Rolligon

The Rolligon was a family of vehicles from the Rolligon company of Seaside and Monterey, California (ARC / LB Rolligon), which ran not on ordinary wheels but on very wide, low-pressure rolling air bags, giving extremely light ground pressure on tundra, snow and soft ground.

Variants

• A 6x6 7-ton transporter of 1957, based on a Chevrolet truck and available with a Chrysler 331 V8 or Chevrolet 283 V8, rode on load rollers in place of wheels and could reach 50 mph.
• A version based on the Willys FC-170 forward-control cab and drivetrain sat on four rolling air bags 40 in wide. A rubber drive roller pressed on top of each bag to drive it; the bags could pivot slightly up and down on control arms but did not steer, steering instead being done by a hydraulically powered articulating joint in the frame. It weighed 4,500 lb (about 2,040 kg) at the kerb, carried up to 4,000 lb and reached 30 mph.

Later use

In 1999 the Border View Lodge, an ice-fishing resort, told the archive owner that the 'tundra-tired amphibious vehicles' it used to carry customers were Rolligons bought from the oil fields around Fairbanks, Alaska. The lodge had cut off the cargo beds, built passenger cabins on the back and changed the differentials and tyres; because of these changes, and because the Rolligon company did not want liability for a tourist operation, it could not advertise them under the Rolligon name. The lodge also had a fully enclosed single-unit vehicle of its own design built in Canada, with front tyres articulating under the cab.