MODEL DETAILS: The Antarctic Snow Cruiser was a vehicle designed from 1937 to 1939 under the direction of Thomas Poulter, intended to facilitate transport in Antarctica during the United States Antarctic Service Expedition of 1939–41.
The Armour Institute of Technology financed the cost and lent the vehicle to the United States Antarctic Service. Work began on August 8, 1939, and lasted for 11 weeks. The Snow Cruiser featured several design innovations.
Wheels and tires retracted into housings where they were heated by engine exhaust gases to prevent low-temperature cracking of the natural rubber compound. Long front and rear overhangs on the body were to assist with crossing crevasses up to 15 feet wide. The front wheels were to be retracted so the front could be pushed across the crevasse. The front wheels were then to be extended (and the rear wheels retracted) to pull the vehicle the rest of the way across. This process required a complicated, 20-step procedure.
A pad on top of the vehicle was designed to hold a 5-passenger Beechcraft biplane. A winch would pull the aircraft into place. The plane was to be used to conduct aerial surveys.
Engine coolant circulated through the entire cabin for heating. The heating system was very efficient and the crew reported that they needed only light blankets when sleeping.
Excess electrical power could be stored in batteries for running lights and equipment when the engine was not running.
The diesel-electric drive train allowed for smaller engines and more space for the crew, due to the elimination of large mechanical drive components throughout the vehicle. This is possibly the first application of a diesel-electric powertrain in a four-wheeled vehicle of this size; this design is now common in large modern mining trucks.
On October 24, 1939, the vehicle was fired up for the first time at the Pullman Company just south of Chicago and began the 1,020 mile journey to the Boston Army Wharf. During the trip, a damaged steering system caused the vehicle to drive off a small bridge on the Lincoln Highway in Ohio and into a stream where it remained for three days. After it arrived in Boston, it departed for Antarctica on November 15, 1939, aboard the USCGC North Star.
The Snow Cruiser arrived at Little America in the Bay of Whales, Antarctica with the United States Antarctic Service Expedition in early January 1940 and experienced many problems. It was necessary to construct a ramp from timber to unload the vehicle. As the vehicle was unloaded from the ship, one of the wheels broke through the ramp. The crew cheered when Poulter powered the vehicle free from the ramp but the cheers fell silent when the vehicle failed to move through the snow and ice. The large, smooth, treadless tires were originally designed for a large swamp vehicle; they spun freely and provided very little forward movement, sinking as much as three feet into the snow. The crew attached the two spare tires to the front wheels of the vehicle and installed chains on the rear wheels, but was unable to overcome the lack of traction. The crew later found that the tires produced more traction when driven backwards. The longest trek was 92 miles, driven completely in reverse. Funding for the project was canceled shortly before the United States became involved in World War II, and the Snow Cruiser was abandoned by December 1940.
WHY THIS MODEL IS FASCINATING: During Operation Highjump in late 1946, an expedition team found the Snow Cruiser 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 of snow but a long bamboo pole marked its position. The expedition was 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, and its current whereabouts are unknown. Although there was some unsubstantiated speculation that the 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.
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