Your Insurance Company Will Cancel Your Policy If You Even Think About This 1970s Recreational All-Terrain Tank

Back in the 1970s, you could pretty much get away with anything in the name of having fun and being a dirtbag. And in that spirit, a bunch of Canadian weirdos slapped together a tracked ATV for use in marshy and snowy terrains, painted it a bunch of fun colors, and marketed it as the "Playcat." With a tiny Kohler motor, these little toys didn't make much power, but they'd slowly go over just about anything. These machines were just as fast forward as they were in reverse, and due to the tank tread design, could put one track in reverse and the other in forward to turn 180 degrees on a dime, proving that everything is better on tracks.

A group of American weirdos, called the Grind Hard Plumbing Co. crew, got their hands on one of these rare Playcat beauties. Naturally, they immediately started modifying the little machine to make it faster. To refresh your memory, this is the same crew that's responsible for a bonkers 6x6 Ford Ranger, and a Suzuki Hayabusa running on a rear track. In the video below, the Grind Hard team says the Playcat is "amphibious," but that is decidedly untrue, which they discover the hard way. If you have a spare hour right now, go ahead and click the play button and have yourself a ball. 

After finding a ragged but running Playcat on Facebook Marketplace, these guys are pretty set on making the Playcat much faster than the original Kohler engine could accommodate. These Idahoans have a bunch of snowmobiles laying around, some with some pretty hot motors, and they decide to rig one up to run the Playcat. A wise choice by any measure. Anything that was built for the purposes of fun can always be made more fun by making it just a little bit faster. Or a lot faster. 

After spending a few hours debating which engine to pop in the Playcat, deciding on one, not being able to get it running, and going back to the drawing board, the Grind Hard guys finally decide to install a running 50-horsepower Yamaha Phazer engine. When you have a basically unlimited supply of strange little engines lying around, and a complete fabrication shop at your disposal, the only tasks left are to cut and weld until something fits. Must be nice. 

After getting the engine bolted in, filling some holes in the fuselage, and re-building a burnt engine harness, the machine that never had any business with 50 horsepower was ready to test out. Of course, it was basically operated at full throttle from the second it left the shop — because what's the point in sending it at all if you aren't going to go full send? You have to test the limits to see what breaks first. After some initial issues with the clutch, the Playcat was ready to rip for a serious test drive. 

After working out a few kinks and getting the bodywork back together, the sentiment around the shop was that the modified Playcat was "so much better in every way!" It's basically a miniature Ripsaw, and that's exactly the kind of thing these guys should be building. It's important to know, however, that the Playcat does not actually float. After sending it into the pond at full throttle, the Grind Hard crew quickly discovered its lack of buoyancy. Luckily, the guys knew how to get an old-school two-stroke engine running again after it filled completely with water. Just keep pulling on the starter until it's empty!