The eight-wheeled Austin Seven explorer

The car was sent direct from the factory to Montevideo in a wooden container labelled “Austin Cars”, for collection by Wilkins supply ship, the S.S. Melville. Among the expedition radio messages from Deception Island, was one from Wilkins to be cabled to Sir Herbert Austin saying that not only was his Austin 7 “functioning satisfactorily” but it was also “proving decidedly useful”. Made locally more useful by chaining on secondary wheels and tyres to improve its snow performance – pictures of it after landing on Deception Island show it with just four standard wheels.

Reportedly, penguins were not scared by its noise, even crowding round it. The whalers on Deception Island liked it too, many asking for rides to claim they had ridden in the first commercial car in the Antarctic.

After initial survey flights from Deception Island, the car was loaded onto the open rear deck of the William Scoresby, alongside one of Wilkins planes, when he set off to find flat ice where his pilot could take off on skis, rather than using wheels or floats. After offloading them onto the only flat ice-field he had spotted from the air, in Beascochea Bay, the rapidly thawing ice quickly became too soft to support even the 8-tyred Austin, which sank to its axles when driven, so no chance for the heavier plane. It was recovered and reloaded with the plane as Wilkins decided they could not then make the intended flight across to the Ross Sea that season and returned to Deception Island.

After a three-week return trip in storms and heavy seas during February 1930, the Austin must have suffered serious salt-water corrosion. Wilkins immediately sailed on the Henrik Ibsen for Montevideo where he sold his two planes, at least…

This version of the photo has been altered – in the original there is a line of wooden Deception Island buildings, some hills and snowdrifts behind it. There are photos of the Austin and the Lockheed plane on skis on ice at Beascochea Bay 65°S. in an article about Capt. R. L. V. Shannon of the William Scoresby 1927-30: a_photographic_account_of_voyages_of_captain_rlv_shannon_to_the_antarctic_in_the_1920s.pdf (sun.ac.za)

By the way, Michelin’s twin tyre rims of 1908 were perhaps the first manufactured for a car and in 1911 you could buy a 30-h.p. Austin Welbeck limousine fitted with them; seems Austin forgot that when packing Wilkin’s chummy.

I very much doubt that it would make a good trials car, the reasons that A7s are good at trials is because their narrow wheels cut through the mud and get down to (relatively) solid ground. Those double wheels would just stay on top and skid all over the place.

The Morgan Car Company tried doubling the rear wheel on their 3 wheel cars in the 1920's for Trials use.

The outer LH front wheel seems to have no connection with the inner wheel other than the straps, as it is clearly sitting higher than the inner wheel. I assume this is not intended to reduce surface loading, just a convenient way to carry four spare wheels without taking up valuable space? Unless the wheels were solidly mounted on a common axle, it' s difficult to see any advantage, just more drag that an A7 certainly didn't need?