For those of us into all things Corvair, here’s something different, completely different. It’s a front engined Corvair powered “RAT” or “Remote Articulated Track” vehicle that is also amphibious. It was developed by Canadair in the late 1950s for the US Army as the CL-70. The first version had a VW engine. It was designed to be used with tracked trailers powered by the Corvair engine in the lead vehicle. The Army version became the DynaTrac XM-571. This one runs and drives very well. And if you’d love to make it yours, you can find it here on eBay in Sparta, Tennessee. Thanks to Peter R for finding this interesting vehicle.
The smaller engine is perhaps a bilge pump. Accommodations are very basic. You can watch this thing in action here on YouTube.
The engine is a 70 horsepower version of the Corvair engine. While it isn’t terribly powerful, it should be more than enough for this tiny tank.
This thing looks even more interesting from the front. There are no doubt a lot of people who would love to have this thing and find good uses for it, but is it worth $20,000 to anyone? People are paying crazy money for Amphicars, but you can’t drive this on the street. There must be someone out there with lots of money who needs a new toy.
Tanks a lot for the unusual listing!
Find the rubber inserts for the tracks, add lights and a special ops license, and drive it anywhere. I’d splash that in my local lake to fish just to raise the eyebrows…
If you just have enough time and enough money, you can really peg the “Fun Meter” This vehicle would be a good start!
That smaller engine may have also been a generator.
There is none on the Corvair motor that I can see.
Pretty cool. A little research shows, these were made for Vietnam, but saw very little use there. They were supposed to be hooked to a wagon of sorts, also tracked and driven through a coupling in the rear of the pull tractor( which I can’t see from these pics) The small motor (thing with the screened hole behind the motor) is the transmission, and if you look, there is an alternator just past the oil filter. ( run from a separate belt) I guess it did ok initially in tests, but in action was complicated to fix and overheated. Not many were made before the military cancelled the orders. Cool find. Not $20g’s cool though. http://www.amphibiousvehicle.net/amphi/C/canadair/XM-571-02.jpeg
Cool but way overpriced.
I love it with this I’d have fun in the snow this winter I’d use it year round. My fun-o-meter would be of the charts.
Never heard of a 70hp Corvair engine. In 60 they made a 80hp one.
I want the Corvair in the background.
That front cup holder can’t be very convenient…
I could put a snow plow on it and use it to clear my driveway in the mountains. Now I just need to convince my wife we need to spend $20k on a snow plow we can’t drive on the road….