Big Red is a Ford 4-250 4WD with a 7-litre V-8 engine. On its back is a camper shell which has been transformed into a field laboratory for the John Lighton lab. The truck was purchased with funds from the Packard Foundation, which awarded a five-year fellowship to John Lighton in 1993.



A rear view shows the camper shell more clearly. Big Red has been modified for off-road use- high clearance, skid plates, the whole catastrophe. Field testing in the Mojave Desert has shown that Big Red can navigate through any 4WD terrain- deep sand, large rocks, even the dreaded Foshay Pass.



Using Big Red's off-road capabilities, we can go to where the questions are, rather than bring questions - or some subset of them - from their environment to our laboratory. This view of Big Red is at the marker cairn for the Mojave Road as it crosses the Soda Lake playa near Zzyzx. Not an easy place to get to. That's Bernd Heinrich on the left.

Our goal is to develop research methods and tools that can be used interchangeably in the field or in the laboratory. Because we design and produce most of our own apparatus, we can ensure its compatibility with field conditions - vibration, dust, power fluctuations, heat and sheer abuse.

We'll expand this page with more specific details in due course. If you have any experience with field vehicles and would like to share your expertise, or if you have questions for us, mail us.

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