Took my antique Snow Trac for the "last ride" today...

[melensdad]

I imported this thing about a decade or so ago from England.

It is a 1974 Snow Trac ST4. Made in Sweden.

When I imported it I declared it a "farm tractor" on the customs papers. Doing so allowed me to drive it on the roadways (with a SMV sign and the lights turned on). Its been a great toy. I enjoyed finishing the restoration and driving it around the farm fields, through the creeks, across frozen snow covered fields and generally terrorizing the area. But its time to send it away. A guy from Canada is on his way down here to pick it up.

So I took it out for its LAST RIDE a little while ago. I'll probably miss having it. But I think I need something else. Not sure what. But something else. When I find "it" I'll know "it" but until then I'll just be looking around for a new toy.

I will be bittersweet to load it up on the trailer and see it drive away. Honestly I'm done with it. But I will always love it.

 

[ASD]

That thing is awesome.

 

[melensdad]

That thing is awesome.

Awesome and capable. It literally will climb a mountain, my avatar photo shows it on top of a mountain in the Scottish Highlands from shortly before I brought it back here to Indiana.

They were used by the British Royal Marines and NATO used them to patrol the Russian border during the Cold War era.

Mine is the standard 7 seat configuration, they were also configured as ambulances, weapons platforms, troop carriers, etc.

 

[dsol]

That is cool as hell! It has to be a blast driving it around.

Anyone else thinking a little armor plate, tweak the engine a little, maybe a 50 cal... ??

 

[melensdad]

Anyone else thinking a little armor plate, tweak the engine a little, maybe a 50 cal... ??

Why settle for a 50 cal when it was occasionally equipped with an anti-tank WOMBAT weapon?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L6_Wombat

But armor plate would weigh it down, its designed to go over snow, sand, bogs and other places where heavy vehicles can't go. It literally puts down just over 1 pound of pressure per square inch on the ground, with that low PSI it floats over terrain that would sink anything heavy.

If you want to armor it, use light weight kevlar!

 

[wtfd661]

That things looks like a really, really cool toy!! I would hate to see it go also. Thanks for posting the pics!

 

[meyer4589]

Reminds me of the snow trac machines in "The Shinning" movie

 

[melensdad]

Reminds me of the snow trac machines in "The Shinning" movie

Because it is the same type of machine that was used in the original movie. There were 2 different brands actually. One was a Snow Trac like mine, the other was a Thiokol IMP.

Here is a video (fairly boring actually) of it driving around my property.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6qfbMG8BkBo&desktop_uri=/watch?v=6qfbMG8BkBo

 

[db1959]

Because it is the same type of machine that was used in the original movie. There were 2 different brands actually. One was a Snow Trac like mine, the other was a Thiokol IMP.

Here is a video (fairly boring actually) of it driving around my property.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6qfbMG8BkBo&desktop_uri=/watch?v=6qfbMG8BkBo

I enjoyed that video, thank you! How deep of snow can you go through?

 

[SkullDaddy.45]

I imported this thing about a decade or so ago from England.

It is a 1974 Snow Trac ST4. Made in Sweden.

When I imported it I declared it a "farm tractor" on the customs papers. Doing so allowed me to drive it on the roadways (with a SMV sign and the lights turned on). Its been a great toy. I enjoyed finishing the restoration and driving it around the farm fields, through the creeks, across frozen snow covered fields and generally terrorizing the area. But its time to send it away. A guy from Canada is on his way down here to pick it up.

So I took it out for its LAST RIDE a little while ago. I'll probably miss having it. But I think I need something else. Not sure what. But something else. When I find "it" I'll know "it" but until then I'll just be looking around for a new toy.

I will be bittersweet to load it up on the trailer and see it drive away. Honestly I'm done with it. But I will always love it.

That is by far the coolest thing I've seen in years! We used to see something like that up in Eagle River, Wisconsin.

 

[GustavHalbach]

I don't think I could have let something that cool go......Thanks for sharing. Really, really neat.

-G

 

[Gluemanz28]

I'm sure the pleasure was in the rebuild. Kind of like a kid leaving home I bet.

 

[indyjohn]

That is one cool machine.

Looks like there is a steering wheel. Do you drive it like a car or a tank?

 

[melensdad]

I enjoyed that video, thank you! How deep of snow can you go through?

It will actually ride ON TOP of snow. If the snow is heavy and over 6" deep it will typically leave tracks that are just about 4" deep. If the snow is deep powder snow (like a couple feet deep) it will float on it with tracks imprinting about 10" deep. They have been to the North Pole and also used in Antarctica (not mine).

That is one cool machine.

Looks like there is a steering wheel. Do you drive it like a car or a tank?

It has a steering wheel and a 4 speed manual transmission. The transmission pattern is actually backwards, first gear is up/right, second is lower/right, third is up/left and fourth is lower/left.

The steering wheel controls a variator that divides the power from one track to the other. It proportions the power to each track. When driving straight it puts 50% of the power to each track, when turning the tracks get more or less power so a wide turn might require 60% to one track and 40% to another. A sharp turn may have 90% to one track and 10% to the other.

 

[indyjohn]

The steering wheel controls a variator that divides the power from one track to the other. It proportions the power to each track. When driving straight it puts 50% of the power to each track, when turning the tracks get more or less power so a wide turn might require 60% to one track and 40% to another. A sharp turn may have 90% to one track and 10% to the other.

So is the variator hydraulic or friction?

 

[melensdad]

Belt to chain.

 

[LockStocksAndBarrel]

That thing is sweet. I'd have a hard time giving it up. Year round coolness.

 

[melensdad]

That thing is sweet. I'd have a hard time giving it up. Year round coolness.

I'm on the lookout for an amphibious tracked machine. A Thiokol Swamp Spryte. That would probably be my ideal "next" toy. Not quite as capable in the snow as my current toy, but it will cross a lake in the summer, something mine won't do. And while not quite as capable as the Snow Trac in the snow, its still a very capable snow, mud, bog, field machine.

 

[SkullDaddy.45]

I'm on the lookout for an amphibious tracked machine. A Thiokol Swamp Spryte. That would probably be my ideal "next" toy. Not quite as capable in the snow as my current toy, but it will cross a lake in the summer, something mine won't do. And while not quite as capable as the Snow Trac in the snow, its still a very capable snow, mud, bog, field machine.

Melensdad has all the cool stuff! Very cool!

 

[perry]

Forget the machine, that's a helluva garage!