Kettenkrad!

These look like "NEAT" rigs. For awhile I wanted one. Seems they made over 8000. They had a 36 HP Opal 4 Cyl engine. There are some neat Video clips of them in action. But hold on to your wallet, Starting price is around 100,000$, and is alleged to go as high as 300,000$. Guess I'll hold off on one of these. Lots of neat web sites and collector groups.

Hey Lyndon, when were they made? By who? for what?

It looks sort of like a military thing.

SdKfz2, is a Kleines Kettenkraftad HK 101. They were made by NSU Motorenwerke AG. Designed to be air shippable and fit in a specific German Aircraft. Will climb to 24 Degrees in Sand and steeper on firm ground. Used to pull artillery and aircraft, there are scenes in Saving Private Ryan with several. 5 were actually used in the making of the movie. Weighing in at a hefty 3444 Pounds I doubt it would do well in deep snow. They had a a typically ingenious German steering arraingement. For fast and straight travel on hard road surfaces they steer the front tire. There are linkages to the steering that if one turns more than some pre-set, either 5 or 12 degrees, it gradually engages brakes on the track on the side being turned toward.

http://www.kettenkrad.de/index_e.htm This site has some great You-Tube video of one in action.

Think your Tucker Steel Track or Snow Trac was hard to restore? According to several owners, one of these is a real undertaking! I've always said: " One has to be a real 'Glutton for Punishment' to own a Snow Cat" They had Needle bearings in the trac assemblies, one of the Web sites dedicated to the SdKfz2 indicates that one of these critters has over 50,000 individual parts!(Probably counting every needle bearing) Know the Germans, who came up with Rockets, Jets, and even tracking kits for VW Kubelwagon's to create something like this.

For those of you ST4 Owners who are true VW enthusiasts, some years back I generated a list of all the VW Kubelwaggon parts use on ST4 Snow Trac's. Westermaskiner, the original manufacturer of Snow Trac bought up and used a bunch of WAR ISSUE VW parts which went into Snow Trac production. A few genuine NOS WW2 issue parts were showing up on New Snow Trac's as late at 1968.

Not many of these Tracked Kubels were built. They came in no less that 5 Variants. I know of none that survived the war, only pictures.

Lyndon said:

Not many of these Tracked Kubels were built. They came in no less that 5 Variants. I know of none that survived the war, only pictures.

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Those tracks look pretty fragile.

I don't expect that would have held up very well in battlefield conditions.

You are absolutely correct Bob. It was estimated that during WW2, the average life of a Kubel was only a few weeks. Thousands were built but only a few survived the war. The Kubelwaggon has an even rarer fully Amphibius, 4 wheel drive cousin, called the Swimmwagon. We've posted pictures elsewhere on the Forum. These were highly prized by German troups, since they were 4 wheel drive. Several thousand of these were also built. Average life expectancy was ONE WEEK! About 300 are known to have survived WW2. These change hands for 80,000$. Theres a pristene one parked next to one of my snow cats at the Northwest Vintage VW Meet, in several of the Hot VW and VW Trends articles that you have here on the Forum.

The Thread with the good pics of the Schwimmwagen is called"Famous Steering Wheel", for those interested. The following is all the REAL War issue parts, from VW that show up on Snow Trac's: Steering Wheel, Shift lever, Brake Lever, Turn Signal Knob(this part also used on early Porsche!), Wing Window Knobs, Rear Tail Lights thru about 1965, some instruments, Head Lights(almost the entire run of production!)High Beam/Low Beam switch(listed in the manual as the "Headlight Dipper Switch"). I've probably left some out, but they sure did get VW People excited at Vintage VW Meets. Most of the parts were manufactured by Hella. What made #368, my favorite machine was that it had every original WW2 part on it when I got it, and all in working condition. The unique Hella inverted teardrop side lights were not used on any VW product. These can only be found as side markers on pre 65 Machines, and on some WW2 German Army trucks, mostly in Museums.

It would appear that some Kettenrad's and all of the trailers used the sme Rear Tail light as worn by about Half the ST4's produced.

distant cousins of Snow Trac, ST4:


I guess they DID run in snow!

EXCELLENT THREAD!!!!! Rep points!