GM’s AGL-4 Was An Articulated, 4×4, Monster Corvair Truck That Should Have Been Built – Incredible Video Of The Beast In Action!


GM’s AGL-4 Was An Articulated, 4×4, Monster Corvair Truck That Should Have Been Built – Incredible Video Of The Beast In Action!

As you can imagine, I almost whizzed my shorts about fifteen times watching this amazing video of the little known GM AGL-4. This was a truck designed and built by the guys at GM to test the concept of a Corviar flat-six powered, articulated 4×4 that would be well suited for agricultural or military needs. The truck is absolutely freaking awesome and this video shows it hauling things, slogging through mud, over sand, carrying a load of people, cruising down the highway, and running through a kind of obstacle/torture course. The fact that the beast is rolling on 44″ tires makes this whole package absolutely perfect looking. There was no such thing as a “monster truck” in the middle 1960s as far as the world was concerned but the AGL-4 was as close as it got.

If the looks and seemingly capable performance of the truck weren’t enough, there was the modular nature of the cab and bed that really made it cool. The video shows how the cab (or “power unit) could be detached from one bed and attached to another using a very unique support/rolling stand thing. It is a trip to watch the two wheeled cab drive itself around and back up to mate to a second bed! Being that the “bed” was basically a trailer with an axle under it that was connected to the transfer case with a driveshaft the job of coupling and uncoupling them was handled in just a few minutes. This would be a big deal for military applications there the vehicle could haul various cargo loads and then drop/pick up new ones basically on the fly.

Some people want to claim that this vehicle was the predecessor to the military’s “Gama Goat” but we’re not so sure as GM didn’t built those. The Goat worked largely on the same concept (although it had six wheels) and shared some of the same elements as the AGL-4  but at the end of the day, there are lots of differences, too. We have no idea if this truck exists or if it was destroyed after the testing phase. We hope beyond hope that it is sitting somewhere (GM Heritage collection?!) in a basement, warehouse, or some other storage facility somewhere.

The nine-minute video below shows great tests of the truck against pickups, Jeeps, etc. This is one of the neatest things we never knew that GM had worked on and developed. Imagine being one of the people on the highway when this big brute was merging on!

PRESS PLAY BELOW TO SEE A VIDEO OF TESTS FEATURING THE GM AGL-4!


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5 thoughts on “GM’s AGL-4 Was An Articulated, 4×4, Monster Corvair Truck That Should Have Been Built – Incredible Video Of The Beast In Action!

  1. Turbo Regal

    GM used to be a design powerhouse; both in style and engineering. So much of what was GM (Euclid, Locomotive, Detroit Diesel, Allison, Truck and Bus plus a half a dozen automotive divisions) are now gone along with their 50% market share in the car business.

  2. Robert Winkelmann

    Who was the gutless CEO running GM when that got killed?

    That would have become the standard contractor’s pick up truck for the last sixty years had it been put into production.

    OK, so it handed the market to Ford’s F-150 – brilliant move GM…..not!

  3. Wilia Hinshaw

    This fine creation probably didn’t make the financial cut for some GM Bean-counter because of the stigma of, and reliance on the untimely death of the Corvair. – thanks to GM’s unwillingness to take on Ralph Nader. “Unsafe at any speed”?

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