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Go behind the wheel and under the hood on the HowStuffWorks auto blog.
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Announcer
Go behind the wheel, under the hood, and beyond with Car Stuff from howstuffworks.com.
Scott Benjamin
Hi, everybody. Welcome to Car Stuff. I’m Scott Benjamin, the auto editor here at howstuffworks.com.
Ben Bowlin
My name is Ben Bowlin. I hang out with Scott. I write some videos. I also work here.
Scott Benjamin
He does some stuff.
Ben Bowlin
I do some things. I’ve been some places, man. I’ve seen some stuff. And we’ve actually seen some pretty crazy stuff.
Scott Benjamin
We have. That’s right. And this maybe one of the crazier things that I’ve seen recently!
Ben Bowlin
Yes. And you showed these guys to me, and it’s funny. I’ve just got to get this out of the way so I don’t accidentally spend15 minutes rambling about it.
Scott Benjamin
Okay.
Ben Bowlin
I remember seeing toys that were built this way and as a child thinking, "That’s ridiculous. There’s no way that would work. These people are condescending."
Scott Benjamin
What’s funny is there’s a new toy now – well, a few years old – that is exactly the same.
Ben Bowlin
Weird.
Scott Benjamin
I know. So shall we dive into it here?
Ben Bowlin
Let’s dive into it. Let’s talk about screw driven vehicles.
Scott Benjamin
Yes. And as a matter of fact, this is one that I just stumbled upon on YouTube. I really did. I was messing around and looking up all different kinds of things. You know how it is on YouTube when you’re searching Bugatti Veyron top speed run. And then you’re looking at someone who’s making a Pikes Peak run. And then you find -
Ben Bowlin
That sidebar.
Scott Benjamin
And then all of the related videos and soon enough you’re off on a completely different tangent. And this one is something really unusual. I don’t even know why I clicked on it, but I did. It’s called the Fordson Snow Machine. And we’re talking about a vehicle from the mid-1920s. I’ve seen dates that range from 1924-1929 on this thing. It’s a really unusual vehicle, isn’t it?
Ben Bowlin
Yes.
Scott Benjamin
This is strange. Picture this. It’s an old time tractor that has almost pontoons underneath like on a pontoon boat. But they’re screw shaped. They have the spiral screw pattern.
Ben Bowlin
Like an auger.
Scott Benjamin
That’s probably the better way of saying it. It’s like two augers underneath this thing that are horizontal. And that is how this thing moves itself over the ground. This is really odd.
Ben Bowlin
Let’s hold on for the listeners who are going, "What?"
Scott Benjamin
I know.
Ben Bowlin
Because that’s what I did.