I get asked that a lot lately – usually followed by “Why don’t you update your site more often!!”. So here’s the scoop. I’m pretty busy at work. Fortunately, I love what I do, so that’s not an issue. I’m also knee-deep in way too many projects. Here they are, in order of what will get done first:

Brad Hulings’ 1978 440-X Polaris RXL Restoration
Photo of the sled back in the day, courtesy of Retrosno.com Bob Rankin. Photo was taken at Scarborough Downs , Maine in 1978. On the right is how it looked the day I started to go to work on it. The sled was found on the East Coast, it was being drag raced with an 800cc Polaris free air motor in it. It has a magnesium bulkhead, and a serial number that clearly makes it one of the 78 440-X sleds. How do I know it is Hulings? Well, Steve Thorsen’s 78 440-X is owned by Rob McMillian in Canada. Rob and I spent hours on the phone looking at every hole, cut, weld, mark, dent, mounting and piece of dirt on both sleds, and came to the conclusion his has to be Thorsen’s (too many things matched the original photos to be coincidence) and since Jerry Bunke’s is in the Snowmobile Hall of Fame – that leaves this one to be Hulings. As a bonus, the handlebars, gas tank fittings and the footloop all match how Brad had his. The serial numbers are strange for a 78 RXL, and they are one number off from each other! Currently the sled is stripped to the bone; The motor is being gone through, parts are being cleaned, the track needs many new cleats, the seat is being repaired. I expect to have her done around the 1st of November.

My 2007 Rider:

It’s not in the garage yet, but I’m getting ready for this one. This will be my rider sled this winter: A 1972 Polaris ATX 500 triple.

THE RACE SLEDS:
In getting ready to do a little more racing this winter, I’m doing a little upgrade work on last years 250cc leaf spring SnoPro. Nothing major, just some small improvements to the track, chassis and pipes. The other one is a clone 340cc RXL. Since this one is being built from scratch, well, you can imagine how much work is going into this one. Fortunately, I have some really, really smart people helping me with the tricky parts on this one. I’ve owned and driven a lot of RXL’s in the past several years, but this is the first one I’ll be able to really race. I can’t wait. Both are expected to be done before we get ice. I’m also helping Jim Haug get is 340cc leafer ready as well has his new sled, which if I told you about it, I’d have to kill you.

THE BOOK:

As a few of you know, I’ve been working on a book about the Polaris race team for some time. I’ve interviewed Leroy Lindblad, Larry Rugland, Don Omdahl, David Johnson and many more, but I still have many, many interviews to go. Recently I got to go to Rushford Minnesota and visit with Vern Bunke, brother of the late great Jerry Bunke. While I was there, I visited Jerry for a bit. I plan on having the book ready this spring. I cannot wait to tell the full story about David Johnson’s race career, all the way to Jerry Bunke and all the others that were, and dreamed of being on that team.

So I’ve been getting to the updates as much as I can… but they might be a little slower then I like. In the meantime, enjoy the Bull Sessions – thats 500 people adding new stuff to the web site 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year! Thanks for all the great feedback, comments and support!

Grey Rolland got a motorcycle as a college graduation present. Needless to say, the bike was a big hit with Grey, who became obsessed with the color. So when it came time to build a sled, of course it would be a Yamaha (with an SSR 3 stage engine), but what to do about the color?

No problem. Just match your beloved bike, sit back and wait for the questions to start!

You know the summer show season is getting close when the inbox get all kinds of photos of newly restored sleds in it. Here’s a great example. Cat guy Tom Ische wrote to tell me the site needs more Cat stuff – so he sent me new photos of this 1978 Cat SnoPro he has just finished in time for the summer shows. Tom will have this Cat at the Thief River Falls show this coming weekend. I’m hoping he’ll bring it to St. Germain the following weekend.

The 78 Cat was affectionately called the “Mailbox” for its rather square-ish styling. This one is a 250cc machine that Tom recently bought from Mike Meagher. It had a Wahl front end on it, but Tom pulled that part and let Mike keep it. At first Tom was not sure if it was a 78 or 79, so he did a bunch of research on it. Combining information from Al Enno and Steve Olson, it was determined to be a 78 chassis. Tom found a correct top and for the motor, and he’s been restoring it since about January 1st, non stop until now.

Tom’s next project is an 81 Cat SnoPro he picked up over 2 years ago. Nice work Tom!

Troy Moore’s latest: 1974 Polaris 340cc Replica Rider.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Troy Moore stands out as one of the best in a small group of some of the best restoration guys in the hobby. His latest is an exciting addition to his collection of work he has done over the year.

Troy built a 1974 340cc replica Polaris SnoPro that not only looks cool – he intends to take her for a ride as well.

Catching up on things in the inbox, I found these interesting restorations from all over North America. Some have wondered in recent months if restorations have slowed down – not at all! Granted, some of the long time heavy hitter restoration guys are taking long and well deserved breaks, the vacuum is being quickly filled by new talent from Quebec to Seattle. Here are some examples.

“Hi all. My name is Edmund Vigneault and I live in Windsor Vermont. I have been in love with cats all my life and have restored a handful of common Cats. Now I have a few that are not so common that I am working on.

I would like to thank all that had helped me in my newest restoration. You all know who You are and I am vary thankful for all the help in finding parts and all the knowledge shared.

This is a clone built to as close as possible spec’s.

Thanks Ed Vigneault”

Thank you Ed, and I’ll bet it’s a fun ride!

This one came in an email with no return address – just the name “Sarah”.

“This is my baby. it a 76 Z that i restored the best that my brother and i can.. we live in New York so parts for the Z are not really available.”

Looks good! Although I’d have to ask – it looks as though this picture was taken on a race track. I have to assume you did a little vintage racing this year? How did she run??

As for parts – not a day goes by that someone doesn’t email me to tell me they found or sold what they were looking for on the Classifieds section. So if in the future you need some stuff – the Classifieds are always available!

Next we have a color that we just don’t see enough on vintagesleds.com – ORANGE! Brad Birgy sent in his collection of AMF Ski-Daddlers.

“HI, I am Brad Birgy and I have a small collection of AMF Ski Daddlers. You never see many of these sleds around so I thought it would be neat to see them here. I have been collecting and restoring them for 2 years. I grew up riding these sleds and everyone in our neighborhood owned one, the dealer lived close buy. so I have been collecting and restoring all the models that I can remember that where in the neighborhood.

Right now I have a 1972 xx1300, 1972 xx1340, 1971 mark5, 1971 mark3 and a 1969 mark26. Right now I am getting ready to start restoring a 1971 xx1650 with a 650 red barron motor. I know these where not the pride of the snowmobile world but these are a part of snowmobile history . Thanks Brad Birgy.”

Thank you Brad for preserving part of snowmobiling’s rich history.

A full 8 hours today of hunting down just the right bolt, nut and tie-rod and all I have to show for it is one ski mounted on my current, and first, restoration project. Part one is to just get all the parts and loosely bolt the thing together. Part two is, well, a very long way away.

My basement smells of WD-40. Those of you who know me will understand what a huge event in my life it is to have any part of my house smell like WD-40. Think Niles Crane (from the t.v. show “Frasier”) discovering snowmobile restoration and you’ll have a pretty good picture.