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A new Whatziss of a different color.

By The Armorer on January 19, 2007 | | Comments (47)

So, just what is this, exactly?

Give it your best shot.

Ask yourself, would I make this as easy as it looks? C'mon!

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47 Comments

By fdcol63 on January 19, 2007 8:30 AM
That's NASA's new Mars All Terrain Exploration Rover (code name - MATER) for expeditions planned in 2012. Amphibious for all the newly-detected water at the ice caps, you know ..... and the firepower is for the "unexpected". LOL
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 19, 2007 8:49 AM
C'mon, Frank - give 'em the full name. The Terran Observation Expedition Mars All Terrain Exploration Rover. The TOEMATER.
 
By DE644 on January 19, 2007 8:49 AM
It looks like a WW2 amphib designated as a DUKW and known as a Duck. It has a propeller in the back and when you drove it into the water to a depth where it floated you shifted a transfer case of some kind and engaged the prop.
 
By fdcol63 on January 19, 2007 9:04 AM
John, LOL!
 
By Justthisguy on January 19, 2007 9:05 AM
Aw, c'mon, DE, JoA already forbade that answer; it's gotta be more subtle than that. Beats the hell outta me, though. Oh, BTW, glad to see the comments show up immediately again. My smart remarks and stupid comments are subject to immediate rebuttal and ridicule, as before, before I forget what I wrote. Anheuser's syndrome is a heavy burden to bear.
 
By fdcol63 on January 19, 2007 9:35 AM
The gunner's helmet makes it look like this photo was taken during testing, and it almost looks post-war. But this site states that some DUKW's (perhaps among the DUKW-353 variants?) were used thusly: http://london.iwm.org.uk/upload/package/4/dday/vehicles/veh1.htm " ... They were sometimes armed with a .50 calibre Heavy Machine Gun (HMG) to provide Anti-Aircraft defence on a ring mount above the cab."
 
By SDP on January 19, 2007 9:42 AM
Isn't this the new patrol car used in the New Orleans area to monitor the levees?
 
By afsister on January 19, 2007 9:52 AM
looks like a model. the dude on top looks rather thin
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 19, 2007 10:23 AM
Nope, AFSis - it's real.
 
By J.M. Heinrichs on January 19, 2007 10:30 AM
It is generally not recognised that the US 1st Army Group, commanded by Gen George Patton, included a Naval Task Force. This is probably one of the Battleships in that TF, possibly the USS Cascadia. Cheers
 
By Justthisguy on January 19, 2007 11:07 AM
Are we meant to find an earlier instance of this image on the Web, in color? A weird, arty, pastel color, perhaps?
 
By Justthisguy on January 19, 2007 11:10 AM
Or bright red? Is this the attack of the Killer TOEMATER?
 
By fdcol63 on January 19, 2007 12:37 PM
Yeah .... like one of those old '50-'60's B sci-fi horror / Japanese "Godzilla vs Mothra"-style flicks?
 
By MajMike on January 19, 2007 12:40 PM
to meet emerging needs for a vehicle optimized for engineering surveys in rough terrain, the initial proof of concept DUKW (and the pre-production model DUKW II), it finally came into service as the Geographic Observation Over Severe Environments vehicle (GOOSE)...
 
By Gwedd on January 19, 2007 12:50 PM
Comrades, It ain't a dukw... it's a Weasel.. seriously... Respects,
 
By Gwedd on January 19, 2007 12:56 PM
Comrades, Oooppsss... I guess it would help to put on the correct glasses. It's, I believe, actually a LARC. See here: http://www.olive-drab.com/idphoto/id_photos_larc.php3 Dukw's got 6 wheels... this one has 4. Respects,
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 19, 2007 1:01 PM
AW1 Tim - check those glasses again. This thing's got 6 wheels.
 
By KCSteve on January 19, 2007 1:18 PM
It may have 6 wheels but it's too shallow for a Dukw - at least the most common version. Those things were made so you could stand up in 'em and not have your head show over the side. The ones they use for tours they have to build a raised floor in (wonder what they store 'below decks'?) This also looks a bit more sea worthy than the dukw so I'm thinking it's one of the amphibious vehicles that was made to transition from the water to the land rather than vice versa - probably a Navy thing rather than Army.
 
By wolfwalker on January 19, 2007 2:11 PM
Armorer: No, of course you wouldn't make it as easy as it looks. :-) Therefore I suspect that this is some variant of the SIL Amphibious Truck, a Russkie copy of the DUKW produced in the USSR both during and after WW2. They got a few hundred DUKWs via Lend-Lease, and liked them enough to imitate 'em.
 
By Rod Thorsen on January 19, 2007 2:30 PM
Is this a DUKW in the desert?
 
By SangerM on January 19, 2007 2:32 PM
Definately a DUKW, with the side-skirts over the wheels, which made it a better swimmer; gun guy looks to be wearing a korean-war/early nam-type CVC and canteen on his belt, though he's standing outside the turret ring, which could mean he's on watch or posing rather than having just come up out of the water. There's no gear on the thing, no ropes, no cans, nothing. Looks like an OT of some kind. Cool pic links: Here. Also back into this, site and check out all the cool other pics LOTs of old stuff: Dukw, More Like this, This, This, Etc..
 
By kat-missouri on January 19, 2007 3:04 PM
A troop transport truck with some boat like add on's bolted to it. Like the sad attempt to make tanks float.
 
By MajMike on January 19, 2007 3:05 PM
ZIS/ZIL 485 Bolshoi Avtomobil Vodoplavajushchii
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 19, 2007 3:34 PM
Steve - the guy is standing on a platform, not the cargo deck.
 
By kat-missouri on January 19, 2007 4:12 PM
I don't know, Maj Mike. This picture of the ZIS model seems to indicate a longer troop carrying area and it does not have the wave deflector though the depth looks similar. But that could be because it is based on the DUKW. Is it a DUKW 353? That was an early model and I've seen several photos that show similar ring mounted machine guns.
 
By SangerM on January 19, 2007 4:16 PM
What happened to my other post? Should have come up with some links... That's a DUKW in the orginal pic, but late model, and almost certainly in demo or test mode... No gear on it, and the equipment is newer (the helmet) onthe guy... Anyway, when I posted the other one, I got a note that said it was sent to moderation... waaaaa
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 19, 2007 4:24 PM
It got sent into moderation because of the number of links (3 or more). It's published now. (d-uh)
 
By MajMike on January 19, 2007 4:25 PM
got a lot of junk in the trunk in these pix here: http://www.autogallery.org.ru/m/bav.htm
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 19, 2007 4:33 PM
[Smiles smugly to self] To this:
Definately a DUKW...
 I respond with the caveat from the Flash Traffic: Ask yourself, would I make this as easy as it looks? C'mon! This is a case of it looks like a DUKW, it drives like a DUKW, it swims like a DUKW, but it doesn't Honk like a DUKW. Nor does it have a Slavic accent. Which is why I'm smiling smugly to myself. But you guys hunted up lots of stuff for me to look at! Keep working at it. Here's a hint - unlike a DUKW, this vehicle has central tire pressure regulation.
 
By Rod Thorsen on January 19, 2007 4:43 PM
Late WWII DUKW's also had CTPR. Nothing real special there.
 
By Rod Thorsen on January 19, 2007 4:47 PM
Add on to previous. Even though the DUKW was based on the duece and a half, it had single tired rear axles not duellies. It in fact used unique wider tires and wheels to help maintain reduce ground preasure. Still didn't work well enough, so the CTPR was added.
   
By John of Argghhh! on January 19, 2007 4:51 PM
Oops. Rod is correct - late model DUKWs did have CTPR. My bad. Lessee. This one is *not* based on a GM product. JTG - what part of "No Slavic Accent" was confusing? I assume your comment and mine passed in the ether. MajMike is *not* the winner. As of this comment - there is no winner.
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 19, 2007 4:53 PM
MajMike *did* however, ruin the next Whatziss post, which, building on this one, *was* going to be the Russian version. I shoulda planned better.
 
By Justthisguy on January 19, 2007 4:55 PM
JoA, you ,uh, "awkward person", I will look up MajMike and we will come getcha! Really, this is a weird difficult one. Dang!
 
By Justthisguy on January 19, 2007 5:03 PM
Ok, it's weird, it's strange, is it Chinese?
 
By Rod Thorsen on January 19, 2007 5:07 PM
XM147 DUKW “Super Duck”?
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 19, 2007 5:07 PM
Heh. It ain't 20 questions, JTG. This is Adult Swim time! *You* tell us! Is it Chinese?
 
By Justthisguy on January 19, 2007 5:13 PM
Grownups, always spoiling the fun.
 
By Justthisguy on January 19, 2007 5:55 PM
Actually, I did go so far as to look up PLA amphibious vehicles on Wikipedia, but did not see anything like that. Did not want to waste time with Google, what with all of the blogitudiness. Yah, I know that there are other search engines. Wonder what Clusty comes up with for this one, seeing as how they don't seem to be so bloggily and commercially oriented. I would *love* to see an image-based search engine, that worked right. I don't think they have it, right yet.
 
By SangerM on January 19, 2007 6:56 PM
ok... Closer look, no bars that I can see down the side of the 'hull' Guy in short sleeved shirt, looks like maybe shorts too, almost a motorcyle helmet, w/ a microphone. Gun does not look like a real 50, but I've been wrong already... Also, looking at some of the pics linked too (BTW, just back up to the directory, then scroll the list of images... for some reason it won't let you link direct, but you can view the directory..?) Anyway, the windshield is the key, I think. On teh DUKW, there was a small split windshield, with a sizeable plate below it. On the image we're seeing, the windshield (glass parts) is much taller, and swpet back) .. this almost looks like an old willy's or CJ5 windshield? and that said, the scale of the vehicle looks off, as if this is a mock up attached on top of an old 5/4 ton truck or something about that size with the hull and other crap tacked on. Also, that guy on the gun looks too small, almost as if that ring and guy had been photoshopped on there (where are the support poles for the ring? Same with that air-vent stuck on the side, that has a different color than the rest of the image, and looks out of place.... Also, the fact that the properties list this image as a product of photoshop... hmmmm.... I won't call foul on this, 'cause I'd just as likely be wrong, but close-up, this looks awfully fishy...
 
By Sgt. B. on January 19, 2007 9:09 PM
The DUKW HAS a central tire air pressure system... It may not be a TOE DUKW, but it's a real close relative... The DUKW (unlike the 1/4 ton Ford GPAs in the previous amphibious what-izzit) was a 2 1/2 ton General Motors chassis with a boat hull and a rear mounted prop... There were some fitted with experiemental hydroplane gear, but they never got past the testing stage... I've worked on (and driven) restored vehicles of both classes... As far as I can tell, it's the proper scale, with the proper fittings (down to the snorkle and canvas supports. The gun is the right scale, but the gunner should be inside the ring, with the backplate almost in his chest - you aim the thing by forearm pressure, braced against the rest of your body... That gunner wouldn't hit SQUAT like that, not while the beast was in motion, either on land or water...)
 
By Sgt. B. on January 19, 2007 9:10 PM
But, again, there's something wierd about it... If I could see the details on the side of the hull, I'd be able to figure it out...
 
By John of Argghhh! on January 19, 2007 9:42 PM
Sanger - the properties say Photoshop because I resized the image in photoshop. Other than that, the image is un-fiddled with. Sergeant B - good catch on the GPAs. I was waiting for someone to get that. It was all part of setting up this one. Y'all'r gonna hate me in the morning.
 
By Moose on January 19, 2007 10:53 PM
I googled around a bit and I'm just throwing a guess out here. Is that the Brazilian CAMANF?
 
By SangerM on January 19, 2007 11:04 PM
A Willys MB 6x6 variant (yes there were), tested by Ford as a step up from a GPA, c. Korean war era...? BTW, I didn't think it was fake, but just in case you were getting clever... and, well, I'm stumped... Though it does look like two vehicles, the driver looks too big... If nothing else, I found LOTs of cool milvehicle pages...
   
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