Some Old Snowmobile Video

rusty6 · Jan 19, 2020

Some old vhs video from the late eighties along with a few earlier still shots. I got my first snowmobile in 1974. Liked it enough to buy a better one in the fall of 76. We made a lot of miles over the years back when we got real heavy snow in winter. It was no problem driving cross country as most of the time you could cross over a fence that was buried in snow with no problem.

Snowmobile in Sask

JayinNY · Jan 19, 2020

We had Skiroule snowmobiles when we were kids, mine is a RTX 300 with a Sachs engine, also had a ccw 400 twin in one. The snowmobiles were made in Canada!
Neat old video!

dpendzic · Jan 19, 2020

I have 4 polaris sleds now---the oldest is a 1996 Indy

tom upton · Jan 19, 2020

That Cyclone reminded me of my 76 liquifire. That Kioritz engine was a good one. It outlasted the body so I transplanted it into a Sportfire along with the heat exchangers which I mounted under the foot boards. My first sled though was a 73 rupp nitro, then a 76 rupp, then the Liquifire.Had a couple trailfires thru the years and a 640 Nordic for hauling stuff into the bush cutting wood. Currently have an Alpine 3. gotta say my favorite is still the old JD Liquifire. I have couple VHS videos of it kicking around someplace Your post has got me thinkin I should dig them out and get copied onto disc.

rusty6 · Jan 19, 2020

(quoted from post at 21:11:26 01/19/20) That Cyclone reminded me of my 76 liquifire. That Kioritz engine was a good one.

John Deere sold a lot of snowmobiles here. You might have noticed the model 400 in one of the still pictures. The owner still has it and takes it out once in a while. He also has a Sportfire. My brother's Cyclone has not run in a few years but still all there. I drove a Spitfire once. Nice light little machine. Also drove a Liquifire or two. I remember going to a John Deere snowmobile demo out on the lake some time around the early 80s and trying out the new machines on the snow covered ice. I think I drove a Liquidator there but can't be sure its so long ago.

paul · Jan 19, 2020

My 300 hasn?t run in a while. My neighbor got a 400 about the same time. He was younger, and a bit more of a hothead gotta win type.... I would beat him all the time in
a drag race.

He was pretty mad, got to tuning on his, still couldn?t beat me.

He never read the manual. I did.

The 400 had a bigger engine with lower gearing to be able to tow something. My 300 had higher gearing.

I never did tell him......

Paul

rusty6 · Jan 19, 2020

(quoted from post at 21:52:51 01/19/20)

The 400 had a bigger engine with lower gearing to be able to tow something. My 300 had higher gearing.

I never did tell him......

Paul

Yes, you could play around with the clutch weights, springs and sprockets in the chain case to affect the performance. I never did much with my Kawasaki unless there was some problem. It had a hard time beating the 400 most days.

Tim in New York · Jan 21, 2020

I had almost the same Kawasaki Sno Jet - mine was an SST and I think that one pictured is an Astro. Beat the heck out of that poor thing. It would run like a monster when it was below 10F, even though only a 340cc. Just did not have good enough fan cooling.

Jumped a snowbank one night and landed in the back of our old manure spreader that had been modified to a firewood hauler. Getting it out of there was not fun!

Good memories of a time long gone, before marked and maintained trails - we had to know how to get from one place to another on our own. Remember parking by the sliding door at the end of one farmer's tie stall barn one night, and our skis were even with the window in that door.

Tim

doublebass73 · Jan 21, 2020

I was a SkiDoo guy back in those days. I worked at a SkiDoo and Kubota dealership. First sled was a 1976 SkiDoo TNT 340.

unc · Jan 21, 2020

Ahhh- that sound brings back memories. In the sixties, we lived in Peterborough, where the Snow Cruiser was made. If you worked for Outboard Marine, you could have a new Snow Cruiser consigned to you for almost no cost. The town and surrounding area was snowmobile nutty. The Kawartha Cup snowmobile races were held there each year. So many kids would skip school on the day of the finals that the school board finally gave up and declared that day a holiday. I can still remember the smell of Nitro and Castrol R in the pit area.
We had a 1969 SkiDoo 320. Rotax engine with 18 hp. It ran well on established trails, but not so much on powder. unc

rusty6 · Jan 21, 2020

(quoted from post at 15:45:18 01/21/20) The Kawartha Cup snowmobile races were held there each year. So many kids would skip school on the day of the finals that the school board finally gave up and declared that day a holiday. I can still remember the smell of Nitro and Castrol R in the pit area.
We had a 1969 SkiDoo 320. Rotax engine with 18 hp. It ran well on established trails, but not so much on powder. unc

I remember seeing a bit about the Kawartha cup on tv and in magazines at the time. There used to be races out on the lake here some winters. Real race machines with just the driver and a sheet of steel to sit on , or so it looked. They would buzz around the ice track. I've actually got some video of it from about 1989 I think. There used to be a cross country derby here most winters but I think the poor snow conditions have ended that.

SVcummins · Jan 22, 2020

Pretty neat video . It reminded me of this safety video
Untitled URL Link

Some Old Snowmobile Video

rusty6

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