We will be having the Big Autopian Readers Party, of course, so that’ll be fun but every moment before and after that is about guaranteed to be pure frozen hell. Have I told you about what his bathroom sink looks like? Maybe the unholy life that’s developing in there will be willing to help us carry frozen transmission cases to the truck with their slimy tentacles, or something. Those cars up there, by the way, are two Antarctic automotive firsts: the left one is the 1907 Arrol-Johnston brought by Earnest Shackleford on his Antarctic expedition, and while it was air-cooled and used non-freezing oil, it never really worked, because is was not able to get any real traction in snow, and was mostly a failure. Really, nobody quite knew how to test the car for adequate performance in the Antarctic conditions, so it’s really not too surprising it was a bust.
More successful was Antarctic 1, a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle that was the first production car in Antarctica, and the first one that actually worked. Fitted with VW’s cold weather package, snow chains, and some frame reinforcements, Antarctica 1 was used to great effect by the Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions. I’m going to use that Beetle as my Spirit Car as David forces me to haul shit through the icy muck, and contemplate that little red Beetle when I just want to crawl into some hole and be warm, warm and immobile, wishing this nightmare would end. Anyway, wish me luck!
