Why you bought your first 6x6, 8x8!

[tracmaster]

About 30 years ago I watched a show on tv about a vehicle called a ponsin 8 wheeler...sat down in rather than on top like an argo ..made in france..it was about 30 grand ..made of fiberglass with what I believe was a 125hp engine with a manual 3 speed tranny...you better believe this thing was fast...so..I called france and ask what I needed to buy one and they were so f###ing rude...some french are just like that....nobody that rude is getting my money...so I started looking around and found argo...have owned 5 new and 2 used since then..?

tracmaster

[wayne80]

I was looking for a new hobby watching videos on you tube. Saw some amazing stuff like drifting cars, lawn mower racing, go karts, atvs , mini dozers, and tractors. I bought a 350 warrior with a extra one for parts to build a go kart. Than while watching guys in chest waders mudding on snorkeled atvs covered in mud, up to the handle bars in water soaking wet,well I didn't want to do that at my age [52], than a 6x6 came into the video the guy was clean and dry. I thought hears a machine made for this instead of tearing up a 8000.00 quad. Like a lot of people I don't have a lot of money for toys . I bought a 1980 max 2 from Coot a week ago, a basket case with lots of new parts. Hope to get it going in a couple months. Would like to thank the members here for all the great information. Like all this stories keep them coming.

[BW3]

Like many , grew up watching the Banana Splits and their 6 wheelers , but also had cousins that had an Amphicat back in the mid to late 60's ..,, never got to drive it , and watched my older cousin many times run it up and down the RR tracks and across their pond . Only got to ride in it once around their back yard ,,, ..Only to find out years later like my other interest Metal Detecting/Treasure hunting we had a family friend that was a dealer for them ... Now many years later and a new friend who has a 2000 Argo Big Foot that he bought new I was bitten with the bug to own one ... as luck with have a deal can along in Maine's Uncle Henry ...a.k.a Craig's List with some help from my friend I now have one ... Happy trails it be for now on I hope ..

[suntiet]

My wife won't drive and off road machine, so i was looking for something that would ride two or more people!!!!

[hawksmore]

Wow, what a great thread.
first I want to thank all of the veterans on this list for their service.
my story is alot like evryone else.I saw them on the Banna spits. Looked way cool but my family had no money for machines. Later in life I was affordrd the opportunity to build some ultralight aircraft. This helped me come to terms with the two stroke. Fast foward to a few years ago when I saw an ATTEX for sale localy. I paid $350.00
For it. Now I have $3000.00 into it. I am a Falconer, I hunt with hawks and falcons. There is a local creek that is always loaded with ducks. But when the ducks are in its too wide and deep for my 4x4.So it was a natural progression to the 6x6. Additionally I love all things mechanical. I have the opportunity to work on three episodes of the mythbusters. I have been trying to get them to do something with the 6x6es. They are great guys there and are like all of us, with our love of machines ( especially ones that are uncommon ) I recently came across some videos of a screw drive vehicles. ( search youtube for the fordson tractor screw drive) also for Russian military screw drive vehicle. Sorry for rambling but I think the T20 would be great for a small version of one of these. When I read the thred here from the member doing research in Jamaica, I thought what he needed was a screw drive AATV!!. I have a friend on mythbusters and I am trying to get them to do a build for the show. STARING me of course. They havent called me back yet...
soo back in the shop. Time to fit some chains and weld a motor mount. And make room for the Max IV I am picking up next month. ( the only cure for this addiction is more AATV's )

[Jezzah]

I like to have something a little different from everybody else and nothing else out there (not without major modifications) is amphibious.

[xbunsenx]

My story is that when I was 24 I was thinking about buying a 4-wheeler because the old lawn mower that I had modified to use in the woods for various duties like pulling a trailer and low speed adventure was just not cutting it anymore. I was driving it out of the woods after a day of paintball wars when my then future wife whom I married the next year who was sitting in my lap said "You need to get something bigger. So I started to drink the Kool Aid like everyone else in Virginia and was looking for a 4x4 quad. I was driving to a job site and passed a used car dealership in my hometown and saw a Max II and IV sitting out front. I then passed the same dealer on my way back and they were not out front anymore. So after I clocked out that day, I went back up there and went inside. I asked the owner what those things were out front and where they were. He said "Oh, they are in the back, come on and look at them." Within a week I had a $10,000 loan from my bank, who was confused why they didn't have an actual title, and went up to the dealer to buy my new 2000 Max IV. Within a year, the dealer had two of his Max's stolen and decided to get out of the 6x6 business and just sell cars. So, I don't have alot of peers around to ride with, but my Max would be the last thing I sell. I like things that are different and I bought it because I could fit 4 people, use it as a boat for fishing, ride in the woods, and drive it anywhere I wanted too. The first thing I did with it was destroy my father's yard by turning it around. I am so glad that car lot had this because I had never seen one before at all and I would have been stuck with a 4 wheeler.

[shizzles2]

I used to spend a bit of time around the highlands in loch Lomond, Scotland, and I would always see people going up in their quads for hunting around the local mountains. I would then also have a bit of a laugh as they slid into some of the boggier areas-which they sure didn't slide back out of- and the owner would have to wallow around in the mud trying to drag it out, however, one of these times the guy was really stuck and a short phone call later something that twelve year old me could only describe as a miniature tank crested the hill, ploughed through this wheel-arch deep mud to then proceed to drag said quad bike back out onto the heather. a little later I saw that these seemingly magical things could float around on the loch as well and I was hooked. four years later I finally got a hold of one for use around the family forest and I have to say it goes everywhere my quad could not, even climbs hills the poor thing would probably roll backwards down.

[Rusty-Gunn]

I've seen them in the Banana Splits show when I wws little. Cool stuff. Many years later
I saw a Max add in an outdoor magazine. I told my wife someday I want to buy one.
Eighteen years later we bought an Avenger simply because it was for sale in my town. Excellent
shape. Excellent price. But it wasn't a Max II. We sold it and bought a Max IV. Excellent
shape, excellent price.
Someday I'll add a Max II. Its always been my favorite.

[Sol]

Picture worth 1000 word thing. 18" of ice in 18' of water. I'm luck the sled belly hung up on the ice.

[amphibious drew]

Picture worth 1000 word thing. 18" of ice in 18' of water. I'm luck the sled belly hung up on the ice.

That looks cold. I'm glad you didn't get seriously hurt or dead from that. Ice is never easy to judge, and can go wrong very fast. Just make sure you got those drain plugs in your aatv when you go out with it. They only float so well without them, and apparently you have a not so good track record with ice.

[Sol]

Well Drew, I did this one myself. I've spent a lot of time on big water ice and this was the one time I hesitated crossing a crack. Could have been a costly mistake for sure. Oh and the first thing I check on saturday before I started running the argo on the ice was the plugs.

[Deedeelin1]

Harley

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[ARGOJIM]

Think I may remember you, white RZR? 1-1/2 2 years ago along the N.E. corner?

[gusgus]

Being the youngest in our hunting group, I'm responsible for dragging out the deer, and now with moose and caribou hunting my back won't handle the abuse while they spend hrs coming up with different ways of getting the animal out of the bush/swamp. Now with the argo I just drag it to the trailer, and they can do what they like with it...lol