This 1970 Moto-Ski Zephyr 317 is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Schenectady, NY, and they’re asking $850. It’s also listed here on craigslist in NY. Here is the original Facebook listing, and here is the original craigslist ad. How’s that for housekeeping! Don’t ever think that ol’ SG doesn’t care about the Barn Finds family, and that they may want to come back to these articles and see the original listings! Thanks to Gary for the great tip!
Sadly, the photos in both listings are verticals (insert image of SG’s brain on fire), so that’s super disappointing since a snowmobile is, you know, horizontal. Otherwise, this one hits the memory banks hard, as we had a ’69 Moto-Ski Zephyr pretty similar to this, other than ours had round headlights. There’s that $50 helmet, which is a great deal for any of you Moto-Ski fans. I would have given anything for a Moto-Ski helmet when we had our Zephyr 40+ years ago. Here’s a better photo of the helmet. I wouldn’t even blink to pay $50 for that helmet by itself, even though then I’d have to get a Zephyr so I didn’t look like a nutjob walking around with an orange Moto-Ski helmet on.
Pharmaceutical company owner, Charles Eugene Bouchard was the unlikely founder of Moto-Ski snowmobiles in 1962/1963, after first having invested in the manufacturer and marketing of vegetable cutters. Bouchard Industries began in La Pocatière, Quebec, Canada, and snowmobile production remained strong until 1968, when another Canadian company, Giffin Corporation, stepped in and added Moto-Ski to its lineup in 1969. The company was then passed to juggernaut Bombardier in 1972, and it hung around until 1985. It’s a shame they went away.
The 1963 and ’64 sleds were known as “tin cabs” due to their metal hoods, or cowls, but in 1965, they introduced the fiberglass hood. 1967 was when this new design was introduced, and the Zephyr model stuck around until the end of the 1971 model year. This is the view most of us had in the 70s during the last peak snowmobile boom. Several years of bad winters – as in not much snow – put an end to dozens or even hundreds of snowmobile manufacturers.
The engine here is a 317-cc Hirth single-cylinder with around 20 horsepower, and the seller says it “runs good.” I can hear it idling now in my brain; memories are weird. I can also feel my numb hands, rock-hard and frozen right thumb from pressing on the go lever, and I can somehow smell gas. They always smelled like gas, and so did we after a ride, since halfway to anywhere, it would die and you’d have to dig out one of your 17 spare sparkplugs and try to get it started again. We thought nothing of it; that was just the way it was back then. Have any of you owned a Moto-Ski from the 1970s?
Good eye Gary. Thanks SG for the article. Love the colors on this one. 20hp too 👍 Looks like it provided many hrs of fun in the snow ❄️ up in NY. Pull start issues aside 😉
Yes, frozen hands, throttle thumb, hard starting an adapted two stroke single cylinder industrial engine (Sachs). I built up my mechanical knowledge and right arm starting our 68 Rupp. And as kids it turned us into anticipating snowfall not just for days off from school, but the fun after school of riding and/or being towed on a saucer in the field covered with snow.
I still restore and ride vintage sleds today Im retirement.
Holy flashbacks, Scotty.
Back in the late 1960’s, my father was the Farm Supply Manager, for a lumber supply company in Saskatchewan. The store also sold Moto-Ski snomobiles. On Sundays, we would take the demonstrator units, out to the fields behind the hospital, and go completely bananas. There were 3 or 4 diffetent machines, including a matching sled trailer, and a Kiddie’s model, for learning how to drive one.
We even got to take one, across the border into Manitoba, for a winter carnival, where Dad competed in a couple races at the fairgrounds horse racetrack, with a grandstand.
Very memorable times indeed.
Moto-ski was big at this time, in fact I think they made it up to #3 among the manufacturers with Ski-doo leading by a mile and still do sales wise. This sled does not really look too bad. The seat was redone and not done well but its better than an original tattered seat. You can still find parts for these and there is a great hobby magazine to turn to for help. I think the asking price is reasonable. Helmets of this age, the linings tend to go real bad but even then its a $50 helmet for display purposes. Not a helmet you would want to wear today for great head protection though.
My first and only sled was a 68 Moto Ski Cadet. JLO engine, maybe 15hp. 15″ track with bogie wheels. I used to drive it to high school and park next to 20 or 30 other sleds. Yamaha’s, Polaris, Arctic Cat, John Deere, Rupp, SkiDoo and more. My brother had an MS18 twin cylinder Hirth I think. No trail systems back then. We made our own. In late winter and early spring, I took the cowl off to keep it from overheating. Thanks for the memories.
Bombardier hung onto to the Moto-ski name longer than it wanted. In Quebec they had a huge following and there were very bitter feelings about the bombardier purchase.
The last paragraph exactly summed up my experience with these older sleds. Im surprised to see the “air cleaner” still there as you fiddled with the carb and jetting so often it was easier to just keep it off. And soak you jacket with spitback fuel in the process so “They always smelled like gas, and so did we after a ride”. .
Scotty how can I pm you?
Sold, sold, sold! Someone got a nice-looking, hopefully easy restoration here.