Hunting,fishing,offroading,camping,metal detecting,and most anything outdoors!!
Motor Trend Coot Review This review of the Coot was published in the February 1968 issue of Motor Trend.Duck hunters know coots as inedible, tough little waterfowl who feel equally at home on land as in water. They scoot across muddy marshes with amazing agility, and they're very independent, hardy birds.So is the mechanical Coot, a new go-anywhere vehicle invented and manufactured in Chico, Calif., by a 28-year-old sportsman named Buck Enos. The 4-wheel-drive Coot crawls over the roughest kind of country - it gets traction by keeping all four wheels on the ground at all times. But it doesn't do this in the usual way by means of a suspension system, because it doesn't have one. Rather, it uses a unique, frameless body made in two halves. Each half pivots around an articulated joint in the middle that hooks the front to the rear section. This pivot joint is hollow, threaded and packed with grease, and this keeps the Coot from shipping water while afloat. The driveshaft to the rear wheels passes through this joint like a straw through the hole of a donut.Power comes from an air-cooled 12-hp Tecumseh 1-lunger that nestles under the front seat. Next to the engine, attached by belt, is a centrifugal clutch and a 2-speed transmission. The gearbox drives both the front and rear wheels by worm gears and, as mentioned, there's no suspension, so the only u-joints are near the steering spindles. Brakes consist of a single disc on the rear driveshaft.The Coot has a top land speed of about 20 mph. An optional water-drive prop can be attached at the rear without anyone getting out of the vehicle. This gives a water speed of about five knots. Even without the prop, the Coot parts the waves with its road wheels at about 1 mph.Besides the easy-on prop, another clever piece of optional equipment is a set of traction cleats that attach to the big 8.85 x 15 tires with chains that snap-lock into the wheel rims. This again means that you can attach them without getting out of the Coot. On dry land, the sawed-off vehicle can scrabble up a 75% grade without the slightest complaint.The Coot comfortably holds four passengers. Its 16-gauge steel box construction and general huskiness can haul all the cargo it'll hold, weight making the difference. In water, the load limit is 600 pounds.At a base price of $1395 (with 45 authorized dealers now operating throughout the West and a projected invasion of the East soon), the manufacturer figures you can buy a Coot plus a half-ton pickup truck for about the same price as America's best-loved-4-wheel-drive vehicle.Coots are now coming off Chico assemble lines at the rate of 100 per month. Factory capacity will soon be increased to 300 a month. This clever little vehicle should appeal especially to sportsmen, forestry and conservation people, farmers and anyone else who wants to get off into wilderness.