600 sleds going up on ebay on 10-20-05

grasscutter97 · Post by **grasscutter97** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 2:24 pm

By now most everyone has got their flyer in the mail about the HUGE 600 + sled collection going up on ebay. They are going to sell up to 10 sleds a week, and will be selling them from now until March of 2006! Factory snopros, every make and model you can think of. (go to www.receng.com)

It got me thinking (dangerous), why the heck do we only have 4 stupid sled brands? Sure everyone like their favorite cat or Polaris....blah freakin blah. I looked over the bill of sale that is going up on ebay...there used to be dozens of different manufacturers.

It still could be done now. Don't do like Scorpion tried. They didn't have the cash for all the R&D they were doing. Of course not you idiots, you are trying to start from the ground up. They failed, and they didn't even do ANY engine R&D as they bought their power plants from Polaris.

So, why don't we...(wild speculation to follow...)...take the old 80's Indy design and make a few simple changes and market it as a different brand. Or take different ideas from different brands and make your own. Suspension from Cat, Polaris engine, etc. And come on...10K for some of those new sleds??? Give me a break! You should be able to buy a decent sled for 3K new. A plain old IFS-EFI twin 500cc for simple trail riding etc. The cheapest thing out there now is about $3600 and its a 340 fan with carbs. Come on! They can do better. Making a better basic entry level sled....That's what will get people out in the sport. Sleds were cheap back then, and it seemed everyone had one (or two). For a good look at how to make a sno pro racer for a super cheap amount go to http://wahlracing.com/archives/formula_340...uild.php...have fun...the possibilites are endless.

Oh well, just an old guy rambling. If I win that 340Mill powerball, I guarantee a new sled brand will be out in the next year!!

Post by **Matt** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 7:14 pm

There were way more then a few dozen brands, more like a few hundred.

I don't agree with most of what you just said, in that I don't think a $3000 sled could be built so that you can make enough money to cover the very high costs of building them, then having enough room left for your dealers to make enough to want to sell them.

I think Scorpion was going a good direction, it just cost way more then they had figured.

Post by **WinnipegStPaul9** » Thu Oct 20, 2005 6:42 pm

In 1969-70 there were no less than 132 makes of snowmobiles. We were told that there would be six within ten years and we laughed.......guess we didn't get the last laugh.

Joe95StangGT · Post by **Joe95StangGT** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 7:49 am

im looking at a asled on there, would he sell it off auction? is there any way i could see pics of it.

oldslednut · Post by **oldslednut** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 3:31 pm

Here are my thoughts, he has 600 sleds and mu just looking at it this early he may have 500 sleds left, i dont know about you guys, but if your wanting to sell then why put a reserve on them, sure you dont wanna sell it to cheap, but i dont see any reserve prices being met yet , i have two 75 free air sleds like the one up for auction, they are just as nice, you can get repo panels and hoods to make them look like new, i did!, and if it were mine and i wanted to sell they would have been gone at 1500 bucks, sure i would take what ever more it goes for but lets come back to reality here,i bid 800 on it , i got half that into mine just dont seem logical, to spend 2500 or more and then what use it? or let it site on a shelf? .

Now its going to be interesting to see if the reserve price is met on anyone of them, im betting that most dont sell, what do you guys think?

JDGuy · Post by **JDGuy** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 4:44 pm

Oldslednut:

We won't have any idea what the reserve is until the deep pocket guys come out of the woodwork in the last 30 seconds of bidding, and then we still may not know. The deep pocket guys that fall a little short of the reserve on sleds that don't sell will probably cut a deal outside of evil bay, assuming the seller really wants to get rid of them, and the deep pocket buyer thinks he must have it.

He is a sharp business man and has been collecting for many, many years. It costs a couple of bucks to send out sale flyers to everyone with a registered sled in all states. My guess is he didn't pay anything close to his current reserve at the time of purchase for the majority of them. That is what makes a good business man. He may have picked up many of them soon after they went out business, and paid little for the run of the mill dead brand sleds, or outdated models of live brands. The truely unique ones with an important history may have been a somewhat different story, then again, maybe not, if the seller needed the cash. Many of us ole timers remember the immediate $$$ hit we took, all of a sudden, upon owning a dead brand. You can spell that Deere if you want to, been there myself.

harleysportster · Post by **harleysportster** » Sat Oct 22, 2005 6:09 pm

Here is the link to his sales on ebay,
http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZrecengltd

grasscutter97 · Post by **grasscutter97** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 2:59 pm

In reply to oldsled nut about selling a "nice sled" for "$1500 and it would have been gone...", I have to say the sleds that being bid on now are top of the line, ultra, ultra, ultra rare. Can anyone even remember seeing an Alloutte Villian in person? I can't, and I've been to so many sled shows I've lost count. Or how about putting a price on a sled where there is ONE in existence?? My guess is the ones he's got going for sale now have got to be in the 6-7K range, but thats only a guess, because I personally don't have any rare sleds at all. But like was stated before...the truly deep deep pockets will come out in the last minute or less. It's gonna be fun to watch all the sleds come up for auction over the next 3-4 months. I'm willing to bet that anyone else who has real nice quality vintage iron, will be "piggybacking" on the interest and volume of people that are now watching ebay, and put their sleds up on auction to "coincedentally" run at the same time his are! If I had any rare ones to sell, that's what I'd be doing.

oldslednut · Post by **oldslednut** » Sun Oct 23, 2005 5:48 pm

OK i agree with you all about the rareity of some of the sleds, but do you guys remeber last fall in MN a new in crate 440 speedway sold for under 1500? i believe it was Ebay that sold it, its not my complaint to much about the price, its more the reserves, if the deep pockets are out there what should the worrry be? i just think that the bidding would be so much differant with out it, it would be more serious bidders, not those who bid just to bid knowing that it worth much more, but it is good, now i know my collection just increased in value, i have to say thanks to every time i see a king cat 600 not sell for just under 10 grand, its all good!!

JDGuy · Post by **JDGuy** » Wed Oct 26, 2005 4:37 pm

From the Oct/Nov 2005 issue of "SnowTech" article entitled Vintage Rider, 600 Vintage Sleds:

(SnowTech visited his storage facility sometime before the start of the the e-bay sale, photographed many of his sleds for the aforementioned article.)

"...Once others learned he was looking for older stuff he began to get calls from people who wanted to dispose of sleds - even calls to come and pick them up because they wanted to get rid of them - as in finding more room in the garage ........"

From the above, I conclude Ed Webb may have acquired many of them free for the taking.

Post by **Matt** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:32 am

They just listed a new set of sleds. There is a nice '76 cyclone 340, with a starting bid of $1200. :eek:

Joe95StangGT · Post by **Joe95StangGT** » Mon Oct 31, 2005 6:28 am

and someone bid

i think these auctions are gonna seriously change vintage snowmobiles for a long time in the price area.