None of us truly grow out of the whole “big machine cool” stage of childhood. When I see my niece and nephews watch front loaders with rapt wonder I just, get it, ya know? I still love huge machines, especially if they were meant for driving around the Arctic or Antarctic. They excite the imagination with their hugeness. Big things can do big things, and we all want to make our mark on this Earth; why not literally? We want to know what construction equipment or giant vehicle you want to drive. There are so many cool vehicles to choose from, like the Nicolas Tractomas TR 10×10 D100–the largest semi truck in the world with a 27-litre diesel engine or the LeTourneau TC-497 overland trackless train which stretched for over 600 feet. Or there’s the building-size dump trucks employed in mining around the world. There’s more humble but still fun vehicles as well, like excavators or dump trucks or the huge cranes that build skyscrapers. Heck, we’ll accept ships, space and water-faring, trains and planes while we are at it.
My answer: Antarctic Snow Cruiser
For me, it would probably be Antarctic Snow Cruiser, not just because it was a house on wheels meant to traverse the Antarctic, but it looks so goofy and cute and so obviously like something ill-suited for traveling in the snow and ice. It was an idea ahead of its time and also an idea so obviously badly executed, and everyone just went along with it. I like that too blessed too be stressed attitude. What it lacked in movement it more than made up for by being a cozy place for scientists to work. It’s a house, it’s (barely) a car. It’s a house car, but with cool stripes and 10-foot tall tires. It’s a strange piece of American history and I’d like to see someone cut me off on the Southfield Freeway in this baby.
I could go on, but I’d rather if you did, in the comments.
