SKI DOO
Backwoods Blog;
in the woods and on the road…
This is a color slide of my twin sister and I sitting on our childhood snow machine in front of our house (I can barely see over the handlebars). It was a 1967 Moto-Ski Capri with a 12 horse power engine. The date on the slide is stamped March 1968, which means it was probably taken earlier that winter since it usually took a couple of months to get the film processed and returned. This comes as a shock, because it means the ski-doo was almost new! I don’t remember any of the details about where my father bought it or how much it cost, but usually my Dad bought used or looked for a good deal. Back in those days, there were no groomed snowmobile trails and the sleds were not sleek or very fast. Sleds were designed to break their own trail across fields, didn’t have much suspension, and were light enough so if you did get stuck, you could lift it and go. In our case, we had the back fields on our farm to cruise so we didn’t venture too far from home. One of our favorite things to do was lay down a large circle track and go round and round (which we never got tired of). One year my father took the hood off an old 1954 International school bus, flipped it over and tied it to the back of the ski-doo so we could haul passengers, and even the dog seemed to like it. Again, none of this was very fast by today’s standards but we thought it was just the best.
I also remember how temperamental the ski-doo could be. It started hard, and even once it did start, it didn’t mean it would keep going. And my father was not a mechanic. Since we were too small to crank the pull cord, Dad would have to start it for us. If it stalled out while we were out in the field or going around our circle track, that meant Dad had to trudge through the snow to get it going again. I think this may have been the reason for the short duration of our snowmobiling days. Our first snowmobile, a 1964 Bombardier Ski-Doo had met the same fate a few years earlier. It was even harder to start. Perhaps that’s why Dad bought a new machine the second time around. Regardless, that was the end of our snowmobiling days on the Hutchinson farm. You’ll find a couple of stock photos of the ill-fated machines included below. Happy trails…
In the woods,
Dave
February 8, 2023
This story probably helps explain why your chosen snow transportation became the cross country ski.
Like my Dad, I am no mechanic…I prefer skis, bikes and paddles.
Your preferred transportation modes are also mine. And the nice thing about them is that they tend to be quiet, they don’t pollute, and only need fossil fuel products for occasional lubrication or waxing.
NOW you’re talking, Dave! My earliest sled was a 1966 Ski-Doo 10 hp. Like you, I was unable to fire it up myself and since my dad didn’t get home from work until later, I would get my neighbor, Dr. Williams, to start it for me. One time we started it and the throttle was frozen wide open. Fortunately the garage door was up and the sled went sailing out of the garage! Also, fortunately, “wide open” didn’t mean what it does today. The good ‘ol days!
posted by Fred L
Now that you mention it, I do remember the “low-tech” throttle mechanism. Ours used to stick open once in a while too (tho it never led to any unfortunate collisions)!