This is a WWII-era Studebaker M29C Weasel from the 1940s. It’s a vehicle that was developed for crossing snowy terrain, but that was also used extensively in sand and mud, including during the U.S. Marine invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa.
The M29 Weasel is semi-amphibious, designed for inland waterway use rather than out on the open sea due to the low freeboard (low sides). It’s powered by two tracks like a tank, and it uses a track brake system for turning.
Above Video: In this short video we see some M29 Weasels being driven in the mud, and showing just how good they are at handling rough terrain.
The Studebaker M29 Weasel
The Studebaker M29 Weasel was developed rapidly in the early 1940s to provide the US Armed Forces with a tracked vehicle that could traverse deep snow, and tow equipment across snow – a feat that the then-current wheeled vehicles struggled with.
The M29 was based directly on the earlier M28 which had been designed by British inventor Geoffrey Pyke specifically for use in launching clandestine attacks on Nazi industrial installations in German-occupied Norway. The plan was primarily to destroy the German nuclear weapons program, it was later codenamed Project Plough.
Pyke designed the M28 to be snow-capable, semi-amphibious, air transportable, capable of being dropped by parachute, and to be able to carry passengers, weapons, explosives, and supplies. Even though Project Plough was cancelled, the design of the M28 was deemed so useful that 2,103 would be built in total.
The M29 would be a larger version with a series of engineering changes and improvements, it was cable to carry more soldiers and more weight. It was put into production by Studebaker and it would be used extensively in all major theaters of war including Europe, North Africa, and the Pacific.
The M29C Water Weasel version was designed with front and rear buoyancy cells and twin rudders, making it far more capable of handling amphibious use, including limited use in the ocean – largely for beach landings.
Versions of the M29 Weasel were used at Normandy, the Battle of the Bulge, during the landings on Walcheren, and in the U.S. Marine invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa. The fact that the M29 could cross almost any terrain regardless if how muddy, sandy, or snowy it was, and the fact that it could do it while hauling supplies and towing trailers, made it indispensable.
After WWII the M29 Weasel would be used in the Korean War, it would also be used by the French in the First Indochina War.
Once its military duties were handed off to other more modern vehicles, the surviving examples of the over 15,000 examples of the M29 Weasel and the M29C Water Weasel were put to use in ski resorts and by forestry services and rural fire departments.
Many had simple cabs fabricated from sheet metal to provide better protection from the elements, and 25 Weasels were used for the VIII Olympic Winter Games in 1960 held in Squaw Valley in California.
The Studebaker M29C Weasel Shown Here
The Studebaker M29C you see here is a Water Weasel version that has been significantly modified for use in a ski resort. It has an enclosed cab with doors on the left and right hand side, and it’s been finished in a two-tone gray and green.
This is the driver’s seat, as you can see the primary steering controls are those two levers, and the engine is rather cozily placed to the driver’s left.
This is most certainly a project vehicle and will require plenty of work to get back in good running condition. But it could be a fun project for the right person or team, and it’ll be an unbeatable snow/mud/sand machine once it’s complete.
It’s now being offered for sale out of Concord, California on Bring a Trailer with a spare engine, reproduction technical manuals, and a bill of sale. If you’d like to read more about it or place a bid you can visit the listing here.
Images courtesy of Bring a Trailer
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
