IT MIGHT BE GIANT

The AMC Mighty Mite was developed for US Marines to transport by helicopter. Massimo Delbò drives a tiny unsung hero of tactical warfare

- Massimo Delbò

An alloy-bodied, four-wheel-drive car propelled by a Porsche air-cooled engine, built from refined materials such as magnesium in an effort to save weight: it puts you in mind of a racing car, created to thunder along the Mulsanne straight. But in this case you'd be quite wrong. Welcome to the incredible - and very little known - world of the AMC Mighty Mite, an ultra-light quarter-ton 4x4 tactical off-roader, created specifically for the US Marine Corps for transport by helicopter.

Helicopters were a rare sight during World War Two; the American Sikorsky R-4, launched in 1942, was the first to be manufactured in series. In 1946, Marine Corps chiefs asked for a matching vehicle to be created for their troops, small and light enough to be lifted and transported by its Sikorsky H-19 aircraft, which had a 1202kg cargo limit, including crew and fuel. Those early helicopters had a limited carrying capacity and the ubiquitous Jeep was too heavy, hence the demand for a lightweight alternative.

The first prototype was built in the mid-1950s by the Mid-American Research Corporation to fulfill the Marines' brief for a 'vertical envelopment operations vehicle. Called the MARCO MM-100, it was equipped with a riveted alloy body, independent suspension, limited-slip differentials, inboard drum brakes and a Porsche 356-derived air-cooled flat-four, the exhaust gases of which passed through chassis tubes to save the weight of an exhaust pipe.