Oilfield Dodge................

[31 Model A]

http://www.youtube.com/embed/nq2jY1trxqg?rel=0

 

[Stearmen]

That sure does put your average Escalade driver to shame!

 

[Bugguy]

How did I miss this post? That was great! The moral of the story is when off-roading (sort of), go fast.

Back when, I was told by an experienced jungle driver in Ecuador, he'd rather take a VW bug on a jungle road than a Land Rover. Less likely to get stuck.

 

[tonyb]

What? No GPS? No AC? No blind-spot detection or backup camera?

 

[Blackthorn]

Great video! Back in the days when American cars took a licking and kept on ticking!

 

[Stearmen]

Still the raining king of off road accessories! [video=youtube;YyIwYU3P-9s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyIwYU3P-9s[/video]

 

[MikeKardec]

How did I miss this post? That was great! The moral of the story is when off-roading (sort of), go fast.

Back when, I was told by an experienced jungle driver in Ecuador, he'd rather take a VW bug on a jungle road than a Land Rover. Less likely to get stuck.

Yeah, there is that sort of tension between rally drivers and rock crawlers. Personally, as a on an off Land Rover owner (and lover), I think that there have been no better "multi use" vehicles made than the Model T and the Bug. They were the perfect compromise for the world as it existed in their time (and for anytime our world is like the world of their time). I think the big question here is what a "road" is, the Rover can probably keep going when the bug has to stop but the bug could probably do a lot of stuff that a Rover couldn't do as fast or nearly as well. If I remember correctly the German govt. considered a 4x4 Kübelwagen then decided it wasn't necessary. Of course, they decided an atomic bomb wasn't necessary too (thank god!) but I'm guessing decision with VW might have been better informed.

 

[tonyb]

... I think that there have been no better "multi use" vehicles made than the Model T and the Bug. They were the perfect compromise for the world as it existed in their time (and for anytime our world is like the world of their time). ...

You're a man after my heart, Mike.

I fear that too many people lobby for absolutes in a world of competing demands and interests.

Man but I thought my old VWs (I had a few of 'em -- buses, bugs, a Karmann Ghia -- back 40 and more years ago now) were the greatest technological development since the lever. Wouldn't mind having one today, but it would be a toy. Comfort counts, as does safety and reliability, not to mention keeping up with traffic.

 

[bond_323]

Yeah, there is that sort of tension between rally drivers and rock crawlers. Personally, as a on an off Land Rover owner (and lover), I think that there have been no better "multi use" vehicles made than the Model T and the Bug. They were the perfect compromise for the world as it existed in their time (and for anytime our world is like the world of their time). I think the big question here is what a "road" is, the Rover can probably keep going when the bug has to stop but the bug could probably do a lot of stuff that a Rover couldn't do as fast or nearly as well. If I remember correctly the German govt. considered a 4x4 Kübelwagen then decided it wasn't necessary. Of course, they decided an atomic bomb wasn't necessary too (thank god!) but I'm guessing decision with VW might have been better informed.

I love the ingenuity of the free-spinning middle wheels on the old Kubelwagens.

 

[MikeKardec]

Roads are such strange things. We very rarely drive off-road vehicles actually "off road, in a lot of places it's illegal and, of course, very slow going with a certain amount of retracing your steps. But ROADS because of the erosion they cause, can often be more impassible than "off road" and call for more ability/agility in a vehicle. As a World Car, especially at the time, there was none better than the VW, though as the years went by the Peugeot cars like the 404 caught up and surpassed it. I have a buddy who used to say that every single place he went in Africa, every time he was proud of his off roading ability in his UN supplied Land Rover or Land Cruiser, a front wheel drive Peugeot had gotten there ahead of him!

And check out this link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6dmIyaSSBA

Great Sahara expedition footage, classic Land Rovers, serious desert driving. Then they help out some idiot in a BMW in the middle of nowhere ... wait! I'm calling this dude in the BMW an idiot ... and he IS stuck ... but how in the world did he even get THAT far? And then he keeps GOING! The more I thought about it the more I questioned myself about who the really great driver actually is in this clip.

Truly, it's often not the quality of your equipment, it's how many chances you are willing to take with it. That's what determines how far you can go. BMW guy definitely would have been better off in a VW, and I'd take the Land Rover for all kinds of reasons!

 

[Big Man]

Reading this thread makes me think about some of the places I took my old '62 Plymouth back in the day. Of course it was 1971 and I was 16 years old.

 

[MikeKardec]

I can remember being very proud of myself arriving at the top of Kennebec Pass in the La Plata Mts of southern Colorado. It hadn't been a hard core four wheeling experience but I was still happy with my Jeep's performance. I get up to the trail head and there is an early 1970s Plymouth station wagon sitting there! I like being careful and over equipped and not playing 'let's get the Jeep on top of that rock' ... but I did need to coddle my inner wimp for a moment!

 

[vitanola]

Another version of this video exists, contrasting the performance of that doughty little 1921 Dodge Brothers sedan to that of a 2010 Dodge Ram 4 X 4 pickup truck (which is run over a much less challenging course).

[video=youtube;LhnfRU2QnI0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhnfRU2QnI0&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/video]