If you like to own big, cool, noisy things than boy do we have a deal for you! This 1971 built Gamma Goat is for sale on eBay and since there are not many of them left around, you better act know and throw down the $9,000 asking price for this (kind of) amphibious, six wheel drive monster. Packing a 3-53 Detroit Diesel two stroke engine, you’ll need ear protection to drive it without losing all of your hearing and because the steering was reported to be a little twitchy by soldiers who operated them back in the day you are going to want to take it slow. This one appears to be in great shape and it would be big fun to rip around the farm or whatever large landscape you have with a load of passengers in the back.
The Gamma Goat was developed by a forerunner of DARPA to give the military a highly capable truck that was capable of working in just about any environment that could be considered. The trucks that we were giving the French army when they were fighting in Vietnam were not cutting the mustard and the Gamma Goat was born from the frustrations of the French with our equipment. Sadly this thing never really lived up to expectations. About 15,000 were produced between 1969 and 1973 and they were in active use (albeit lightly) up until the late 1980s/early 1990s, but there were some inherent issues that were never resolved.
Their weigh prevented them from entering water that was anything less than totally placid. Some models that had radio gear or other weighty equipment could not go into the water at all because they would founder with the additional heft and as mentioned, their steering properties kept them from being run (most of the time) to their top speed of nearly 60mph on the highway. Originally the Gamma Goat was to be powered by an air cooled engine but when it showed itself incapable of cutting the mustard the Detroit Diesel 3-53 was brought in much to the dismay of ear drums around the country because it is apparently so earl splittingly loud drivers had to wear ear protection to prevent hearing damage.
Brand new the government paid $8,000 a piece for these babies. You can have this one for $9,000. Deal, right?
i used to ride in these from MCAS El Toro to Camp Pendleton almost weekly when i was in the Marines in the early 80’s . The Gamma Goats were very scary at near freeway speeds or any public paved road
I can hear it now…night time runs around Abington, Mass….giggling kids…female screams…go for it Brian!!!
That’s a big huge second from me!
A little tinkering to fix the steering, shorter diff gears, a turbo and you’d have a drag-ready Gamma Goat. You could even name it The Chupacabra!
The first step should be an engine swap. Those bad boys were in the motor pool all the time, with leaking seals ect. Additionally the hulls leak like a sieve. It’s funny the Gamma goat came up in a discussion of PACOM’s ONS for an amphibious troop carrier capability. When the Goat came up the old timmers just started laughing.
Sorry acronyms: PACOM= Pacific Command, ONS= Operational Needs Statement
Tomer Construction out of Ephrata WA bought a bunch of these things when aluminum prices spiked in the 80’s. They had problems getting the foam out of them and ended up with a big pile of mixed scrap well into the 90’s. I remember looking over them as a kid and lusting. The local cops didn’t like the bed full of water and bikini clad women cruizing main st in the one they kept complete.
id use gama goat suspension and diffs for a some crazy independent suspension offroad truck with a big caddy engine