You may have heard some of the rumors that vintage racing’s Dick Peterson is auctioning off some his sleds. The rumor is true, but not what you may think. I spoke with Dick this morning, and he is doing just fine. What he’s auctioning off is remnants of some company assets that were sold off years ago. But he is throwing in all the vintage sled stuff that he now feels he will never get the time to restore. Included in that is a pile of vintage Ski-Doo sleds that Dick has been collecting since he was 16. There’s also some partial and complete Polaris sleds, and even a 295 73 Starfire that Dick used to race. No, he’s not selling any RXL stuff! More information on the auction – this October 18th in Clear Lake Minnesota at the auction companies website.

It’s official, the world’s most expensive Skiroule sold for $30,200.00. I can tell you it was NOT Jay Carsley (AKA “Rude Dog”) who actually bought it; ‘Old Rude Dog was merely bidding for someone with lame internet access. To quote Jay: “As for the bidding process…I wasn’t that nervous the day I got married. My hands shook for an hour afterwards.” When your spending that much of someone else’s money, yeah it can be scary.

Who is the new owner? Well, I’m not sure he wants his name splattered about, so we’ll just keep that under the hat, so to speak, for now. I can tell you it’s going to a home where will be loved, cherished and displayed (how about raced?) with the best of them. I think he got a bargain.

One thing’s for certain from watching the Bull Sessions and listening to comments and the email I got over this sled; big money=big emotions.

Ever been sitting at your house and thought “I know I’m missing something good. I just know it”? Well yesterday, most of us did miss something good! An auction near Brainerd Minnesota had King-Kats, Thunderjets, Speedways, an Allouette SUper, One of Dimmerman’s old race sleds, RXL engines…. you name it for desirable old sleds, and this auction had one. Here’s the kicker: Most of it went pretty darn cheap!

Check out some of the photos & prices on the VSCA web site!

Oh Boy. This could get out of hand. First up is Alice Cooper’s car for sale on eBay, and, I’m not kidding, a snowmobile oil that is actually called Analube. In 5th grade I was almost thrown out of school for good because I forgot I had headphones on and I burst into a rousing chorus of Alice Cooper’s “I Love the Dead”. It got me a trip to the principal and the school counselor. I didn’t realize the song was about having sex with a corpse until many years later. Thanks to John Jantsch and SKi-Doo Monty for the heads up!

Every once in awhile, an auction for something really, really odd shows up on ebay. Today I got notice of an auction for a pair of leather pants. I have’nt laughed this hard in some time. Be sure to scroll down and read the comments from bidders.

Speaking of eBay, Ed Webb’s 600 sleds will be for sale on eBay in groups of 10, starting October 15th or so. You can see a complete list and (coming soon) the auction dates. Check out RecEng.com for details.

Last week I reported a King Kat for sale on eBay= that made it to a high bid of $9,800. The reserve was not met, so the sale didn’t go through.

Last night I met someone via an ad I’d placed on the web for parts. He had a track for me from a 1976 Arctic Cat Z. He lives not to far from my office, so I agreed to drive out to his place after work and take a look. When I arrived at his house, he was attempting to start his motorcycle with no luck. We walked down to the barn to take a look at the track. The track was good.

We settled on a price, then started looking at some of his vintage cats. A 76 Z, an El Tigre and some others I didn’t recognize. He asked me if I was interested in buying a King Kat. “I’d love to, but I’ve never even seen one, let alone one for sale”. I said, not even imagining he actually had one.

“I keep the good stuff in my garage” he said with a grin. I knew I was in for a good surprise. I told him about Vintage sleds.com. He’d never seen the site. But he had put his King Kat on eBay a few days ago. That’s when I knew I had stumbled on to a good story. I couldn’t help think what a small world it is.

In his garage was not only the eBay King Kat, but another one in good condition, just two serial numbers away from the now famous eBay King Kat. He bought three King Kats a while back, but didn’t really want all of them. He was forced to buy them as a package to get the one he wanted. The package also included a 1973 Formula II that he is restoring.

I’m not a Cat guy, but the King sure looked good to me. Four green temperature gauges. Racing seat. A chassis that measures correctly. But with those four giant-ass cylinders sticking out of the hood, who cares if it’s totally original? These things look positively cool!

We chatted about the Kings for some time. It turns out he did, as Doc Jim correctly guessed, have the reserve price so high it was unlikely anyone could meet it. But he got emails. Man, did he get emails.

One lucky gentleman on the East coast had until last night to make up his mind if he wants to purchase both of them. If not, there are many more people lined up to pick one or both of them up. How much will they go for? I promised not to tell, but let’s just say if you bought both the sleds, you could have taken the same amount of money and bought a handful of brand new, top of the line Arctic Cats. And a covered trailer if, you found a good sale.

But I don’t know of any new Arctic Cats, let alone trailers, that have four cylinders sticking out of the hood, so why spend your money foolishly? This stories not over. I’ll keep you posted as I find out the rest.

I’m starting to hear from other people with cool collections. Today in the mail I got a stack of photos from Mike Farris. Damned nice stuff, I can’t wait to get them up. I’ve also set up appointments with three others to photograph their collections. Great fun.

I got my new issue of the VSCA (Vintage Snowmobile Club of America) magazine last night. If you don’t already subscribe to that magazine, I highly recommend it. I read it from cover to cover last night, and then I read it all over again. Great ads in the back as well.

Speaking of ads, someone put a 1971 4-cylinder King Kat for sale on eBay. With 6 days to go on the auction, it’s up over $5,000 already. If you win this auction, the seller wants you to send money first, then he’ll deliver it. I don’t know. I don’t think I could send thousands of dollars to a stranger in the hopes that he’ll bring the sled to me. Scary.

I keep hearing stories about the good old days of vintage sleds when you could buy a 4 cylinder King-Kat (or something just as rare and unique) for $500, touch up the hood and take it for a ride.

With the spiraling prices of some sleds it would seem those days are over. There are still good deals out there. But as the supply of unique sleds dwindles, those deals come fewer and farther between. A lot of people aren’t happy about the prices going up. Of course those who own nice vintage sleds are ecstatic over the hike in value. The sleds become not only a source of pride and joy, but also a small financial asset.

Although I feel a little discouraged that the prices are going up so high, I have to remind myself that it was inevitable that market forces would come into play with vintage sleds as it does any time people smell money. I fully expect the value of some vintage sleds to continue to climb. Luckily, it’s not just the exotic that commands a higher price. A carefully restored run-of-the-mill production sled will fetch some decent money. All the sled need do is tickle the fancy of some aging baby-boomer that is looking to recapture his or her misspent youth. Like me.

Those of us that miss the good ‘ol days have a choice to make. Take part in the growth of the hobby or not. Owners of some sleds can help prevent the commercialization of the hobby by refusing to participate. It will be very interesting to see what happens in the next few years as the various organizations shake out.

There’s still quite a few interesting sleds out there. I’ve only begun to find the sleds that interest me. Everyone has different tastes. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll still find that 1974 Yamaha SnoPro sled sitting in the barn of a deceased farmer and buy it from his widow for $150.

And maybe I’ll win the lottery.

And maybe Liv Tyler really does want to marry me.

Comments on this? Email the Author. Discussion is welcome.