The large, smooth, treadless tires were originally designed for a large swamp vehicle; they spun freely and provided very little forward movement, sinking as much as 3 feet (0.91 m) into the snow.

The crew attached the two spare tires to the front wheels of the vehicle and installed chains on the rear wheels, but were unable to overcome the lack of traction.

The crew later found that the tires produced more traction when driven backwards. The longest trek was 92 miles (148 km) – driven completely in reverse.

Although, a rather short one

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 1 points 33 minutes ago

I've seen pictures of this vehicle long ago, I think it was on Reddit. Back then, the first thing that came to my mind is "why don't they have a proper profile, or chains, or spikes?" How the F did they think that slicks are good for ice?

Amazingly, concept drawings show the Snow Cruiser with a tractor-like profile on the wheels.