I attended the show at the Dodge County Fairgrounds for a few hours Saturday afternoon. I wish I could have brought a couple of mid-mounts to the show, as they seemed to be a bit under represented!
The participants, ( particularly Joe Wanie ) had put together a very nice display of sleds and memorabilia.
I never take enough photos, I hope some of the other guys have some to add. I met up with Joe Wanie, Nick Freatman and his Father, and David Clark. It was great to see and visit with everyone.
Here is David's recently restored '84 Snowfire, #275, which I believe is billed as the second to last sled Deere produced.
Attachments
Snowfire 275
'09 Vintage Challenge Survivor, and I wasn't late for supper!
'10, '11, '12, '13,'14,'15,'16,'17, '18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Vintage Challenge Survivor !
72 400 restored, Father bought new in '71
73 X8 restored
'74 340 green machine
'74 X8 9 time VC finisher
'78 Spitfire in progress
2 '75 340S 1 running, one on deck
'78 LF 440 future CC clone
'73 Skiroule RTX 440, 500 mi.
Dave decided that it was time to install the seat strap. I offered to roll the sled upside down to make this easier, but Dave insisted that this was how he wanted to do it. I assisted by taking this photo.
Attachments
'09 Vintage Challenge Survivor, and I wasn't late for supper!
'10, '11, '12, '13,'14,'15,'16,'17, '18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Vintage Challenge Survivor !
72 400 restored, Father bought new in '71
73 X8 restored
'74 340 green machine
'74 X8 9 time VC finisher
'78 Spitfire in progress
2 '75 340S 1 running, one on deck
'78 LF 440 future CC clone
'73 Skiroule RTX 440, 500 mi.
Here is something I had been missing for years. This is a shot of the suspension on the 340/S that Joe Wanie got from Ed Kruel. The story is that the sled was a factory team practice sled that Ed rescued from probable oblivion, and rebuilt at the shop in Horicon for his personal use.
Ed installed a bogie track, and a bogie slide suspension, rather than the stock cleated track and slide rail suspension. I first saw this sled in '08 at a show in Horicon, and somehow missed the track swap.
Attachments
'09 Vintage Challenge Survivor, and I wasn't late for supper!
'10, '11, '12, '13,'14,'15,'16,'17, '18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Vintage Challenge Survivor !
72 400 restored, Father bought new in '71
73 X8 restored
'74 340 green machine
'74 X8 9 time VC finisher
'78 Spitfire in progress
2 '75 340S 1 running, one on deck
'78 LF 440 future CC clone
'73 Skiroule RTX 440, 500 mi.
Here is a shot of another of Wanie's toys. What is funny about this is that when I mentioned that I have one too ( built it 41 years ago ) David says: I have a '57!
Attachments
This is Wanie's
This is my 55
'09 Vintage Challenge Survivor, and I wasn't late for supper!
'10, '11, '12, '13,'14,'15,'16,'17, '18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Vintage Challenge Survivor !
72 400 restored, Father bought new in '71
73 X8 restored
'74 340 green machine
'74 X8 9 time VC finisher
'78 Spitfire in progress
2 '75 340S 1 running, one on deck
'78 LF 440 future CC clone
'73 Skiroule RTX 440, 500 mi.
Another item that caught our eye was a Dator that was being displayed out on the grounds with the garden tractors. We were looking it over, I had not looked at the big poster he was displaying with the sled yet. I looked at the serial number to find it was riveted to the tunnel, and was number 600. I said; Dude, is this really the last Dator made? Well, that is the story, and it is quite a wild tale!
It is unclear exactly what was salvaged from the damaged machine. To be clear, I am not throwing shade on anything here, many of the race sleds were damaged and extensively repaired. One more bit of John Deere racing lore.
Attachments
'09 Vintage Challenge Survivor, and I wasn't late for supper!
'10, '11, '12, '13,'14,'15,'16,'17, '18, 19, 20, 21, 22 Vintage Challenge Survivor !
72 400 restored, Father bought new in '71
73 X8 restored
'74 340 green machine
'74 X8 9 time VC finisher
'78 Spitfire in progress
2 '75 340S 1 running, one on deck
'78 LF 440 future CC clone
'73 Skiroule RTX 440, 500 mi.
Brian ...... great write up buddy and good to see you and everyone else that showed up. I love your car and thanks for all the pictures. I will try to share some more from the week long event for me from set up to take down as well as some of the items I now have as a result of the show. (swap meet and people at the show)
I did this 5 years ago and knew it would be a lot of work. Tried to work smarter as I get older and this is how I started out.
I pulled all sleds out with the winch this time instead of my back........... 17 of my own snowmobiles...yikes!
Attachments
Last edited by Horicon Joe on Wed Aug 22, 2018 5:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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