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
