It was a 72 800cc Starfire that got me into this whole "vintage" thing. Even though I grew up with and loved snowmobiles as a kid, by late in 1999 I was in such a different world that snowmobiles never ever crossed my mind. That is until I went to the Waconia show and got the privilege of riding Doc Jim’s 72 800 Starfire.
I was so thrilled with that I just started doing this website for the fun of it… and I haven’t ever stopped, and I don’t plan to.
At this years VSCA National show, Gregg Holland’s 72 800cc Starfire stuck out to me from across the room. To say this is a sweet restoration would be a severe understatement. This thing is stunning.
Last summer Greg was walking through a scrap yard, when a sled with an ill-fitting 74 TX hood caught his eye. Right off he noticed the chaincase being offset, and that the bumpers were worn from pipes (that were missing) smacking them. This was no 74 TX! It was a 72 Starfire, and it clearly was on of the big triples. What was pretty funny to Greg at the time was that he knew several Polaris collectors had walked right by this sled and didn’t catch what it really was. Whoops.
By August Greg started working on the project. He enlisted a lot of people to help out. Rob Simonich had a motor for him. Don (Dr. Mario) Soukup had some parts for him, as did Tim Hill and Gary Bright. Conrad Van Batavia did the seat, and Justin Fredrickson was of great assistance in researching the parts and pieces. Jesse Anderson did the awesome paint work on the sled, and Justin Clack and Doug Monson had a hand it as well. He took the sled all the way down, even removing the belly pan (not a task for the faint of heart), smashing that all back into shape and re-attaching it.
Multiple projects going at one time keep Greg enthused. “I used to do cars. But with snowmobiles, you can work on and own a bunch of them at the same time. The projects don’t take so long – its just a lot more fun.” He doesn’t do the body work, opting to have professionals help out in that arena. So once the sled is out for body work or paint, he can work on motors, suspensions – whatever else needs to be cleaned up to be re-installed.
Greg got a real head start into restoring Polaris sleds when he got to know Burt Buzick, who has become a good friend. Burt had huge bunch of New Old Stock (NOS) parts and decided they needed a new home with Greg. “Use what you can, use some to trade for what you need, and if you sell any of it, give me the money!” was all Burt said when he gave Greg the parts. Because of Burt and the others who helped, the sled is restored with 80% NOS parts. The rest of the parts that Greg got? “Not for sale. But I will consider trades for parts I need for other projects.” Greg said.
The sled was finished in March. “The best part of any restoration is starting it up for the first time.” Greg said it runs beautiful, and he cannot wait to drive it next winter. This will be no trailer queen – he’s going to have some fun on it. He just wanted to show it once at the big VSCA show before he rides it.
Greg says he finds the best part of this whole vintage deal to be the "old timers" who come out to see the sleds. “I want to get them as close as I can to how those guys remember seeing them. I love the look on their face when they see the sleds looking like new, and I always look forward to the stories and shooting the breeze with them.”
Well said Greg. I couldn’t agree more. Looking at this 72 brought back great memories of riding the 72 at Waconia, and of seeing them race back in the day. Memories on top of memories. Gotta love it.