i was browsing through "Brook's M37 pics" in "links" and was intrigued by this photo
apparently this truck or one like it was for sale about ten years ago for $12,000. where is it now ? anyone have info on this prototype or more pics of this truck. with its swing axles and what looks like central tire inflation it looks to me like the predecessor to the hummer.
.............................. use it ...............
I believe that truck resides in the Kempner Power Wagon Museum in Texas. I really want to check it out. I had heard of it years ago. been trying to come up with a reason to go back down to TX.
Here's another pic of the prototype. The other interesting vehicle Chrysler was working on was the T53A1, a 3/4 ton CABOVER. We could be restoring and driving those today instead of our M37s if they didn't cost soo much to build.
Many military vehicles and weapons systems built in the late forties and early fifties became the property of the government. One stated reason was that the engineering costs were at taxpayer expense and it might give unfair advantage to the corporation that had the development contract. The government retained full ownership and often destroyed these prototypes and their related engineering data to avoid those unfair advantages.
One of the most well known examples was the Northrop B35/B49 Flying Wing bomber technology which "disappeared" amid accusations of corporate greed and political corruption at the highest levels of government. Click on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_YB-49 to read about this.
Even the Bantam Reconnaissance Car technology was owned by the government and passed on to Willys and Ford. I’m not sure how Willys legally ended up with the Bantam designs.
I grew up reading Popular Science and Mechanics Illustrated instead of comics. I remember reading about an experimental version of the M37 that used liquid fuel cells and was driven by electric motors at each wheel. It speaks well of the adaptability of our wonderful M37.
Paul Cook at the Kempner Power Wagon Museum MVPA#27246
"You have to GO BUY the book before you can GO BY the book."
w30bob wrote:Here's another pic of the prototype. The other interesting vehicle Chrysler was working on was the T53A1, a 3/4 ton CABOVER. We could be restoring and driving those today instead of our M37s if they didn't cost soo much to build.
Well..........I just happen to have that book sitting on the shelf. There are some good pics in there, but unfortunately it's like 2" thick and I can't fit it on my scanner (I have to be able to close the lid on the scanner or it won't work). So I'll bring the book to work tomorrow and get the pages scanned. I'll try to post them tomorrow night.
Bob if you have a digital camera set it on Macro and snap a close up photo of the pic in the book. Then you can post it through one of the photo hosting sights like photobucket . I have done that many times.
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