Wasn’t that long ago that Ken Block – possibly due to boredom and the need to spend the big bucks Ford was likely lobbing at him – decided to take your run-of-the-mill Raptor and make it just a little bit more ornery by adding a set of caterpillar tracks. You know, for those quiet drives up the snow-covered road to the cabin.
Turns out, he and Ford weren’t the only folks to have the idea. In the spirit of our upcoming snowy Canadian winter, here’s a quick look at how other folks have decided to “get their caterpillar on”.
Ford F-150 RaptorTRAX
We’ll start with what made “tracking” your pickup so popular – an F-150 Raptor, wrapped in Monster Energy and Hoonigan decals and given a set of snow-pulverizing cat tracks. There’s also a Whipple supercharger underhood, but who cares about that?
Subaru Trax STI
I guess because a pickup is, well, a pickup, Block decided to push the “trackable” envelope even further by mounting them to a sporty hatchback. Because a tracked pickup truck just makes too much sense, right?
Nissan Rogue Trail Warrior
Having a third party do a conversion is one thing, but what if your tracked vehicle were to come that way, straight from the manufacturer? Of course, the chances of the sanctioned-by-Nissan Rogue Trail Warrior ever making production are slim to none, it’s just so cool we hope and pray they do. The zombie apocalypse has nothing on this tracked, camo’d, and winch-kit-equipped not-so-soft-roader.
Jeep Wrangler
If ever there was a vehicle that could do with a set of tracks, this would probably be it. After all, how else do you make an off-roader as capable as a Wrangler even more capable?
Smart ForTwo
At the other end of the tracked spectrum we have this: a little ol’ Smart with a track that appears lifted directly from an actual German Panzer tank – back in the day, tanks were a lot smaller than you might think.
Land Rover Discovery
Possibly the next most ready-for-cat-conversion after the Wrangler is the Discovery. After all, when you’ve been in production for about a million years, it’s time to start thinking out of the box a little.
VW Beetle (yes, really)
This is a Beetle, and a lot’s been done in the way of modifications – just look at the gullwing doors! We’ll take this over your basic side-by-side any day of the week.
Hummer H2
Now, it appears that this particular cat track conversion isn’t actually expected to make use of said tracks, but how many H2 owners actually used the truck’s off-road abilities anyway? Why not go even bigger?
Ford Super Duty “Terminator”
We think that even Mr. Block’s pickup may run and hide when encountered with this beast of a pickup. Look! It even spits flames!
Rat Rod Half-Track
Now we’re talking. If you though the Beetle or STI were outlandish applications of a caterpillar track, just look at this beast. We’re pretty sure we’ve never come across anything as cool as this, ever.
Suzuki Carry
Don’t look now, but itty-bitty trucks are becoming more and more popular in Canadian urban centres as the hipsters that love buying these things continue to multiply, and more modern, well-equipped versions begin to fall into the 15-year import window. And why not? They provide many of the benefits of your traditional domestic pickup but with the footprint of a Japanese kei car. Why not add a set of tracks?
Honda T360
This one is a proper vintage piece, but it’s not one to be corralled in a showroom. Not only is it tiny and easily manoeuvrable through town, but since it’s a half-track, you get way-cool and oh-so-classic whitewall tires, too! How could you go wrong?
Ford F-150
That’s not to say that the more traditional pickup couldn’t do with a set of cat-tracks, too. They are the vehicular backbone of our fair country, after all.
Ram Heavy Duty
We’re not really sure what this beauty’s used for – back-country snow camping, maybe? Igloo construction? What about Yeti transport? Yeah, let’s go with that last one.
Bobcat
This may be a little more of a traditional use of caterpillar tracks, but look! The back axle swivels like a monster truck! Don’t you want to get into the landscaping biz just so you can justify trying one of these out? Probably not, but look! The rear axle swiv– oh, never mind.
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