Massey Ferguson is an agricultural company with several mergers and a history going back to 1847, but their line of snowmobiles may not be familiar to everyone. This 1976 Massey (Ferguson) Whirlwind 340 can be found here on Facebook Marketplace in Pulaski, Wisconsin, and they’re asking $800 or best offer. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!
With ties to both Canada and Ireland, Massey Ferguson’s history goes back to 1847 when Mr. Daniel Massey started “Newcastle Foundry and Machine Manufactory” in Ontario, Canada. An 1891 merger with A. Harris, Son and Company created Massey-Harris LTD, the biggest agricultural equipment maker in the British Empire. In 1953, the company combined forces with Ferguson Company, becoming Massey-Harris-Ferguson. In 1958, the name was shortened to what most of us know it as today: Massey Ferguson.
Even global powerhouse companies in farming equipment wanted to get in on the growing sport of snowmobiling, and Massey Ferguson’s first try was a very unusual-looking model known as Ski-Whiz. It gets convoluted from there, not that the history of Massey Ferguson wasn’t already confusing. The Ski Whiz never caught on and was basically a loss leader that some farmers wanted for free in order to place a large order for tractors. Combined with the already bad market for snowmobiles in the early 1970s, the company had to do something.
Enter Scorpion, which had recently purchased Brut snowmobiles. Massey and Scorpion worked out a deal to sell Scorpion/Brut snowmobiles in different colors and badging as Massey models. That’s what this Whirlwind is, a rebadged Scorpion-Brute Whip. The first year was 1976, and the seller has this one listed as a 1975 sled, so I’m not sure if they’re going by a VIN or serial number somewhere with a manufactured date of 1975. The Whirlwind 340 is about as nice a snowmobile as you’ll find, and you’ll rarely see a Massey of this vintage at snowmobile shows. The dash layout is perfect, and this whole snowmobile looks fantastic, but they mention some cracking in the “belly pan.” That should be a relatively easy fix.
The Massey Ferguson/Scorpion two-year contract was up in 1977 and with the snowmobile division still not turning a profit, the company decided to get out of snowmobile sales. The engine is a Cuyuna (JLO) 338-cc two-stroke, axial-fan twin with 32 horsepower. The engine bay looks as clean as the rest of this rare jewel does, and they say it runs and drives, which isn’t a glowing report. I’m assuming it’s nicer than just running and driving. This sled was $1,645 new, and at $800 or best offer, this is a steal. Have any of you owned a Massey Ferguson snowmobile?
Love it SG. Nice eye on this sled Lothar. Sure looks in nice shape, and agree on the bargain price.
Used to see their tractors in the fields 🌽 🌾 up here all the time growing up. The red paint w grey. 🍁
What’s with all the snowmobiles? Oh right, winter,,,for some, 50s here and not a flake, except me. There were so many, a veritable rollodex of makes, some say 250 in all, everybody jumped on the snowmobile bonanza, with even the most unfamiliar names got in on the action. Even Sears sold a sled. I never knew M-F was a Scorpion, I had a 400 Super Stinger that was a miserable sled, and nothing like these. That mirror was a lifesaver. When you are bundled up to the hilt, it’s difficult to turn around to see if something faster is coming, or what happened to your buddy 3 miles back. I strongly recommend one.
To be clear, like anything, there were so many good sleds, many rebadged from other companies, but only a handful actually stood out as superior machines, and remain today. A-C, SkiDoo, Yamaha, Polaris stood out as the best, but so many others that did just as good, and M-F was one. These posts show folks from warmer climes, that can’t understand the concept of snowmobiling, riding an open machine in sub-zero weather is “mishuga”,, but like the author shamefully admits, when you have winter from Labor Day to Memorial Day( not really, seems like it though) snowmobiling opened up a whole new activity to make winter pass. Today, very similar to our classic car hobby, kids are cleaning out dads shed, and have no use for these ,,,things, and I bet, with a “normal” winter the north is seeing, you will see a resurgence in snowmobiling, and you can get in at the ground level here. Great find, keep ’em coming,,,until May anyway.
Growing up, my best friends father had been a Scorpion dealer in the 60’s and 70’s. Saw the pic of this on X and immediately recognized it as a Scorpion of some sort (they had a Whip, Stinger and Range Whip at camp). The lines are different than contemporary Polaris or Skidoos. Interesting find.