Old marsh buggy at Assateague

Well, I know this is a canoeing forum, and this definitely has nothing to do with canoes. But I paddled at Assateague last week and came across this wrecked, some-sorta vehicle next to the ruins of the Bunting Lodge. If you know what it might have been, I'd like to know. It looks like it had a small engine in the rear that perhaps hydraulically provided power to the four wheels on the front section. I didn't see any water propulsion mechanisms, like a prop, that would have made it an amphibious vehicle, but I figure its been sitting there for 50 - 60 years, so who knows what may have been removed. There are no visible insignia. The "hull" is fiberglass and has outlasted several abandoned autos that are now rusted hulks.

Any clues?

Early version of an ATV/Snowmobile?

Here is a picture of a similar thing that claims to be the first ATV

Here are two videos that show the UCO (unidentified creepy object), which the first calls an ATV. A rusted old jeep is shown earlier in the first video. Both videos should start just before the UCO section.

Looks like an Argo predecessor to me!

Chip said:

Well, I know this is a canoeing forum, and this definitely has nothing to do with canoes. But I paddled at Assateague last week and came across this wrecked, some-sorta vehicle next to the ruins of the Bunting Lodge. If you know what it might have been, I'd like to know. It looks like it had a small engine in the rear that perhaps hydraulically provided power to the four wheels on the front section. I didn't see any water propulsion mechanisms, like a prop, that would have made it an amphibious vehicle, but I figure its been sitting there for 50 - 60 years, so who knows what may have been removed. There are no visible insignia. The "hull" is fiberglass and has outlasted several abandoned autos that are now rusted hulks.View attachment 144222

Any clues?

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I think I may have found info on your buggy.....

Also found this vintage promo movie put out by AMF, the first 20 minutes cover their snowmobile then there is 10 minutes of the Sur-Trek with some "great" late 60's music.

Those are Banana Buggies. At least that's what the Saturday morning kids tv show called them. They make multiple appearances in this video.

Dumbest post on this forum to date!

Chip said:

Well, I know this is a canoeing forum, and this definitely has nothing to do with canoes. But I paddled at Assateague last week and came across this wrecked, some-sorta vehicle next to the ruins of the Bunting Lodge. If you know what it might have been, I'd like to know. It looks like it had a small engine in the rear that perhaps hydraulically provided power to the four wheels on the front section. I didn't see any water propulsion mechanisms, like a prop, that would have made it an amphibious vehicle, but I figure its been sitting there for 50 - 60 years, so who knows what may have been removed. There are no visible insignia. The "hull" is fiberglass and has outlasted several abandoned autos that are now rusted hulks.View attachment 144222

Any clues?

Click to expand...

It looks like an AMF articulated ATV

Winner, winner, tofu dinner! Recped nailed it--that thing is definitely an AMF Sur-Trek 8x8.

rec-ped's link to to the AMF video on YouTube didn't work for me, but I found another AMF video that was just about the Sur-Trec. Nine-plus minutes of the Sur-Trek surmounting any terrain, accompanied by groovy music. There's an extended bit of driving around in marshes. Dated 1969-70, so that wreck isn't as old as I expected. The models riding in the Sur-Trec were fantastic in that they acted like they were enjoying every minute. I don't think that thing had suspension, so I imagine the actors were getting beat up while the man driving flailed the vehicle through and over obstacles.

Thanks so much for the ID. I and at least one guy I know spent hours searching the internet and couldn't find any sign of the Sur-Trek. It is strangely gratifying to know what it was. Thanks.

One interesting side note, I've visited quite a few derelict way off the grid outfitter lodges, many of them have derelict vehicles (not as old as the Sur-Trec. One in particular was on the Moisie River, the only access to that lodge was via helicopter (no way to land a float plane). The owners had left in a real hurry, in the kitchen were the leftovers of their last meal, in the office I found documents that revealed their bankruptcy, the guest cabin beds had been made up, even had chocolates on the beds. The only things that seemed to be missing was the electronics from the office.

Up the hill behind the lodge we found the helipad and right beside the pad was a fairly new ATV, gas in the tank and keys in the ignition, the ATV started right up and we used it to move our gear up from the river to the main building where we hung out for a day.

It was amazing how much stuff was left behind, a truly massive diesel generator and down by the water in the "boathouse" there were a bunch of brand new still in the box Honda outboards. When I got back home I looked up the lodge and found that the bankruptcy had happened several years earlier but nothing appeared to have been salvaged in that period.

I'm always amazed at the amount of stuff that gets moved to these remote lodges, I had a chat with the lodge owner on Kesagami Lake (James Bay South), he told me they used over 500 Beaver flights to bring in all the materials to build the place, that's over $500,000.00 just to bring the stuff in, add to that the cost of all that materials and the workers who did the construction. It's no wonder that many of these places go under, also explains why the rates that guests pay is so high.

Chip said:

I figure its been sitting there for 50 - 60 years,

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Chip said:

Dated 1969-70, so that wreck isn't as old as I expected.

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It sounds to me like it is as old as you expected. But maybe 1970 is longer ago than you think.

Alan