(OT) Garfield is coming to So Cal ... ;)

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Mon May 05, 2008 4:33 pm

Well, the cat's is out of the bag, sort of

.
Garfield is on US soil and on it's way to me.

Garfield is a 1997 Alvis Supacat 6x6.
At 6'6" wide and over 4000 lbs empty, like it's name sake, it's a fat cat
Powered by a VW 1.9 TDI and a 3 speed automatic trans, and sitting on 31" tall by 15.5" wide tires, it will do 40 mph.
Among other oddities, it has Ackerman steering on the front 2 axles ( both turn) plus skid steer.
Has a 8k. winch and built-in loading ramps
A 1 tonne payload capacity, and 900 lbs or less, floats.... unlike the Pinz

And should be at the Pinz, Mog & Haf gathering June 8th.

Dave Dunn

Anthony · Post by **Anthony** » Mon May 05, 2008 4:43 pm

Lovely bit of kit! they have quite a following.

pinzwheeling · Post by **pinzwheeling** » Mon May 05, 2008 5:56 pm

Should do well in the snow in Arcadia.

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Mon May 05, 2008 7:01 pm

Mike
It will do equally well in the swamps of San Diego.

This one was originally part of CF DART ( Canadian Forces, Disaster Response Assistance Team). DART has approximately 200 personnel, of only 20 are assign to logistic and support. This rig was one of 10 Supacats for DART, and only has 360 hours on it.

Also included with the Supacat was a set of tracks.

Hopefully, the seller will retire one of these nifty tilting forklift trailer and sell me one. Though, I'm not holding my breath.

Dave

andy · Post by **andy** » Mon May 05, 2008 8:10 pm

Dave, what a cool little rig. Can you licenes that for road use? Not the 40 mph would be safe most places. I can think of a bunch of uses for that thing. Good deal for you.

Andy

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Mon May 05, 2008 9:20 pm

LITTLE!??? that is as wide as a Ford F250.

The only place it's little , is in length... only 1/2" under 11' . Though it is made of aliminum, it still out weighs most small and midsize cars. The aluminum belly and nose plates are armored to protect it from rocks. If it hit the back of a car, it would more than likely just slide up and over it...of it's 78" of frontal width, 31" of it is tire tread. The rake of the nose is about 36" from the ground

Don't mistake this for an Argo, which it outweighs 4 to 1, outpowers and faster at over double. I first heard of the Supacat 6 years back, and originally wrote it off as a military ATV. The chain drives were 3/4", but increased to 1".

These can be licenced for the road almost everwhere but the US. It has headlamps, tail and turn indicators, mirrors and a horn.... depending where you live, it could be classified as a farm implement.

Dave

andy · Post by **andy** » Mon May 05, 2008 9:26 pm

I guess the picture didn't give me a proper perspective on how big it is. Isn't that ridiculous that it can't be licensed but with a couple of additions, like blinkers etc you can license ATVs. At any rate that is one cool vehicle.

Andy

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Mon May 05, 2008 9:43 pm

Very nice dave, did it come with the honda generater as well? Tires are still not as wide as the Lm002.

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Mon May 05, 2008 9:52 pm

Yeah Andy
Go figure... but some states still don't register ATVs for the road still.

Most people can't determine size from a pic... that is why so many think a Pinz is huge... and because most think 6x6s are toys, just assume the Supacat is small.... the June meet will be an excellent time for people to really get the feel for some of this equipment.

Heck, I may even put the Haffy across the rear deck of the Supacat to show it will fit.... may hang over the side a little, but all 4 wheels would be firmly upon the deck.

And on a side note.. the trailer I had bought last year will need to have the fenders moved out to let the Supacat on.

Dave

andy · Post by **andy** » Mon May 05, 2008 10:01 pm

I've been browsing the Supcat. The "flipit" trailer is another really nifty idea. The vehicle itself comes in all sorts of modes. The company has a bigger brother to your unit with a Cummins diesel that will run 80 mph. It looks a lot like the picture of the "new" Pinz Peter put up the other day. Try to get pics of it action in June.

Andy

GenevaPinz · Post by **GenevaPinz** » Tue May 06, 2008 8:39 am

That's one reaaaaally cool ride...!!

On the pictures , it looks like an Argo cat on (buckets of) steroids...

Dave, your pics are waking up the little kid in me again (just below the surface, you know, the one who bought a Pinz recently...)

I am surprised that you can't license it, with the number of F-250s with 10" or more lift kits, Wranglers-turned-rock-crawlers and other heavily modified vehicles that are tagged as "street legal" in the US, but as you say, go figure...

Congratulations on your acquisition.

Jan

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Tue May 06, 2008 1:07 pm

Erick
What Honda generator?

Jan
I've been aware of these for 7 years. I never dreamt that one would become available on this side of the pond (at least a MK2 or newer), and this great of shape. The Supacat website has been changed greatly since I first was there, and a lot has been removed, as far as information. Outside webpages have more info on the Supacat 6x6, as here:
http://www.route6x6.com/newtoys/supacat ... tspec.html

As on the licensing issue, there are points in the law that would make the current Wisconsin registration, the last thing on everyones mind, IF the feds and states cared or had the manpower to enforce. More commonly refer to as selective enforcement. For entry into the US, I had to provide the letter of EPA compliance for the VW 1.9TDI engine.

Dave

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Tue May 06, 2008 2:08 pm

Dave, I thaught i read some were they came with a on board apu. seems like web pages come and go every month.

Erik712m · Post by **Erik712m** » Tue May 06, 2008 2:24 pm

found it [url]http://www.thrustssc.com/thrustssc/Pres ... acats.html[/url] i like the pic of the guy fishing from it. looks like fun should get pretty good gas milage as well.

David Dunn · Post by **David Dunn** » Tue May 06, 2008 3:14 pm

The trouble with some web articles is that the writer has no idea what they're reporting on, and write as if that particular unit is the 'norm', and not a special application. The page you listed is from Supacat themself , with a list of some of the applications they have manufactured.
That is a very good page on the Supacat, interesting is it's from August, 1997. I wonder if Supacat kwows it still exists. LOL I need to get it all downloaded before it's discovered and deleted

This Supacat is 24v, instead of 12, the standard loading winch is a Warn 1.8, this has a Superwinch 8.0. The outer black rollbar is also of a non standard nature. From the factory build sheet, the only other "option" is an increased payload capacity to 2,640 lbs. GVW is 6908 lbs ( 3140 kgs).

Dave