I was getting primed up for the "year of the Deere" way back at the Princeton show last fall. Here I am sitting on on of John Deere Joe Rainville’s prized possessions – his 76 liquidator, restored by Mark Stevens and Jon Carlson had it done up to look like his original factory race sled. This was the first time I ever sat on a Deere! This weekend, I sure hope I get to ride one of these babies.

There is so much going on this weekend at Waconia that it’s hard to keep track of. Sorry, VintageSleds.com won’t have a booth or a banner or flyer there. We don’t go to Waconia to pimp this website; We go enjoy the people, the sleds and to appreciate the hard work the Waconia committee does to put the show on.

So what’s going on this weekend? Where do I start?

First of all, I told you there would be two very fascinating sleds there. One is confirmed and will be inside the ballroom. Probably the rarest John Deere you will ever see. And you will likely never see it again after this weekend.

The other, I’m afraid will not be there. I’ll have more on this king-of-insanity sled and it’s whereabouts later this week – don’t miss it.

Also there is ALWAYS some super rare stuff that turns up from all over the place. The swap is not to be missed, nor is the show on Sunday. Miss either and you will miss something you wanted to see.

The ROLA racing on Saturday should be quite a showdown. I’m hearing that almost anyone with a sled to race wants to be there and take a shot at it. I myself am hoping to get in some hot laps on my favorite little 250cc machine. I haven’t ridden it since I did some hot laps last year at Waconia! That little sled has been some of the fondest memories I’ve got from the whole vintage sleds affair. I can’t wait.

The ride on Saturday is always HUGE and a good time. This year we’ve got plenty of snow, and the temps should be a little on the cold side – but not enough to scare anyone away. I’m going to try and ride as big a variety of sleds as I possibly can. Waconia a few years back was the first time I tried a Ski-Doo. This year, I’d love to try some other brands. I’m just brining my rat-rod TX. Looks like a total pile of doggy doo-doo, but it almost always starts and runs.

Doc will be there with a couple new (old) sleds he just got and will be riding them around for sure. I look forward to meeting a lot of new faces – and seeing a lot of old ones again – at the biggest winter show there is.

ENJOY!

I had a fantastic time at the A-1 show in New Lothrop Michigan last weekend. My thanks to host and all-around fabulous lady Dianne Miller, and the party of crazies I drove up to the show with. They kept me laughing so hard I almost split a gut on the way there.

Here’s just a few videos and shots from the show. First up is T.J. Henriken riding his 1969 Hornet around on the wheel kit. Very cool.

Next is Greg Spaulding explaining one of six ever built 1976 Rotax prototype SnoPro motors. Greg was one of the original mechanics at the time, so he knew all about the motor in great detail. Greg also runs Spauldings Vintage Snowmobile, a great resource for re-pop parts.

Last, but certainly not least is some fantastic, sunny day photos of the Boss Cat III, newly restored by the Warning family. The restoration made it’s debut at the A-1 show.

9 Year old Garret Rimko of Sharpsville, PA quickly became one of everyone’s favorites with his extensive enthusiasm for old sleds.

Dave and his new racing ride for 2010: Clark Motorsports replica of the very successful 1980 Steve Thorsen Cat SnoPros.

Friday night we were greeted by this amazing display from Team Highland, one of Michigan’s biggest and baddest enduro race teams.

Then might I suggest that you head on up to Eagle River WIsconsin this weekend for the Reunion, show, swap and drag race at the historic Derby Track. Not only will you get to see some good old iron, you’ll get to see the two hummers right off the restoration table of Kurt Krueger and Pro Vintage Performance. I don’t know about you, but I have a soft spot for Moto-Ski Bullets. This one was literally finished up Wednesday night at 10:00 after Kurt got in a whole lot of Quality Garage Time (QGT) on it.

This baby is a 650 Red Barron Hirth version of the Bullet, approximately 1 of 5 that we know of to exist with that motor. The motor was a NOS out of the box never been run!

The next sled is a 1991 Ski-Doo twin tracker, serial number 14, with an NOS set of glass. It once belonged Chuck Villenueve (no relation to Jacques I am told). It has a 340 sand cast RAVE Rotax in it, has the high-curve ignition in it that Kurt was sorely tempted to borrow for racing but refrained!

You can see both these sleds and a whole lot more at the show this weakened.

MINNESOTA DISCOVERY CENTER EXHIBIT ON SNOWMOBILES

From September 19th to November 29th of 2009, you can see a special display at Chisolm Minnesota’s Minnesota Discovery Center entitled Iron Dogs: Snowmobiling in Minnesota is a homegrown exhibit celebrating one of our favorite pastimes. The press release says visitors will get to know the entrepreneurs, engineers, explorers and individuals who created and grew Minnesota’s connection to snowmobiling.

Sleds displayed include a replica 1918-1920 era “wheel thing” and an original 1951 Eliason. Other machines include the 1962 “Polar,” the precursor to Arctic Cat, a 1964 Trailmaker and the 1968 Ski Doo used in the first successful snowmobile expedition to the North Pole. See the 1966 Scorpion that went from Crosby to Anchorage and the 1989 Arctic Cat JAG that traveled from Minnesota to Russia. View many other machines by Polaris, Arctic Cat and Ski Doo, plus a “Ranger”, a Model T on skis, and much more.

Even visitors who see snowmobiles and wonder what all the fuss is about will find something of interest in Iron Dogs, which includes a full slate of programming and related events, from the VIP gallery opening September 18, to guest speakers, a snowmobile safety course and folk arts demonstrations. Exhibit programming includes the film Trailblazers, a two-part look at snowmobile manufacturing in Minnesota.

For more information, contact the Minnesota Discovery Center at (800) 372-6437, vist the website or email them.

I love my t-shirts, and as t-shirt design goes, I’d have to say this is one of my favorites. It’s available for the Maine Fall Classic at Retrosno.com. For those of you on the fence about going to this show – I say do it! It’s a laid-back, very friendly, family orientated good time.

This is a non-judged event, with NO entry fee! Dash plaques for all participants.

Lots of very nice hardware will be there, from the Carsley family collection to the big collectors stuff, like Jerry McGee and I even hear the Warning family is making the drive from Illinois to share a couple of very rare sleds. I just confirmed a couple of Andy Avelis’s rarest sleds will also be there, even if Andy himself can’t make it.

It’s not all race stuff either – when I was there last time, the Campbell’s brought a bunch of their classic rear-engine antiques, as did others, and there was a ton of your favorite consumer sleds – lots of them from the smaller manufacturers.

The Maine Fall Classic is in Newport Maine on September 25th, 26th and 27th.

Just got back and partially unloaded from a huge, fantastic event. I doubt Princeton has ever had a better year. Swappers as far as the eye could see!

We setup the VintageSleds.com Hospitality Center, and brought in as many of the sites visitors as we could for a chat, some pop and water and some snacks. I met literally dozens and dozens of new website visitors, and connected with dozens more I have not heard from in awhile – it was great to hear what everyone has been doing and is up to.

There was some AMAZING finds at Princeton. First up is a 1977 Factory John Deere race sled that just showed up on a trailer! The new owner (wishing to remain anonymous at this point) was literally shaking with excitement when he told me about it. His cell phone minutes and his battery were burnt out in a short period of time when word got out. None other than two original Enduro Team Deere factory race team members confirmed the sled. Here’s Steve Tabor, one of the original ETD members talking about this fascinating sled.

Here’s some more great Princeton finds:

This I believe to be one of Gordon Rudolph’s early prototype IFS machines. It has some mysteries, but it does sure look to be one of the real deals. Gordon may have made as many as 8 of these machines. Gordon worked with Polaris on the development of the very successful RXL’s.

Any idea what this is? Adam Leubner would like to know as well! This is a prototype of some sort – we assume Arctic Cat. It has a very unique motor mounting, steering system and clutch guard. Any information would be appreciated! Check out this thread if you can help!

Long time readers of VintageSleds.com will remember this sled! I made a trip to Sweden in 2001 and put up pictures of this machine from there. I had worked out a deal to buy it at that time, but we never worked out the details of getting it shipped back. I kept working with the owner, days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and months turned into years. Frankly, I forgot about it. Until Sunday when a friend informed me there was a 1980 Arctic Cat snopro for sale in the swap from Sweden… Thinking "No way, it can’t be!" I charged over to take a look. The owner remembered me right away and I reminded him of our deal. "But now the price has gone up!" he kept saying. After awhile I again gave up – more for that fact that I really have no place to put the machine than the fact that we had a deal. Oh well, I’m not out anything and this is a very good condition Cat that I am sure will find a good home!

Here is the owner – his name is "Bengon" and if the machine is not already sold, it will be at Hay Days!

This cute little green guy nearly followed me home. I got pretty caught up in "Deere Fever" what with all the race sleds around and Waconia featuring John Deere this year.

Posted 07.31.09 by Larry Preston

With just a couple of weeks to go before the Erskine Marine Mid-Michigan swap & show, word came in today that Snow Trails TV will be there – with the cameras.

"Video Mike" is the main man at Snow Trails and he might just be catching the vintage bug. Take some time to stop by, say hi and show him how much fun you vintage sledders are.

Check out the Snow Trails TV website – there are all kinds of free videos to watch – Snow Trails is available on Public Television and is supported by the snowmobiler industry and donations. It features snowmobile travel and destination show. There’s some racing, summer activity, and a good variety of what happens in the world of snowmobile.

Make sure you make the show – it could be your chance to get your machine and you on TV.

Joe Desormeaux (aka "Demo") will be there from VintageSleds.com with some goodies to hand out. Be sure to stop by and say hello to him as well!