Today’s Throwback: 1973, Through The Alouette Brochure

November 30, 2017 John Prusak

The back room of the Snow Goer offices include many treasures that the folks who work on the non-snowmobiling magazines of this publishing company will never understand. One example is the bins we have of old snowmobiling photos and snowmobiling brochures, including a brochure we unearthed this morning for the 1973 Alouette snowmobile lineup.

With a name like Alouette, there was never any doubt that its roots were in French Canada and, more specifically, Quebec. But the brand had many owners during its brief, nine-year run that started in model year 1967 and ended in 1976. It was launched by the Featherweight Corp out of Montreal during the fall of 1966, but that company was sold to Bangor Punta out of Connecticut in 1970. It later became a part of toy-giant Coleco from 1972 into 1975, when Coleco spun off its snowmobile division to Rupp, where it met its end.

Below are some scanned pages from the 1973 Alouette brochure, showing some of the brand’s key models that year.

Alouette Eliminator snowmobile — Dubbed the “Quick One,” the Eliminator coud be purchased with a 435cc, 338cc or 291cc Sachs engine.

Alouette Venture — The Venture was called the “Rugged One.” It had an 18-inch wide track and tipped the scales at 410 pounds.

Alouette snowmobile — The 1973 Alouette Escort models could be had with either a Sachs or a Kohler engine, while the Sno-Duster was a price-point model.

Alouette Sno-Brute — This scan of the Sno-Brute 440 sled is cut off due to the size of the brochure vs. our copy machine. It was the only Alouette this year with a slide-rail suspension; the rest had bogie-wheel systems.

Alouette youth snowmobile — The 1973 Min-Brute featured a 209cc Tecumseh four-stroke and a 10-inch wide track. And, check out the accessory clothing that was showcased in the brochure!

2 thoughts on “Today’s Throwback: 1973, Through The Alouette Brochure”

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Michel Lemoine de Martigny

November 28, 2024 at 10:06 pm

John, I don’t know if you are still accepting Comments in 2024, but here goes. Between 1966 and 1968 my family lived near Morin Heights in the Laurentians. During the winter, I would shovel walks at cottages around our lake, Lac Echo. In addition to getting paid in cash, I would on occasion get an added…and cool bonus. One cottager, Mr Clarkson, was the president of Featherweight Aluminum which manufactured the Alouette snowmobile at that time. His cottage had a very long path…so he made me an offer. If I would make sure his path and carpark were clear of snow when he and his family arrived on Friday evenings, I would be free to use his two snowmobiles when they were not being used by him or his family…which fortunately was most of the time as his one adult daughter was married and pregnant that winter. At the time, snowmobiling was a booming recreational activity…so having unrestricted access to two top-of-the-line Alouettes was brilliant for me and my friends…but not necessarily the best thing for the machines! Fortunately, Mr Clarkson saw me and my friends as typical snowmobilers and unofficial test-drivers…so he was not annoyed in the least when we drove them hard and often returned them with problems or broken…as this revealed weaknesses that he needed to address. He was clearly an astute and wise businessman…and a very decent guy.