(first posted 11/25/2017) When I saw this rig posted at the Cohort by Simon White, it reminded me of a somewhat similar one, but built back around the time this Ford truck was still fresh and young, and that had not had its chassis and drive train replaced.
I’m talking about the famous “Jungle Yachts” built by Designed by Count Alexis de Sakhnoffsky for Commander Atillio Gatti to be used in his African explorations. The motive power was provided by 1937 International trucks. These colorful and luxurious rigs were ahead of their times, and provided for comfortable accommodations for Gatti, his wife and crew. There were two of the Jungle yachts, along with several support trucks, also Internationals.
There’s a number of his films on the web, but not at Youtube or embeddable here. But if you like, check them out here.
Back to the featured rig: it’s a bit jarring, to see the 1935 Ford truck with this more recent Scamp mini-fifth-wheel trailer, but I’m sure it works quite well. Just not quite as colorful.
I see from the film clip that the “Jungle Yacht” was articulated and the trailer part was detachable. However, it still must have been a handful on 1930s African roads.
Roads in the Congo were still a handful when I was there in the 90s.
In the color picture the awnings above the windows have the appearance of eyelashes, like those ridiculous eyelashes folks are attaching over the headlights of some cars.
Ah! You’re right! Now I can’t unsee those four eyes staring at me.
In the black-and-white photo the vehicle appears at first glance to be on a single chassis; in IH’s color ad this illusion appears to be cemented. Of course this is an impossibility, no matter how alluring. It’s surprising that the company would “sell” that idea, in print . . .
Nevertheless, the styling of the finished ensemble is impressive. Could this be the only instance ever of a grille texture — the horizontal bars — continuing along the flanks of a vehicle to the very rear ?
Those lounge chairs on the roof do look very appealing. Nice place to spend a day on the road.
“I say, my dear; is this a Gaboon Viper or Black Mamba that just dropped into my lap?”
“It’s part of a tire, sweetheart. We’ve had another blowout. Mind the Cape Buffalo while you change it.”
Even in the movie, the articulation clearance between tractor and trailer seems very limited … I wonder if this was an oversight or if the design depended on some deflection of the panels on the truck. Seems like an odd choice of streamlined design for a low speed overland vehicle. But very cool – thanks for posting!
I seem to recall when the original ads were shown, either at this site or another, that somebody mentioned the side panels were completely for show (remember, aero was very “in” in the ’30s), and when the whole rig was under way, they were removed for articulation.
Love it! What a piece of automotive history! What engine powered these trucks?
The whole idea of the Commander Gatti ‘Jungle Yacht’ expeditions seems odd. For starters, I wonder what kind of support crew and equipment would be necessary to successfully drag those things through the extremely rough Congo in the thirties. Doesn’t seem like there’d be a whole lot of gas stations out there and those movies make it look like roads in the Congo were billiard-table smooth.
On top of that, what the real point? I can only surmise it was for publicity for the International Harvester company’s trucks. The Jungle Yacht was definitely not inexpensive ($15,000 in 1930’s dollars). Gatti himself was an Italian explorer who came to the US flat broke in the thirties. I guess he must have been able to, somehow, talk someone (IH?) into financing these quite extravagant expeditions.
I’m also curious about portable electricity and A/C in one of those early caravans. I can’t imagine that being common at the time but I guess it’s more conceivable than automotive A/C which really didn’t start coming into its own until the late fifties. Squeezing a portable generator and A/C unit into a 1930’s caravan must have been a lot easier than trying to stuff it into a car.
Look up the pictures where he hung up the mountain gorilla he murdered for his trophy shot ~ I hope someday humans evolve beyond exploitation of animals, and other humans, to feed their rapacious & sick egos 🙁
Amen!
The cultural attitude of the narration about deepest darkest Africa and its dark secrets was of a piece with that.
I have seen this maroon Dodge version a few times. Interesting that it is another Scamp 5th wheel.
Scamp’s are notoriously light weight and highly sought after. That 5th Wheel probably weighs in at around 2000 lbs dry.
My 16 foot Scamp weighs 2700 lbs, loaded for the road. The 5th wheel Scamp is about 20 feet long, with more structure and furnishings. At around 3000 lbs, they’d be ideal to tow behind a standard pickup.