Photo via L’Auto-Satisfaction
After the first world war, there was a number of new technology available. Although cars had been converted to half tracks in Russia for a number of years, Citroen perfected the conversion and started marketing them heavily. In 1924, Andre Citroen authorized a team of Citroen half tracks to cross Africa. Not only would this team be the first to cross Africa via automobile, but they would be the first to cross the dreaded Sahara desert via auto.




The expedition, which was 28,000kms long, was called the Croisiere Noire, or Black Cruise. The intent of the expedition was to spread the word about how tough the Citroen cars were around the world. To lead the safari, Citroen picked his best executive manager, Georges-Marie Haardt. His grand daughter describes him as a very stylish and disciplined man. Every man in the expedition would follow his example and was forced to shave and dress well, no matter what lay ahead.




Of course, crossing Africa would not come without problems. There was mechanical breakdowns, particularly tracks and chains. The tracks were metal and rubber. The rubber wore off quickly in the rough terrain and sand. However, the mechanics did what they had to in order to survive. If you cannot repair your vehicle in the Sahara, you are as good as dead.

The natives were another concern, as they were unpredictable. Some were helpful and happy to see the explorers. Others wanted to fight. Many of the natives remembered the bloodshed of colonialism.



At one point, the Governor of what is now Kenya forced 40,000 natives to build a 400 mile road through the jungle to the Capital Stanleyville. This immense task only took 45 days! On June 14, 1925, the party reached the Indian Ocean. Some went directly to the Island of Madagascar via ferry while others went south to South Africa and took a boat back to the island. On June 22,1925 they all celebrated reaching their final destination of the Capital of Madagascar.

A year later, the video of the expedition was released to the public, which turned out in droves. Everyone was enthralled by not only the movie, but also the displays of African art, animals and other artifacts.

The success of the Croisere Noire fuels Citroen’s interest in cross country expeditions. Even with signs of the recession coming in the not to distant future, he starts preparing for a venture across Asia. This expedition will be one of our next articles!

Do you remember the Casper monster truck from the 80s? It was a 79-83 Toyota pickup. However, while surfing through this thread on Monster Mayhem, I found out that the original Casper rolled in late 1988 and the Toyota body was replaced by a 1957 Chevrolet car! Does anyone have more photos of the Casper Chevy car monster truck?

There is nothing that says summer time like a bunch of woody wagons at the beach! I have seen photos of the Mercury before. It was converted to 4×4 when new with a Marmon Herrington 4wd conversion. As for the International, it is the first time I have seen it, but I think I am in love! What a beautiful machine! What do you think? Via HAMB

It is not often that we feature cars here on Off Road Action. In fact, I do not recall the last time we featured a car for sale. However, this 1929 Ford Model A deserves special recognition. The older restoration includes a Arps Snow Bird conversion that gives the vehicle tracks on the rear and skis on the front. This rare option was used mostly for mail delivery in the 30′s. This unique car is a little out of my budget and would be on display to often for my liking, but imagine the looks you would get!

As per the owners words on the Hemmings ad:
Ford Model Ts and Model As were ubiquitous reliable strong and inexpensive. Any number of companies conceived specific applications for Fords to adapt them to specialized applications but the Snow Bird is certainly one of the strangest. The concept was originated by Virgil White of West Ossipee New Hampshire. Later taken on by B.P. Arps and Adolf Langenfelds Farm Specialty Manufacturing in Wisconsin a Model A-based Snow Bird built by Arps was part of Admiral Byrds 1931 Antarctic expedition. This 1929 Ford Model A Tudor Sedan with its Arps Snow Bird conversion was originally used by the New York Guard and later by a rural mail carrier. Finished in Manila Brown accented in Black Yellow wire wheels with Taupe cloth upholstery it drives through caterpillar style treads encompassing the rear tire and two leaf sprung auxiliary bogies on each side. The front wheels have long skis mounted just an inch or so off the ground inside the front wheels. In addition to the Snow Bird package this Model A also has an exhaust manifold heater missing only its sheet metal shrouding. An older restoration it has been mechanically refurbished and freshly detailed cosmetically. It is an understatement to say that it will be the center of attention wherever it appears. Driving on the tracks is not recommended: the metal cleats with chew up asphalt or turf. On the other hand coming out of the barn on a cold crisp snowy winters day and setting off down a snowmobile trail it will do nothing less than stop traffic dead with amazement. $59,500

AMC Eagles are a bit of a rarity these days. I know there is a cult following among them, with people putting V8′s in them and lifting them. I can imagine those guys are going crazy over this former Gene Henderson 1982 AMC Eagle SX4 rally car. An Amc Eagle rally car is just plain cool because it is ugly, rare to see and…well…just because it is! A mild AMC 390 has been shoe horned in. Check out the love/hate relationship that Bring A Trailer readers have with the car, as well as the original Craigs List ad and the sellers photo album. While I know it was originally built to be a rally car, I keep on wondering how it would do at the NORRA 1000 vintage off road race in Mexico in May?

Remember the 80′s? 4×4 cars seemed to be at their height…how about this wild pinto? I was going to make some smart comment about somebody wrecking a perfectly good pinto, but…Via…

We are looking for more photos of the Miller Lite Oldsmobile Cutlass that Chris Robinson used to off road race in Class 6. Can you help us out?

For me, one of the best parts about Waynes World was the pimped out AMC Pacer. Did you know that there was a few AMC Pacers that were raced off road in the 70′s? Have you read our article on the AMC Ramblers that raced in the 1969 Baja 500? There is a ton of photos and information about these cars and others on the Class 6 thread on Race Dezert.

Earlier this month, we wrote a short article about 3 Ford Edsel that used to race in off road desert races in the 60′s though to the 80′s. With the Swift’s racing their restored Ford Edsel off road race car in the NORRA Mexican 1000 this week, we have been coming across more photos for your pleasure. Thank you to Class 3 Racing.com for most of the photos in this post. So what do you think? Personally, I think it is so ugly it is kewl!

We have located some starting line photos to follow up on our NORRA Mexican 1000 vintage off road race contingency photos we posted yesterday. Thanks to the folks at Off Road Mexico for the photos!