With all the talk and debate of the new sleds these days, my mind tripped and I started to remember some of the old sleds for which alot of these issues wouldn't even exist. *For example, I would guess that maybe 25% of the members here are young enough that they have not ridden a sled w/a leaf spring front suspension. *Some of the other things I remember are: * *Moto Ski snowmobiles
* * * * Mixing oil and gas
* * * * Thinking my 340 Liquifier was a fast sled
* * * * Thinking my buddies new Trail Cat was a cool sled
* * * * Having an open-face helmet
* * * * Wishing my sled had handwarmers
* * * * Thinking my buddies' dad's El Tigre 6000 and Kawasaki
* * * * * * *Invader were the coolest sleds ever
* * * * The Whipp
Could go on and on, but what do you guys remember?http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif?

Flippin the bogie wheels back over on the old Evirude Bobcat when they rotated on a jump
The 1976 stars and stripes Skimmer
Trying to pull over my 1970 295 Kohler Panther on a cold day
my Mom's brand new 1973 340 Puma,please mom,let me try it
My late fathers favourite saying"look out Ski-Doo,Cat's coming by you" http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/baaa.gif

My dad used to buy us a 45 gallon drum of farmers gas for the winter for around 15 dollars. The sound of my dads 67 Ski-doo. Breaking boogie wheel springs/leaf springs jumping on the 72 Elan 250 twin. Metal bars from the tunnel to the running board. No groomed trails. No trail pass. No insurance. No registration.

Dam dudes, I`m sorry, my condolences to the family for the inevitable thats to come...........thank god I got into sleds only about 10 years ago.......long past my prime..

Here are the sleds my brother and I have owned to date. I am 29 he is 26. Sorry I can't remember all of the years.

Kitty Cat
Puma
Cougar

Then I rode a friends Enticer? not sure what brand, Polaris maybe? it had a red hood, when I was learning to ride in the trails in Old Forge.

El Tigre, mine
WildCat, his
1997 ZRT 600 his
1997 EXT 600 mine
2001 ZRT 600 his
2003 Firecat F7 mine

We are a long way from running that Kitty Cat around the yard 17 years ago. http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif

My mother came home from the bank saying they had a Ski-doo on display. This was before we had our first sled. So a couple of days later, she takes my brother & I down to see it. You can't imagine how po'ed I was when it was a Fox-Trac. *http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif I was hoping to see a 'doo http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Seeing the tracks & knowing a Sno-Jet (center sprocket?) had gone by previously.

Red X & Big Red oils. Were they the same company?

Ski-doo oil in the plastic yellow quart jugs.

Getting stuck in the slush on a lake http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

Motor mounts breaking on the old man's single cyl. Oly.

I remember gas puking back at me, and the #### Tilottson carb that went with it! And thinking you were goin 70 when you were going 30.

how about riding an old one lunger through the bush and the vibration right through to the handlebars would put your hands to sleep. *http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif

My first sled was a 1971 Rubb Nitro 400, bought it when I was 16, then in 1979 bought a new 7500 Blizzard.

First ride on a sled was a old rupp 440 that had electric start as i remembe the day my dad spent all day trying to jump it to stasrt it. firtst sled wasa 77' doo olypic that I beat the tar out of. I was about 8 i think when I got it. Got rid of it on feb 28,1988. I'll never forget that day as odd as it is. It was a older friends 28th birthday that day. Funny how we remember things. I rember in 88' seeing a sweet looking Liqufire thinking how sweet it looked still.
Caleb

Hand warmers, you mean thicker gloves right?

I remember those days.
My dad had an old Evinrude and a Moto Ski. I remember that Moto Ski was not too stable, that thing would roll on it's side going around a corner. LOL
I rode a Scorpion Whip 440 for a few years, and I did think it was cool. Not as cool as when my friend was aloud to take his dad's brand new 91 EXT. That was the stuff back then. We thought we were so cool.
BTW, that Whip Did have a leaf spring front end with small shocks. lol
Those were the days. Those things were so light! That Whip had a knobby track on it too. It would get awesome traction. Even got some air a few times on that thing. That was before I knew anything about snocross or anything. Man, imagine if I did know about snocross.... I'd have probably killed myself trying some stupid stunts.
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Sorry, kinda started babbling there.

Oh yeah, the old whip. That was the sled with the handlebars tilted rearward and down. When you hit a bump the old hands slid right off the bars. I wrecked one pretty good like that.My brother still says his 91 ext was one if not the best handling sled he ever had (I had one too). The very cold winter nights when all one could hear ws th wum bum bum bum and ten the weee as we tryed starting the chaparral with a broken piston skirt (ran it like that for two years), once we got it warmed up enouh to start itran great. Kevin

I remember how far you had to lean just to try a turn and hape a small tree would help and a good day was still having spare plugs left. My first sled was a 69 polaris with like a 10in wide track and a center drive and the tank at the back of the sled some of the others I can remember 73 cheeta,72olympic,silver bullit, lynx,snow prince,rupp nitro.9500 blizzard. and always getting stuck. http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/baaa.gif

The gas tank on the '67 Olympique was steel, part of the belly pan. The filler neck came out the front of the cowl and cracked around the base, spilling fuel all around. It caught fire once, but there was not much to burn, as it was all steel. It only took about an hour to re-do all the wiring and fuel lines. The next weekend we rode with a 2 gallon jerry can strapped on the back bumper and a gas line running the length of the running board. That sled would not turn on the road unless you tipped it over.

Well I'm not really of that time but I learned to ride on my dads early 70s polaris tx340. *I remeber mixing gas and think that when we bought a 94 jag 440 it was the greatest thing ever not to have to go find dad to mix gas when you ran out. *I also remeber hanging on so you didn't fly off over the studer bumps and the cleats on the track. *My grandpa tells storys of buying one of the first snowmobiles long ago that was maybe as long as my sled now is wide. *He used it to check cattle but couldn't keep it upright and it stranded him in the pasture so he sent it back.

The first sled i ever rode was my dad's 72 olympic with a 640 fitted in there ! the carb would spit gaz onto my jacket all the time, after 1 hour i would be stoned http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sleeping.gif *I had break to turn cause the skies would not tuch the ground *http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif *


Then when we got the 440 phanter ! wow what a sled. the one with the gas tank at the back and the cigarette lighter ! i flipped that one over more than once with thoes metal railes on the track ! *http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif *http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Dan i have seen and riden a few old sleds but i have never seen one with a cigerette lighter now thats odd, but i knew a guy who put a tape deck in his phazer and two 6x9`s you could hear the music over the engine, actually thats pretty odd to eh http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

I used to drive this old (60s?) doo around. *Always called it the 12-3 (12.3 hp, maybe?). *Topped out about 32 mph. *Tippy little machine. *Traditional doo colors with that rounded, bubblish kinda hood. *It sucked with the bogie wheels, but my dad put a skid frame in it and widened the ski stance, and then you couldn't get it stuck! *It was great for pulling a sleigh around the yard. *Hours of relatively non-dangerous fun.

I remember my dad lifting up the seat of his old 71 Viking to put gas in it. *Using the ole' spray bottle to spray gas in the carb to get it started. *The old one piece suits from KMart. *Boy those where the days.

The 12-3 was really popular around Apsley in the late 60s. The model name meant 12 HP, 300 cc.

Ohhh yeah baby, the seats that lifted up. Back in my stupid days a buddy had a 74 chaparral thunderbird with the hinged seat. We could fit exactly a case of beer under and the many spare plugs it needed. Kevin

I forgot to say anything about my gold glitter openface helmet with a bubble shield snapped on. It was my dad's that went with his old motorcycles he use to have.
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</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (DanR @ Aug. 21, 2002, 08:21am)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">we got the 440 phanter[/b][/quote]
What the heck is that? I think the Nordic had cigarette lighters on the dash.

in 1975 the yamaha gp 433 {might have been gp 440}with sliders had a single sprocket drive and everybody with one was euchered unless they were in fluffy deep snow.
*the 1972 yamaha gp 292 had the longest carb and velocity stack in the world, anyone that rode one for the first time without a skin tight snowmobile suit had an engine bogging problem. *http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

Sorry ther revrnd, *that was a typo, *I had a Pantera 440 and yes it had a cigarette lighter ! il try to find some pics but im sure someone has seen thoes before

i remember my Superbrute taking off without a rider straight into a tree. *the difference from then to now was there was no Snowmobileworld.com or Ebay on line to find a replacement exhaust and muffler http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif * snowmobilies and the internet is a huge change.

Hate it when those sleds doo that! * http://www.snowmobileworld-s2.com/forums/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif