An old photo showing the Marsh Screw Amphibian in action. Just look at those ruts in the background!
Although my devotion to the versatile Chevy small block runs deep, I have to admit that there are other engines out there that deserve every bit as much credit. The flathead Ford was used in everything from small cars to large trucks, even the odd water pump and airplane (which proved mostly unsuccessful). The Chrysler Hemi could be found in cars, trucks, and some were also used to run air raid sirens and things like that. One that isn’t a V8, but is every bit as versatile, is the Chrysler Slant Six. The leaning tower of power can be found in everything from a small Valiant to a big dump truck. Windrowers, forklifts, airplane tugs, a Slant Six could potentially be installed in any one of those directly from the factory. They were also installed in this sweet machine, right from Chrysler themselves.
Over the years, many fictional super-villains have tried to tunnel to the center of the Earth. All were thwarted before they got there. What was their goal, aside from obvious self-destruction? Usually, something that walked that fine line between ridiculous and evil. Regardless of who they were or what they were trying to accomplish, the vehicle almost always resembled something like this, the 1964 Chrysler Marsh Screw Amphibian. The name itself is incredibly long but incredibly accurate.
Powered by an all-aluminum 225 Slant Six and backed by a Torqueflite automatic, the Marsh Screw Amphibian was designed to conquer any terrain with a versatility that no other vehicle had. At thirteen and a half feet long and weighing in under three thousand pounds, it was nice and compact, but could still carry up to half a ton of passengers or cargo. Top speed was twelve and a half miles per hour, and it could do that forwards, backwards, or laterally sideways. It seems like the perfect unit, and Chrysler built ten of them in their defence division for field testing. In muck and swamp, they were unstoppable. In sand, they were quite stoppable and couldn’t move around well at all. On hard ground, they drove very erratically, to the point of causing damage to the screw propellers. Also, speed dramatically dropped when loaded. I’m honestly not entirely sure how they worked, but I know they had a steering wheel and not levers like a skid steer. After watching an old Chrysler propaganda video of one in action in Mississippi, I kind of want to drive one. Unfortunately, there’s only one of the ten left apparently, and I don’t know for sure, but I’d bet it’s in a museum somewhere. Probably not the place to try and book a test drive.
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