck is impressive

That thing is great! Thank You for showing this.

Yessssss new video great way to spend a Monday thanks for all the videos

I remember back in the Eighties there was a remote controlled toy like this.

Suspension would have fixed it. Maybe a quad pod arrangement, keep the 440s for reliability.

I saw the one in Valdez Alaska about 17 years ago, it was behind the museum, rusting away

One of the very few times i knew the vehicle and concept featured in one your video. Interesting the same. Always quality 👍👍👌👌

I, like you, appreciate all sorts of vehicles, very educational video, thank you. See you on the next one 😀🇺🇸

I have no idea where, or how , you research this stuff , but it sure is fascinating. Many , many thanks.

Great story. Love those bits of history

Don't know were you find these stories,but keep up the good work. Love all these different stories!!!!

Thanks Brian. Another super entertaining video/podcast.

Super cool topic Brian. Where else are we going to find this kind of content! Thanks for all your research! Keep up the great work!

Starting to love this channel. Great, fresh stories!

I’ve seen pictures of some of these, but never heard the history.

Awesome topic and footage.

Those are definitely some unique vehicles! I've seen some of the tractors on RFD TV! Always interesting stories! Thanks 👍

Great show!

Saw a purpose built version - looked fairly modern - that was used for creating drainage channels. The weight of the machine sunk the screw pontoons into the soil creating twin ditches. From memory it was a fairly large machine, reminiscent of some of RG Le Tournoux’s machines.

Looks like a great mud bogging dragster to me! Turbine power might do the trick.

Is it the 'incline plane' concept? As used on bolts, nuts, screws, lag bolts etc, etc! Wow! When your mind wanders, it finds some outrageously cool stuff! Thanks for sharing!

Brian, i asked you delivered. Thank you.

I love your history lessons Brian

Great video, thanks Brian !!

Very interesting, iv heard about the old Ford ones but not the others, thanks for all your work into this

at 12:02, you mention Geoffrey Pike, and this wasn't his only wild idea: He also figured out a process of freezing sawdust and water into material called Pykrete, and pitched an idea of building an aircraft carrier out of it. The project went underway, as far as making a model in Canada, which actually survived a couple of winters, but it never went beyond that.

Im in the UK. How cool would an all aluminium /6 be, wow. I have a build kit laying here for one, Crower rods, forged pistons, AUS roller rocker kit and a solid Crower cam kit and stainless valves....I wish, wonder if any exist?...get on it Brian 🤣 Ive also owned a '68 Roadrunner 41 years👍

Looks like something Bigun would have for the river.

Fountainhead antique automobile museum in Fairbanks Alaska has a fully operational snow motor. Their RU-vid page has videos of it running. I’ve seen it pull a sleigh in person. It’s pretty amazing

I noticed a video on RU-vid a while ago about a guy who found an aluminum slant six engine in a car. I don’t know maybe they made a bunch of them but maybe a came from one of these screw vehicles

Yes! This is gonna be good

So, hear me out: A four-screw design like those early patents, but with a diamond wheel arrangement between them. Basically a wheel on each side at the middle of the vehicle and a wheel at each end between the screws. The wheels would be either raised and lowered like aircraft landing gear and driven with electric or hydraulic motors, or use a Citroen-style hydropneumatic suspension system to raise and lower the wheels and use driveshafts and CV joints for the wheels. Should be the best of both worlds, having wheels when wheels are needed but retracting them when the screws are needed. I've built motorized model screw-propelled vehicles before, so needless to say I'm quite interested in their potential :) Just gotta find a creative layout to fix their inability to traverse solid ground!

Had there been a lighter weight version of the Hemi (like the aluminum blocks Keith Black started making in the late 70’) plus some kind of rudimentary suspension like others have suggested, things might have been different. Seems like the engineers would have come up with some kind of hard rubber or composite screws to make it more operable on hard ground

I want a screw drive vehicle so bad. Just a small one the size of a 12-14 foot boat. I’ve got an Iron Duke sitting around to power it, I just need everything else

The Fairbanks auto museum has the fordson version. They stated that the drums were filled with aircraft fuel for use at the airport.

I read somewhere long ago. Hemi vs.Wedge. Essentially very little difference in performance in stock form.

neat stuff! love learning about things i'd kind of known of but in greater detail

awsum as always!

Seems this drive has a lot of crossover with Hovercrafts. Can operate over different difficult terrain, but both have limitations. Would love a vid on Hovercrafts from your perspective 👍 And this makes me wonder why there was so much effort on the super slow snow crawlers that were developed, something with a screw drive would have smashed that brief!

That was a really good video, thanks Brian from a new subscriber

More awesome content. Thank you.

That Weasel was made by Studebaker in South Bend, Indiana.

Gud vid 💯💥👍, cheers from the UK 😊

Just out of curiosity how do we go from the terrifying toranado to screw drive stuff? Don’t get me wrong I really enjoy everything you cover and learning about this stuff . Talk about diversity 😂

My grandpa and dad retired from a GM factory that went from being a Fisher Body, to a bunch of other GM shops and eventually to a metal fabrication center (was also a tank plant during ww2 and Korea) and the truck they used to move the giant dies around the shop was a 1979 Chevy Luv with a *_Chrysler slant 6,_* because it had so much more torque than the Chevy straight 6. 😂

I did a deep dive on these a few years ago and if I ever an endless supply of money it is on the list of stupid shit I want build.

I wonder if the leading edge of the helix had a strip of rubber if it would have worked better on firm surfaces. Plus giving the body and or seats a suspension system for better ride.

I knew of these, read a book with a chapter on the earlier ones. There is also a story on again the earlier ones on You Tube somewhere. This is the best story on these things. Personally the smaller one with the slopey would be the most suitable. Exhaust could be overcome,,, move it out the back. Use would be limited BUT in Vietnam and similar places it would have a place. The big one is simply too big. Possibly fun,, just needs nitro and zoomies! As for off topic from Brian,, he does own and old 8N Ford Tractor!!

Nice vid

There was a screwdrive kit made for old Fords. Like Model T and A.

Showing one of the best parts of ubiquitous automobiles...at least when they get stuck in the snow, you're only hitting a bunch of metal. That poor horse!

smart, but he may have had a screw loose...

The RUC would have been perfect with the Hemis and a pair of...ahem...SCREW BLOWERS. 😂😂😂

Speaking of the Archimedean screw and its working to move fluid. Picture an Archimedean screw the size of a large ballpoint pen. At each end rubies act as bearings and have a estimated life of 1200 years. Now imagine this PUMP inserted in your CHEST after your damaged/diseased heart has been removed. Your blood pressure is just one number because there is no "heartbeat" which of course gives you two numbers a systolic and diastolic number. The biggest drawback seemingly is the fact that you have to wear a battery in a backpack at all times. It is my understanding that it may be installed as a backup to your existing heart if you are having problems with your natural heart. It is also my understanding that Dick Cheney has one. Just thought I would throw in my two cents worth awesome video seems like it would make a wonderful toy for folks who live in a snowy climate. Okay that's all I got peace.

TWO 440s? I’m in.

a couple of the pictures seem to show Hunter S. Thompson piloting the craft….

I Used a machine like this in south Korea around 1995. It was made in Holland

Somewhat along the same lines is the lovable Ukrainian Sherp atv

Great video and it got my wheels turning…. Why was the 426 so much better than the 440?

The original weasel was designed and made by studebaker

'two hemis of the high performance variety" surely that means blowen and nitro burning ?

WEIRD! (I like weird V8 stuff), thanks Brian

naw, the weirdest powered big block "vehicle" was the Chrysler Air Raid sirens that actually used a 426 Hemi.... ones in the Don Garlit's National Museum of Drag Racing.

Far out man! ☮☮

They had one of those in Parris Island MCRD back in 72 when I was there it was used to go out and retrieve the bodies of the recruites who tried to go UA and get stuck in the muck and they would drown when the tide came in and drowned them nobody ever made it across the swamp There is only 3 ways to get off Parris Island MCRD and that's Dead Discharged Graduated

Snake Eater😮

I remember back in the day… watching a video demonstration on TV news. Have been wondering if Ukraine could use some, but you've shown me it's limit.

We need a non racing video once a month at least

W I f. Wow holy crap

Assuming they didnt make many, would like to find one of those aluminium 225 engines and dump it in a hemi cuda.

Two Hemis? That's just weird. Two 440s makes far more sense even if a little less power. By mid-1969 Chrysler had brought the 440 6-pack into production which would have provided some high rpm oomph over the single 4 bbl motor. Never mind. Someone figured out Hemis weren't good motors for combat vehicles unlike the 440 which had quite a long life in land yachts and RVs.

Why didn’t they make armoured landing craft out of them, they could have taken soldiers up the beach and kept them out of harms way. From ship to sea to sand...

🤘😎🤘

That is some screwey shit right there.

Shagohod🤔

US army: We need a screw propelled machine for crossing marshes and bogs Screw propelled machine: Exceeds at crossing marshes and bogs US army: Sick? Now how does it do around Daytona? Seriously what is with the US Army post WW2? Between this thing and the FAL its like they just have no idea what they're asking for when they want equipment

if you use the term 'each' you dont need to add "apiece" is a redundancy.

Fall off and your screwed.

useless . but interesting

i think we would have got the point without having to watch a horse be abused. just sayin

Wow...too bad its flaws could not be overcome. Awesome device though.