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Jan 21, 2010 04:30 PM
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Detroit, 3:35 AM
Thu Sep 9
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Did you know that someone once fitted a Fordson tractor with a set of snow-cone treads? Did you know that YouTube has silent film of it? Did you know that silent-movie people could do donuts on a tractor? Us neither.
At some point in the late 1920s, the Armstead Snow Motors Company attached screw-drive cylinders to a Fordson tractor. Each cylinder was connected to the engine by a separate clutch, and each clutch was engaged or disengaged relative to the position of the steering gear, allowing the tractor to turn. The idea never caught on, but a promotional film was made, and that film found its way to YouTube. All hail the pre-war donut and the spooked horse.
Side note: Does anyone else find the Yoda-speak/Silence of the Lambs title cards both spooky and charming at the same time? (It puts the "snow track" on the . . . back forty . . . or else it gets the hose again? Plow, or plow not! There is no try!)
(Hat tip to Josh!)
Send an email to Sam Smith, the author of this post, at sam@jalopnik.com.
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