1911 Overland OctoAuto

The Octoauto was an eight-wheel car created by Milton O. Reeves. He created it using a 1910 Overland and he added two more axles and four more wheels. The 20 ft-long automobile was shown at the inaugural Indianapolis 500 in 1911. Reeves was also the inventor of the muffler.^[1] He claimed that by having eight tires, each tire lasted longer.^[2]

The idea of two front axles has been resurrected recently, most notably in the 1977 Tyrrell P34, a very successful Formula One design. And in 2010, Covini Engineering announced production of a sports car with two front axles.^{[3] [4]}

While vehicles with two front axles are rarely seen, vehicles with two rear axles are not at all unusual. Trucks with two rear axles are a common sight on American roads. Tandem axles are seen in vehicles ranging in size from pickup trucks to interstate tractor-trailer combinations. In Europe, some cargo trucks have been built with two front axles and two rear axles, the same layout as the Overland OctoAuto.

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