Attention Aitkin Residents! Contacts Needed For Project!

[guitardude081]

I picked up a '75 JDX-4 this past spring. It was an old Aitkin Sno-Drifters Sheriff Patrol machine. It sat in the middle of an open field since it was abandoned in 1984. I dug it out of the ground and took it home. After a bath and detail, I discovered that the motor will run on spray and sounds healthy enough that it should only need rings, a crank check and re-seal. The track appears to be a newer replacement 2/3 cleat and the drivers are the newer black ones. The sled has 6902 miles on it so I would guess that they replaced components with what was available roughly 9 years down the road. The primary is also conspicuously clean. This machine was very well maintained as most state vehicles are. In either case, what started as a parts sled will become a cleanup and modernization project. I.e. CDI ignition and Mikuni carb.

Does anyone in the Aitkin area have a recollection of the days when sheriff patrol sleds were on the trails? I am looking for contacts that could get me clean patrol decals to have repopped and an Aitkin Sports Centre decal. I would also love to get my hands on some photos from the 70's and 80's when the sled was still in service. My intention is to clean the sled up and replace the moldy decals with ones that are legible. I want to show the sled at the Fish House Parade and the Aitkin Vintage Ride along with photos of the sled back when it was on the job. I have contacted the Drifters club and the sheriff's office to do some digging but my contacts are too young to remeber the days when this sled was still working. Any leads would be awesome. As a former Aitkin resident, I'd like to show this off to the good folks in that town.

Jack