For Sale: Wapiti tracked vehicle

[maple_leaf_eh]

Originally Posted by Bob Phillips

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There were hope among the DND officials that the US would be interested in this oversnow vehicle but instead they went ahead with their own version ( the OTTER) which must have cost even more to develop and build.One of the documents I located suggest that a Continental air cooled engine (as per OTTER) would cost $22,000 each!! When the project finally concluded the total cost for developing and building the 3 Wapiti prototypes was $1,250,000.00. Don't forget that this was 1952-53 when you could buy a nice middle class home for a few thousand dollars!

...

And I get the height of nationalist indignance heaped on me when I say the AVRO Arrow was too wretchedly expensive for the size of the defence budget of the day. Ditto for the Bobcat.

[Colin Alford]

I have found some Wapiti footage here:

http://images.nfb.ca/images/pages/en...84&docAttId=34

The footage starts at 3:00 and ends at 4:15.

The caption states that there is also footage of the Beaver but I don't believe that is the correct ID of the second vehicle. Footage starts at 8:35 until end of film.

Colin

[colin jones]

What a wonderful project. Am I right to assume that no one bought it to restore and it's still sitting in the same place. Such a shame it's not in Australia as that's a project I would love to do.

[Bruce Parker (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Colin Alford

I have found some Wapiti footage here:

http://images.nfb.ca/images/pages/en...84&docAttId=34

The footage starts at 3:00 and ends at 4:15.

The caption states that there is also footage of the Beaver but I don't believe that is the correct ID of the second vehicle. Footage starts at 8:35 until end of film.

Colin

Great footage. The Wapiti driver seems to have botched the corner first try.

That would be a great restoration project but I bet a bugger for getting parts and, well, it's so BIG!!!

[Kirk Armitage]

That would definitely be quite a project . Bob you should have unveiled this diamond in the rough 20 years ago, when we were all younger ! Bob, I posted a pic and mentioned its listing here, on a snow cat forum I belong to. There should be some interest , this machine needs to be saved.
K Armitage

[Robin Craig]

There is more footage of the undercarriage at the 8.40 mark I believe.

[Bob Carriere]

Excellent footage......

However, the Wapiti has 6 sets of road wheels while the last few seconds of the film shows the power train of a 4 set of road wheesl vehicle.... are they identical to the Wapiti?????

[Bob Phillips]

Amazing footage!
Its amazing the undiscovered resources buried in archives !
Vehicle still available, let me know if interested
B.P.