https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_National_Lifeboat_Institution
Designed in conjunction with the Four Wheel Drive Lorry Company (FWD), the tractor and its special carriage weighed 11½ tonnes and were fitted with a roadless traction creeper track, enabling the tractor to handle all kinds of beach conditions. (1927)
It was powered by a watertight 60hp four-cylinder petrol engine, with four forward and two reverse gears and a top speed of 12mph.
This beast of a tractor had an impressive drawbar pull of 7.5 tonnes and carried a winding drum with a steel wire rope, which helped to haul the lifeboat off its carriage once it was in deep enough water.
At almost £4,000 a piece – £218,000 in today’s money – only four of these FWD tractors were made.
HRH Princess Victoria formally christened the first of them on 10 June 1927 – the first tractor ever to be named. And in 1928, the Princess Victoria went on to serve Hoylake for 12 months before being transferred to Clogher Head, where she served until 1951.
http://magazine.rnli.org/Article/The-power-behind-the-launch-57
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJaxz4KmANM
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