Horsepower - bah!

Today's WSJ has an article on Americans' love of horsepower. Bah, how misguided! I love ARMOR! Hehe, to paraphrase Archimedes, all you really need is gearing to move anything. Horsepower just lets you go fast faster - it gives you acceleration. But to have armor, you need gearing.

I'm a proud member of the Military Vehicle Preservation Association and my restoration hobby is a World War II era M16 Half-track made by White Motors in 1943. It's got all-around armor and has a "curb" weight fully loaded of 10 tons. The tracks let me go anywhere and the armor protects against small arms fire and shrapnel. You can see various models of the half-track in various World War II movies such as Kelly's Heroes.

My half-track has its original huge Continental "in-line" six cylinder engine with ... 135 horsepower. But the gearing in its transmission and transfer case and the tracks lets it go anywhere - straight up high angle slopes and on almost any terrain. Top speed is ... 35 mph. Lol, all it has to do is keep up with the tanks.

I've almost got it fully restored except for the final paint job. I need to adjust one more brake. Lol, at least it has brakes now - driving a 10 ton vehicle with no brakes other than a hand brake requires great care. I've put it in several Memorial Day parades in my area. The old WW II veterans and today's kids love it.

Armor & gearing beats horsepower anyday in my book!!!