This brings back memories, we had a 1972 moto ski, back when there was snow all winter long. Fingerlakes area of NYS. It would snow in November, stay till spring, that doesn't happen anymore.
I began sledding at 18 in 1969. All through the 70’s with a number of sleds. Those were the days before groomed trails, permits, police checks and trail maps. First guy blasted through the bush made the trail for the year. Get stuck; lift it out. If you made 20 miles it was a long ride. But took half a day with breakdowns if there was a bunch of you. Just sold my sled, winters are done here. Six weeks of riding at best last season, trails closed the entire winter here. Miss the early days.
Really surprised there wasn't any Rupps. Growing up the first sled my dad had was a Skidadler, and as years went by a Sno-Sport by Rupp, a 440 widetrack Rupp and a Whisper Jet made Sno-Jet, it was like riding a Cadillac.
I have never seen a 'Police Special' snowmobile in my life. The Evinrude's and Johnson's were built at Outboard Marine in the town where I grew-up. The employees of that factory must have received huge discounts on those machines because they were everywhere. 70s Arctic Cats were seen as the Cadillac of snowmobiles back-in-the-day, and their price reflected that. One thing I've noticed is modern 21st century sleds have a much higher centre of gravity and are more sloped towards the cowling. Obviously a condition of sled owners seeking out deeper natural snow at higher elevations. Great video, thanks ADS.
The Kawasaki at 8:35 was my hearts desire. Someone on our lake had one and it flew past now and then. Crazy how fast it was compared to so much else at the time. I ended up with a KLT250 3wheeler. Never seemed to be enough snow to justify a sled at the time
That is what we had the green Arctic Cat like the one with them (Montana Pipes???) going around the front end. Ours I think I had a 4cyl engine it was potent. I believe that snow mobile is still in its spot in our barn... My uncle paid to have the body fixed we broke the hood right off the hinges on that machine... Some body shop in Allentown repaired the hood and twisted stuff.
when we were growing up we had 440 TNT 70 75 and an Olympic my dad traded them off for motor skis 79 and 80 future 500-long track too Mirage 2 my sister bought a Mirage 300 79 I bought my uncle's Arctic cat from him and Panera 5000 for what the miles said on it 500 miles he forgot the was broken lol was a heavy machine for a 15-year-old to have and powerful too i had NO trouble keeping up with the John Deers or the other performant slides we had we trail ride on the week ends too
Where is the TX340's my first sled ! Followed by a XCR600 then a Artic cat ZRT800 followed by Thundercat 1000. Now the only thing I ride is my chair or couch
A little John Deere history correction. JD was the first production sled to put the chain case to the right side and use a jackshaft to put the power over there. The 340S as the sled and this arrangement put the engine in front of and lower than the track tunnel. This design became the industry standard and it started with the JD 340S and that was the sled to beat.
Didn’t see an Alouette which I had growing up. Plus an Auto Ski, Rupp, and a Scorpion Stinger. I currently have matching 78 John Deere 440’s I’m hoping to restore. Anyone out there with NOS parts or info on acquiring them please reply. I’m disabled but currently move around pretty well
I remember my uncle pissed off my aunt big time. He worked at the Bethlehem Steel plant Bethlehem Pa.circa 1960s & 70's. Christmas of 1970, He worked an overnight weekend shift at the plant became good friends with one his bosses. Usually on weekends he worked at our family owned speed shop in Allentown Pa. Well this boss over time turned my uncle onto Snow Mobiles & before we knew it he bought and paid for 2brand new SkiDoo's & 2 Arctic Cats. The Large green Arctic cat he ripped it down. To this day I believe it had a really large 4cyl Briggs motor in it or something of the such. He spent hours creating headers for it and putting the pipes out the back not to mention whatever he did to the thing it flew like lightning. It came the weekend he had to work again the following year & me and my two cousins well we jumped on it and went for the ride of a life time we burned 4 tanks of gas as I remember all day long. Our farm had some horrendously steep hills and when my cousin Tim at the end of the day as it was getting dark he tried to go up a hill sideways the damn thing rolled with all 3 of us on it. He ended up with broken collar bone I had a broken arm & wrist. My cousin Keith's goggles gouged his left eye really bad he needed surgery. Needless to say it took half the other farmers in that valley to get that thing flipped back upright and even getting a truck down into that gulley where we landed was an act of god. My dad got his 69 Chevy back there in 3ft of snow cursing worse than I could remember about boogering up his new truck. My uncle he did open the cow path back there with his Allis tractor. As for My well uncle he got clobbered with a frying pan not that long after me & cousins were back at home & his crashed Arctic Cat was back safe in the barn. My aunt was super mad with the 3 of us all at the hospital all at one time. My cousin Tim well I don't think he was able to sit down on his butt until spring thats how bad my uncle laid into him with the leather strap. Me I never touched another snow mobile again...
I did'nt see one Alluette. Ski-Doo bought them out in the 70's or early 80's. We begged Dad to buy us a snow mobile because we worked hard on the farm. What does he do, he brings home a 340 Alluette, "Eliminator" model. We were the laughing stock of the community.
The Socalled Herters at 3:16 most definitely isn't obnoxiously ∆§×÷gin§∆ , even in covered storage the paint would have discoloration & fading and mold,plus the cheaper material of the seat definitely wouldn't look like that, this thing is obviously restored with a hell of a lot of lies & a huge amount of super neglect Dry rot everywhere Period
