Casey research station Antarctica

[spudfan]

Just been watching a documentary on the Australian research station in Antarctica. All the vehicles seen at the station were Toyotas. including one with pyramidal tracks at each corner. I remember photos of a similarly converted Land Rover from many years ago called the Cuthbertson Crawler. This had more massive tracks than the Toyota seen on the Casey documentary. Pity Land Rover did'nt get to the Antarctic! Does Toyota make any advertising capital out of this? Imagine the slogan "If it is good enough for the Antarctic- it's good enough for you." Anyway highly enjoyable.

[Frenchie]

The Tojos down there are only used for driving around within station limits (think mining camp) so any vehicle could do the job just as well.

Where did you see the doco?

[digger]

Just been watching a documentary on the Australian research station in Antarctica. All the vehicles seen at the station were Toyotas. including one with pyramidal tracks at each corner. I remember photos of a similarly converted Land Rover from many years ago called the Cuthbertson Crawler. This had more massive tracks than the Toyota seen on the Casey documentary. Pity Land Rover did'nt get to the Antarctic! Does Toyota make any advertising capital out of this? Imagine the slogan "If it is good enough for the Antarctic- it's good enough for you." Anyway highly enjoyable.

umm think about the seal about a toyota vs that about a land rover.... maybe its pretty important down that way!?

digger

[spudfan]

The Tojos down there are only used for driving around within station limits (think mining camp) so any vehicle could do the job just as well.

Where did you see the doco?

On television here in Ireland. If you want a copy I can make you a dvd copy and send it over.

[stallie]

Just found this thread. FYI - VW had a beetle in the Antarctic at Mawson back in the 60's and advertised the fact widely. More info here

But at Casey, yes, now most utes are Toyotas. Useful around station and we used to drive them on the main snow"road" out of Casey when the conditions were right. Not allowed any more

And the pyramidal tracked thing is an F250 not a Toyota. Here's one of my pic from a couple of years ago - after a blow.

[x-box]

Yikes, that looks cold!!!!!!!

[Disco44]

You will find that Toyota give massive fleet discounts that allow them to sew up the market.Take the fleet market away from Toyota and you would see their sales figures drop dramatically.

[Don 130]

The track system is called 'mattracks' and will fit many vehicles including landrovers.See the link:
Welcome to MATTRACKS rubber track conversions systems for 4x4 vehicles
Don.

[one_iota]

The arrangement of the hooks on the bullbar is interesting...I guess that is for lifting?

[THE BOOGER]

The arrangement of the hooks on the bullbar is interesting...I guess that is for lifting?

Have seen similar setups for towing with a single pole

looked again didnt see the upturned hooks at first