Of all of the goofy and pleasant automobiles to ever wander the of Antarctica and the Arctic, I by no means thought I might come throughout a car seemingly less-suited to the icy wastes than Australia’s Volkswagen Beetle. However the Australians who introduced the Bug to the continent actually out did themselves with a Morris Mini Minor—on tracks, after all.
It’s a wet gross Friday right here in Detroit, and on days like these, I wish to scroll round on my favourite YouTube channels to see what I’ve missed, if something. In fact, I needed to revisit our primary man Calum Giles, who appears to be making content material explicitly for me.
Bizarre automobiles, Antarctic analysis tales, historical past; he’s very a lot price that like and subscribe.
Anyway, the Australian Nationwide Antarctic Analysis Expedition wanted a small, low-cost car with extra all-terrain functionality, as their Beetles have been restricted to driving only a few miles round base camp.
Enter Teddy O’Hare, who was each an engineer and ran the enterprise that introduced Canadian heavy responsibility vehicles all the best way to the Australian researchers within the Antarctic. O’Hare deserves a publish all his personal, as he was a completely unbelievable man. His workshop was answerable for constructing the primary jet-powered truck, which turned the primary truck to interrupt 200 mph. It was from his workshop the Mini-Trac was born.
O’Hare knew from his import enterprise that almost all tracked automobiles have been front-wheel drive, in order that’s what he went on the lookout for. Add the Expedition’s necessities of low-cost and small and actually just one car on the time match the invoice—the Mini, or Morris Minor Mini because it was identified again then. After testing and some modifications—actually, lower than you would possibly assume—the Mini-Trac made its debut ice-side in 1965.
I’ll save the remainder of the story for Calum to inform, nevertheless it’s completely fascinating from begin to end. It took numerous experimentation and, in the long run, the Mini-Trac fell to that deadly flaw of most tiny British vehicles of the period; reliability. Nonetheless, it’s an enchanting slice of automotive and Antarctic historical past and properly price a 20 minute psychological break to observe.