NOTE: This article was originally submitted by Charles Pluedamann
Early production sled now in Snowmobile Hall of Fame Museum
One of the few existing examples of the 1960 Ski-Doo snowmobile has been placed on permanent display at the Snowmobile Hall of Fame and Museum (SHOF) in St. Germain, Wis. The antique machine, number 190 of the first production run of 229 Ski-Doo sleds, is also the first Ski-Doo shipped by Bombardier Corporation from its factory in Quebec to the Midwest United States, and is the first Ski-Doo sold by Halvorson Forest Equipment of Duluth, an early distributor of Ski-Doo snowmobiles. The snowmobile is owned by Tom Halvorson. Noted Ski-Doo authority Phil Mickelson, who is also a former Halvorson and Bombardier employee, made arrangements to have the Ski-Doo placed on permanent exhibit in the museum.
This Ski-Doo Model K60 was delivered, unordered, in late 1959 to Halvorson Forest Equipment, a distributor for large Bombardier tracked vehicles, along with a shipment of those vehicles. The small, yellow snowmobile sat in a shop corner until March, 1960, when Tom Halvorson had it moved to his garage in Duluth. His home was adjacent to a golf course, and on a whim one weekend he cleaned up the Ski-Doo and took it for a ride on the sparse remaining snow cover. Realizing that the Ski-Doo could be sold not for work, but for recreation, Tom Halvorson and his father Roy set out to market the Ski-Doo through a network of dealers across the Midwest. Their effort helped spark the growth of recreational snowmobiling.
The Ski-Doo, with wooden skis and powered by a 7-hp Kohler four-stroke engine, was originally sold to John Bero of Duluth, who "just wanted it to play around with." Several years later Roy Halvorson bought the machine back from Bero, knowing it would have a special place in the history of snowmobiling. This sled was on display at the office of Halvorson Incorporated until the company was purchased by Bombardier Ine. in 1973. The snowmobile was then displayed in the entry of the Bombardier Corp. facility in Duluth until the office moved to Wausau, Wis. in 1991. Mickelson was left in charge of the building in Duluth until the lease expired and the remaining service operations moved to Wausau.
"I knew the entire history of this 1960 Ski-Doo that I had walked past every day for twenty four years," said Mickelson, "and I wasn’t about to let it leave Duluth. I contacted Tom Halvorson to see if he wanted to have it back. He said that he would rather see it in a significant museum. I looked to St. Germain and the Snowmobile Hall of Fame. They already have an incredible collection of very special sleds located right in the middle of the original Halvorson distribution territory, so it’s a perfect spot for this historic Ski-Doo to be on display."
The SHOF is located on Wisconsin Highway 70 W at Sled World Blvd. in St. Germain. For more information contact the SHOF at 715-542-4HOF or www.snowmobilehalloffame.com.