The “wanigan” was an 8 x 24 foot mobile caboose that was attached to the back of Arctic explorers’ tracked wagon trains.

The wanigan had four bunks, refrigerator, coal stove, table, sink, and latrine.

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Arctic Wanigan Cutaway 1950

Source:  Popular Mechanics May 1950

Pickup Truck Camper Cutaway 1967

This pickup truck camper was pretty state-of-the-art stuff for RVs in the late 1960s.

It had a pass-through to the cab; 12v outlets; aircraft inclinometers to indicate when the camper was leveled off; stiff springs; and an over-the-cab bunk.

Source:  Popular Mechanics May 1967

Futuristic Car Cutaway 1940

In 1940, it was asked if we might be driving a car like this in only two years.

The novel cutaway turned the notion of how to design a car on its head:  streamlined to look like “a giant aerial bomb on wheels,” with the engine in back, driver in the center, and rear passengers resting on upholstered seats in a spacious area as comfortable “as a small living room.”

Futuristic Aerial Bomb Car 1940

Source:  Popular Science June 1940

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In an issue of LIFE magazine from October 30, 1939 that I have is a great cutaway drawing of Admiral Byrd’s snow cruiser.  Admiral Byrd was a naval officer who was the first person to reach the North and South Poles by air.

At 55 feet 8 inches long and 16 feet high, Byrd’s Snow Cruiser was intended to ply the snowy wastes of Antarctica at 30 mph max.  Snow crevasses would be surmounted by retracting the massive Goodyear front tires, sliding the front over the crevasse as if the cruiser were a sled (back wheels pushing).  Once the front was fully across, the back tires would retract and the front tires would pull the cruiser ahead.

Above, detail of cutaway of Byrd’s Snow Cruiser, showing operating room, engine room, and chart room.

Above, mounting snow chains to the approximately 10 foot diameter Goodyear tires.

Sources

• Joel Dirnberger, “The Antarctic Snow Cruiser” 

• LIFE, October 30, 1939