I was thinking about that. Actually, people remembered it WHEN it was mentioned back in 2004 until the Veyron debuted in 2006 (as a hypercar), which then after, everyone forgot the ME 4-12.
The Skoda Typ 175 The aim of this thing was to go through the muddy terrains of the Soviet Union without getting stuck. It was a mix of a truck and a tractor designed by Ferdinand Porsche, which was meant to tow artillery pieces. Germany was running low on rubber, so they decided to make it have wheels entirely made out of steel. Hitler himself apparently asked for it to have huge wheels, though there is no proof of that as far as I know. It had a 4 cylinder 6.0l engine, which made around 90hp. Skoda was chosen to produce it because the company had experience with tractors. This thing was also called Radschlepper Ost. For those who know a bit about WWII vehicles, this might make you think of the Raupenschlepper Ost, better known as the RSO. But unlike the Typ 175, the RSO wasn't a failure. The Typ 175 had a lot of downsides : its fuel consumption was high, it had a tendency to get stuck and it was almost uncontrollable on ice. Its top speed was only 16 km/h (that's 9.9 mph). For comparison, the RSO has a top speed of 30 km/h (18 mph), while having tracks instead of wheels. Moreover, the Typ 175 was horribly uncomfortable. At 16 km/h, it was so shaky it became unbearable to drive. Apparently, around 200 Typ 175 were produced between 1942 and 1944. They ended up being used in the Ardennes and were apparently also spotted in Normandy and supposedly took part in the battle of the Bulge. It isn't that surprising that this attempt at making a tractor got forgotten. Firstly, the Typ 175's tracked colleague, the RSO, was used a lot more and proved to be really efficient. The Skoda had no real advantage over it. Secondly, only a handful of Skoda tractors were made, and only a few saw combat. Thirdly, while both Skoda and Porsche admitted they contributed to the Nazi war effort, none of them kept evidence of their work on the Skoda Typ 175 Radschlepper Ost. The fact that this tractor was bad did not help either. I honestly wonder how this thing would have been if it had smaller wheels with tyres. We'll probably never know. EDIT : NOT A CAR And I know it. But I guess it still counts, right ?
The funny thing about the whole production of the Škoda Typ 175 was that the design flaws it had weren't removed because of effort to sabotage the whole project which ultimately ended up with the whole thing being a huge mess. I've heard of these being used in East Germany as rail maintainance vehicles way into the 60's.
I've seen one on the street once, a guy down the street has one in his garage, granted, the rest of it is scattered throughout his backyard, but still, it's a frame and half an engine....
It wouldn't surprise if those were actually reused during the 60s. Two of them were apparently used in a sawmill in the south of Manche, in France, with one receiving a Perkins 6 cylinder engine. Finding information about this vehicle is horrible. Apparently the project almost got abandonned on multiple occasions, but Hitler wanted it to be made. That's a rather funny story.
I think it should have been abandonned, they have obviously never seen the video of driving with rubber free tires....
Skoda's Roomster another one nobody mentions, apparently having a brother called the Yeti. Almost had a life like the Fabia or Octavia, before the model being canned for the Yeti in 2011, later 3 years canned also.
I dont think that 1939-45 was easy to see a video, it was movies in big machines not ever close to mobile, so i dont think they saw a video about tires with no rubber
Anyone here know what the MV-1 is? no, well it's a car meant to transport those who need a wheel chair
That isnt forgotten at all and the yeti was a completly diffrent car the roomster was a van and the yeti an offroader but the followup is almost completely forgotten as it was ready to be built but then wasnt made
Keep in mind steel wheels weren't that uncommun back at the time, especially for tractors. But yes, those weren't that good if you wanted to go at a decent speed. And on pavement, it is pretty horrible to drive.
