Wandering around the grounds of the Waconia Ride-In event in Waconia, Minnesota — the “the world’s largest antique, vintage and classic snowmobile event” according to the event’s promotion — one can’t help but to be struck by the feeling of nostalgia.
The history of the sport of snowmobiling is so rich, especially from the mid 1960s until the end of the 1970s, that even the most avid collector will still see something at each of these shows that they have never seen before.
Yesterday we posted our first 10 photos from the 2018 Waconia event, which was held January 26-28. Here are more sleds that caught our eye during our Sunday visit.
Like other boat and motor manufacturers, Larson dipped its toes in the frozen water of snowmobiling for a brief period — from 1966 to 1969.
The featured brand at Waconia this year was Mercury, and this is a restored version of the sled that launched the brand — a 1968 Mercury 150E.
The Johnson Rampage model was available with one of two engines; this particular unit had OMC’s 437cc engine that made a claimed 32 hp.
There were a lot of classic race machines on display at Waconia as well, including this beautiful Scorpion Whip.
It wouldn’t be a Midwestern snowmobile without a Fox Trac. Made in Jainesville, Wisconsin, the brand began in the rear engine power-toboggan era and made it until 1972.
Before the AMF company decided to use the Harley-Davidson name for its sled, it built Ski-Daddlers, like this great looking 1968 Sno-Scout that owner Mike Feathers paired with a matching cutter.
This 1972 Mavrik mini sled from Sno-Pac is a rare find indeed… with its metal flake paint job, it’s owner thinks it’s the only restored one in existence.
The Roll-O-Flex Wild One was a subject of one of David Wells’ Flashback articles in a 2015 issue of Snow Goer, so seeing a couple of them live and in person in Waconia was fun.
The photo of the 1968 Mercury 150E captioned claimed that it was a restored sled. That is my sled that I brought to Waconia that year. It really is not a restored sled. It is an original sled. Any parts that may have been replaced because of normal wear, are original Mercury replacement parts.
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!
Cookie Policy
More information about our Cookie Policy on our Privacy Policy
Pingback: "Waconia" Vintage Snowmobile Event Moves To New Venue | SnowGoer
The photo of the 1968 Mercury 150E captioned claimed that it was a restored sled. That is my sled that I brought to Waconia that year. It really is not a restored sled. It is an original sled. Any parts that may have been replaced because of normal wear, are original Mercury replacement parts.