My wife and recently completed a road trip along the “British Columbia North Circle Route” with a side stop in Stewart which among its many charms has a rare to see Lloyd LS400 mounted on tracks.
This was yesterday’s clue and amazingly commenter 63bit identified it as a “1955 Lloyd LS 400 Kombi”. I am less sure about the year (I had narrowed it down to 1954-1957) but maybe they know something I do not.
photo credit – https://flickr.com/photos/peterolthof/51324460575/
The Lloyd 400 was a small car that replaced the rather crude Lloyd 300 in 1953. Its two cylinder, air-cooled, two stroke engine was increased in size to 386cc to produce 13hp yielding a top speed of 75 km/h (46.6 mph). The transmission was a three speed column shift. The model prefix told you what body style it was with LP for sedan, LK for panel van or LS for estate or kombi like our example. With a steel roof rather than wood covered with synthetic leather we can tell that this is later example dating from 1954-1957. The early cars also had cable rather than hydraulic brakes.
The Lloyd 600 and Lloyd Alexander were produced from 1955-1961 and 1957-196 respectively. As Paul mentioned to me these car be told apart from the earlier 400 model by the 400 been equipped with sliding windows and the 600 upgrade to roll down windows with a vent window. He wrote a rather extensive history of these cars. The 600 was generally a little less well equipped and on the sedans the trunk lid did not open. There does not seem to be an obvious tell on the station wagon variant however. An even higher trim model, Alexander TS, was also produced but can be easily differentiated by a modified grill and upgraded mechanical specification. The later Lloyd 600 and Alexander models were by powered by a 596 cc four-stroke parallel twin engine with a column mounted transmission. These were light, front wheel drive cars that offered better fuel economy (albeit less performance and space) than a Volkswagen Beetle.
While it was only July during our visit the vegetation was already thick making photos a little bit of challenge. The front wheel openings have been closed in with some cooling vents added. The side view illustrates the unusual for the period rear hinged doors.
Here is a shot of the rear. The tracked Lloyd station wagon is located in front of the Ripley Creek Inn which deserves its own post but a quick summary is the inn consists of all historical buildings that have been restored and converted to traveler accommodation.
Each building is filled with historical items with an emphasis on toasters and teapots. From what I understand the owner also owns an antique store and his late wife was a big toaster collector. She ran the attached restaurant next door until her passing last year that also contained the vintage toaster museum. While the restaurant is now under new ownership and they have retained the collection.
We stayed the night in the historic lodge (main office pictured above) but you could also choose from a store, prospector cabin or even a brothel.
Here is a walk around video of the whole car.
Let’s take a look at the tracks. Stewart is a fairly remote community with an emphasis on natural resources for the economy; mostly mining and logging. It did not have a highway to it until the Seventies but crucially is the mostly northerly ice free port in Canada. At its peak it had 10,000 people but the population currently sits around 500. Additionally, the area experiences significant snow fall. So perhaps these factors led to the building of this tracked car. Although I cannot imagine how a Lloyd got here in the first place as according the local museum Stewart did not even have a proper highway to it until the late Seventies with most traffic moving by logging road or the port.
As you can see suspension consists of transverse leaf springs. Oddly enough the standard car would have (twin) transverse leaf springs at the front along with longitudinally mounted leaf springs.
The interior was a bit of challenge to take photos of but inside the bench seat is still intact with a fishing rod rack visible.
Here is the dashboard without the need for a steering wheel anymore. I suspect steering was accomplished by sending more power to one side’s track.
This Lloyd it is a rare car to see anywhere never mind in a tiny and remote town in northern Canada. Mounted on a set of tracks makes this undoubtedly one of a kind. Rather like Stewart and the Ripley Creek Inn as well.
Further Reading:
Automotive History: Lloyd LP 300, 400, 600, Alexander – Steamrollered By VW
Cohort Outtake: John Lloyd’s 1959 Lloyd Alexander TS 600 – The Lloyd Family Heirloom
I wonder what the source of the tracks was – likely some kind of WWII surplus? Really, it looks about the size of the Studebaker-built Weasel. It would be interesting to see if there was any Lloyd in the powertrain. I would bet that the Lloyd supplied nothing but an enclosed body.
It’s a Lloydabaker!
I have looked at quite a few pictures of M29 Weasels and I am convinced that is what makes for the bottom half of this unit. That suspension is identical and appears to be inspired by Studebaker’s planar design where the transverse spring served as a lower control arm. The high, large wheel at the rear should be the drice wheel on each side. Gobs of these became available as war surplus and they were great for snow.
My money says that there is (or was) a Champion flathead six inder that Lloyd’s hood. The most powerful (and slowest) Lloyd ever built. 🙂
There’s no doubt in my mind that’s what it is. And the Lloyd made the perfect winter body for it. They were made for each other!
Too cool ~ it’d be nice if someone resurrected this, it doesn’t look too far gone .
-Nate
Different I wonder what the bottom half began as.
Amazing! I was pretty sure from the Clue that it wasn’t American but assumed British, and would never have guessed Lloyd. I visited Stewart on a motorcycle trip in 1987 … I hope you made it across the border to Hyder, AK. And I’ve been reminiscing about the trip recently, and planning another road trip north next year. In the course of that planning, I stumbled across articles and videos about the toaster collection. When I was in Stewart, either the Lloyd had not yet arrived or I missed it, because I certainly wouldn’t have forgotten it. Our next door neighbor when I was growing up sold Lloyds; probably ending active selling before I was cognizant, but he continued to have a Lloyd wagon in his garage until the early seventies. I never saw it move or even heard it run.
We wanted to go into Hyder, Alaska and got as far as having a conversation with the Canadian border guard (none on the US side). They said we’d have to fill in the ArriveCan app and quarantine for five days after. Ugh. So we reluctantly skipped it. I’d like to return again.
When I was there I don’t recall a guard or entrance station on either side. The store/bar in Hyder only took Canadian cash, and most customers were Canadian anyway as the beer was cheaper due to lower taxes. IIRC there was a US Post Office.
Here is what it looked like. From what I understand it was one of the communities impacted by covid border restrictions as all students go to school in Stewart, people get groceries in Stewart, etc.
Apparently people were placing groceries on the border line for others to pick up as the bureaucratic wheels turned. There was another place on Vancouver Island that had the same issue.
I believe you are thinking of Point Roberts, which is south of Vancouver. No issues here on the Island as we don’t share a land border with anyone.
My wife and drove into Stewart and Hyder back in ’88 and there was no manned boarder. Unfortunately it was a Sunday and almost everything was closed in Hyder, so no opportunity to get Hyderized.
Interesting vehicle. The ingenuity of loggers and miners shows no bounds. I recall seeing similar conversions in logging camps I worked in, but never using something like this.
What a find. And it’s quite obvious that they needed a winter-proof body for their surplus Weasel, and the Lloyd was right sized. Just how it got up there is another question.
That is an interesting piece of engineering. I would love to resurrect that. Not the most powerful Lloyd though. I used to see one around here with the front end about 3 feet in the air gasser style with an early Olds Rocket topped with multiple carbs. The short wheel base makes it a real handful to keep straight on the strip.
Spent a couple of months there at the end of 1970, hired as a partsman for the Granduc Mine, which was one reason for an increase in population in Stewart in the late’60’s – 1970’s. The mine site was in mountains about an hour away from town, and the road used to transport people and ore concentrate passed through the US and Hyder Alaska, which really was rockin’ on the weekends in those days. Incredible amount of snow happens in a short time there. The Weasel-Lloyd chassis could have been converted from a piece of left over tracked mine equipment perhaps? Great story, thanks Mr. Saunders!
One of my relatives was a car engineer and he once told us that these tiny Lloyd LS400 was one of the most influental constructions of all times, when we kids mocked about it.
It was blueprint for several japanese Kei-cars, but maybe most notably for east german GDR Trabant P50, a construction that lasted until 1989. Also it was role model for the french Renault R4.
In the 1950s, this would have been state-of-the-art, as a people-mover in the snow. Makes the pioneering Bombardier B7 from that era, look primitive. Nice construction. Would be interesting to know, when this was built.
This is a bit of a stretch for a CC Effect, but I saw an LS400 yesterday, though a Lexus not a Lloyd. It was actually a similar yellow shade to the one in the Lloyd ad that David posted.