We were tipped off to some simply awesome photos from the early 1950s that depict scenes we believe to show the earliest forms of mud bogging, swamp buggies, and monster trucks. Like doodlebugs on steroids, these car/tractor combos were larger than life and cooler than hell.
Most of them appear to be wearing tires from airplane landing gear. With their lack of cleated treads, the tires wouldn’t be too good in the mud, but because they were mounted on vehicles that were so light (early coupes and roadsters) the tires acted like floatation devices and allowed these vehicles to crawl over mud bogs and other goopy challenges.
None of the vehicles depicted are four wheel drive and there is one shot that seems to indicate that they are chain driven, which does make sense because the angles involved in building these would not be good for a driveshaft.
Hit the link below to see a small collection of photos from a gathering of these totally cool beasts back in 1951!
LINK: Early Monster Trucks/Swamp Buggies from the 1950s!
Who thinks any vehicle looks better when it’s donkin’?
Exactly.
As someone who isn’t all that familiar with the art of tuning a mud bogger, I have to wonder why the flotation strategy isn’t tried more often. I guess it apparently had been tried at one point.
Some the photos in above and in the link look like they could be part of the annual Swamp Buggy Parade in Naples, FL. I don’t think they still have the parade but they do have the races twice a year at the Florida Sports Pk. in Naples.