Any of you guys into Vintage Sleds?

[PocketThunder]

I've got a '71 Arctic Cat Panther 340 that i had running 5 years ago.  I got it out again now the kids are old enough to go for a ride.  It fired off for me Sunday but i need to clean out the fuel lines and maybe rebuild the carb.

Tonight i'm going to go look at a '73 Yamaha GP338 that is local to me.  He says it runs and its a couple hundred bucks so i cant pass that up! 

I'll report back with pictures tonight.

Paul

[Ponch ®]

I'm from Cali, so when I saw "vintage sled" the first thing that came to mind was one of these:

[skip68]

Pictures when you get them please.   Sounds cool to me.

[speedfreak68]

I'm from Cali, so when I saw "vintage sled" the first thing that came to mind was one of these:

Thats what I thought too...except I'm from Kansas lol

[vancamp]

me three south Arkansas though

[1969chargerrtse]

I used to have some old Rupps.  I had a 69 SkiDoo at one time.  It was almost better to run in the snow than that fat slow thing.

[chargerboy69]

I love some of the old sleds.  I have been looking for a old Mercury Hurricane for some time without much luck.

[PocketThunder]

Well the Yamaha guy had to reschedule for this weekend so i wont be getting that sled till probably Saturday Morning.  But here are the pictures of my Arctic Cat Panther.  I'm off to pull the tank and carb and give them a good cleaning. 

Paul

[drifter69]

I think Ponch's sled would make it just as far in the snow after looking at the tracks on the other.

[Shakey]

I'm really diggin' the seat covers on that thing!   

I was up in Wyoming, MN at the Polaris design facilty a few times, got some really neat stuff up there.

[NHCharger]

Those pics brought back some memories. Didn't the old cats have the metal cleats on the tracks? I remember some hair raising rides on the ice with them. We had a pair of 71 Ski-Doo Olympics. Beat the snot out of mine, never left me stranded. went through a couple sets of the boogie wheel suspension since we didn't have the groomed trails back in the old days. My best friend had a 440 Rupp. Other friend had some Harley Davidson sleds, talk about some serious junk.

[oldgold69]

 i have a 72 polaris colt  72 rupp nitro  80 polaris txl 340 83 vmax  my dad has a 69 skidoo 1 lunger    my son is trying to restore the colt  my back cant take more than ten miles on those things

[Shakey]

Had a Yamaha 340 as a kid in the early '80's.  Ran it into the side of the neighbours house when I lost control.  Got lucky as I was wearing a helmet and flew of the sled and went head first into the wall.  Further to that it was an extension on the house with sliding doors on either side.  3 feet to the left and I would have gone through one sliding door, careened through the living room and right out the other.  It was my lucky day!

[Richard Cranium]

I prefer the modern 4 stoke machines.

[PocketThunder]

I prefer the modern 4 stoke machines.

Me too,  but my budget doesnt allow it at the moment.   

[Magnumcharger]

I'm not "into" vintage sleds by any means. However, since these things keep showing up at local car shows in the SUMMER, I feel obliged to take pictures of them when I see a few lined up.
My personal background with sleds primarily involved wrapping them around trees when I was a teenager, or tearing the shit out of a "Kittycat" (you should know that term!) at a friends' hunting camp.

There definitely is a strong movement towards restoring these machines, and the followers are every bit as dedicated as all of us Charger folk!

Here's a few snapshots, just for shits 'n giggles!

[Magnumcharger]

More pics...

[Magnumcharger]

Last few.

[moparstuart]

that red one had a shaker hood   

[HANDM]

On the yellow one, it looks like someone crossed out snowbite and re wrote snowbible 

[John_Kunkel]

When I saw "vintage sled" the first thing that came to mind was "Rosebud".

[PocketThunder]

I'm not "into" vintage sleds by any means. However, since these things keep showing up at local car shows in the SUMMER, I feel obliged to take pictures of them when I see a few lined up.
My personal background with sleds primarily involved wrapping them around trees when I was a teenager, or tearing the shit out of a "Kittycat" (you should know that term!) at a friends' hunting camp.

There definitely is a strong movement towards restoring these machines, and the followers are every bit as dedicated as all of us Charger folk!

Here's a few snapshots, just for shits 'n giggles!

Thanks for those Robin.    Apparently the largest vintage sled meet in the world is just down the road from me on Lake Waconia at the end of January.  I'll take my sleds out there and see whats up.

http://www.mwvss.com/

[PocketThunder]

When I saw "vintage sled" the first thing that came to mind was "Rosebud".

What?  Are you referring to the movie citizen cane?(which i havent seen) after a google search >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizen_Kane

?..??...??

[PocketThunder]

So my son and i went to this guys house Saturday morning to look at this 73 Yamaha.  Its in the backyard covered in snow.  We pull the plugs and shoot a little starting fluid in the cylinders and i give the rip cord a pull and the sucker fires right up!  SWEET!  I wasnt even going to haggle him down from $250.  It was worth it to me.   

Here is a pic of where it was sitting.

Paul

[General_01]

Fits Nick like a glove.

[Charger_Fan]

But here are the pictures of my Arctic Cat Panther. 

I see you bought it a windshield. No windshield HERE<--- 

[71_Charger_R/T]

But here are the pictures of my Arctic Cat Panther. 

I see you bought it a windshield. No windshield HERE<--- 

Different sled!

[71_Charger_R/T]

Here's a sled I sold about 3 years ago (I wish I hadn't) I found out after selling it that it was worth about 250 times what I sold it for (Just as it sat) and way more than that restored. It was one of the factory race sleds driven by Stan Hayes so it has some heritage. It was a very fast and fun sled until my brother-in-law tried to cut down a birch tree with it. 

[wayfast1500]

I restored a '76 Olympic a few years ago.  I also did a '82 Polaris that I got for free.  I have no interest in doing much with sleds, but if I came across a old mercury snow twister or a snow jet I'd be all over it.  I'd love to find one of the old factory race sleds guys are still comming across in fields and barns.  They definatly have the muscle car look and IMO look a lot more agressive than today's sleds.  Off topic I'm doing a '84 Suzuki pe 175 that I got for free.  I was going to keep it as a beater until I saw one at the dealership and found out they pay $2500-$3000 for them.  The old recreation toys keep their value too I guess.

[PocketThunder]

Have any of you guys repaired plastic gas tanks?  The horizontal seam on this Yamaha tank is leaking and i need to fix it. or find another one.  I found this company Caswell Inc that makes and epoxy sealer.  Has anyone done this? 

http://www.caswellplating.com/aids/epoxygas.htm

[Charger_Fan]

But here are the pictures of my Arctic Cat Panther. 

I see you bought it a windshield. No windshield HERE<--- 

Different sled!

Woops, quite right. I was too distracted by that snazzy fuzzy looking seat. Plus I didn't think there's any way that PT would actually buy two of those things, but I was wrong. He's a masochist, I tell ya.

[PocketThunder]

So after a stop to the boat store, i have a replacement gas tank for the Yamaha..    Its a 3 gallon marine tank.  It fits pretty darn good where the original tank goes and today we put the seat back on and she fired right up.  Got the kids helmets on and around the yard we went.  These old sleds dont like 2 feet of powder snow though.  It took a couple laps around the yard to beat down a path.  Fun times though!

Paul

[PocketThunder]

 

[maxwellwedge]

My first sled was a Sno-Jet....340 single thumper.

In 1969 there were aver 110 manufacturers of sleds - how many now - 5?

My second sled was a 74 Merc 440 twin - it was ok.

My next sled was a 74 Merc Sno-Twister.....They are still raced and are still competitive in their class.

Yamaha SRV  (No - Not that SRV).....And then a bunch of Polaris Indy 600's.

Then - I got married

[General_01]

That's cool Paul. Glad you were able to find a suitable replacement for the tank. Now you and the kids can have some fun and you'll have something to go do the next time you wife has all the neighbor ladies over. 

[472 R/T SE]

I'm really diggin' the seat covers on that thing!   

And in San Francisco there's a laid off newspaper reporter looking for seat covers' for his '69 Charger that were supposedly stolen.   

[GPULLER]

Paul did you go to Waconia with your Panther?  I think I saw you buzz by on it while I was drooling over some Rupps.  Went with my uncle, he was there to buy a Rupp.  He had '76 Nitro and '76 Magnum back in the day.  He ended up buying a '77 Nitro, it aint real pretty but the motor was gone threw, plus a pile of parts.

My Waconia pics.

http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i286/GPULLER/Waconia%202011/

[PocketThunder]

Paul did you go to Waconia with your Panther?  I think I saw you buzz by on it while I was drooling over some Rupps.  Went with my uncle, he was there to buy a Rupp.  He had '76 Nitro and '76 Magnum back in the day.  He ended up buying a '77 Nitro, it aint real pretty but the motor was gone threw, plus a pile of parts.

My Waconia pics.

http://s75.photobucket.com/albums/i286/GPULLER/Waconia%202011/

No i never made it over there.  By the time i had free time to leave the house it was Sunday at 1:30 so i just fired up the '73 and bombed around the house with the kids a dozen times and called it close enough.

Paul

[GPULLER]

No i never made it over there.  By the time i had free time to leave the house it was Sunday at 1:30 so i just fired up the '73 and bombed around the house with the kids a dozen times and called it close enough.

Paul

Well if it wasnt you...maybe your twin?