Vintage snowmobiles have to take off in the collector market fairly soon, don’t they? As vintage cars and trucks continue to be priced at crazy numbers, getting a vintage snowmobile this nice for under a grand has to be a deal. This 1972 Chaparral Firebird 440 with electric start is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Kalkaska, MI, and the seller is asking $625. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Lothar… of the Hill People for the tip!
Having grown up in Northern Minnesota and having a handful of old snowmobiles, most of which had 8-10 hp single-cylinder engines and were from the 1960s, something like this Chaparral Firebird 440 would have been like owning a Maserati. Electric start? On a snowmobile?! A hidden headlight (behind the windshield)? Very cool. This is a sleek machine, to say the least.
Chaparral Industries started as “Snow Birdie,” a company founded in Illinois in 1966. By 1967, they realized that they needed an influx of working capital to stay in business, and an investor was found in, of all places, snowless Austin, Texas. The company was moved to Grand Junction, Colorado. Powered Product Corporation made the Snow Birdie Chaparral and Firebird for 1968 and 1969, at which point another infusion of cash was needed. Armco Steel of Ohio stepped in, production was moved from Grand Junction to Denver, and the company name was changed from Snow Birdie to Chaparral.
1970 was the first model year for the new Chaparral company, and they were offered until the end of 1974. By then, the North American snowmobile industry had gone from dozens of makers down to a few, due to a year or two of insufficient snowfall, but also because of something as far removed from cold and snow as you can get: the Arab oil embargo of the early 1970s. Armco Steel shut down production at the end of 1974, even though the ’75 models were ready to go. There was talk of American Motors being a possible buyer, but the end came for this fine line of snowmobiles, sadly. This particular sled is a Firebird 440, which the seller refers to as a 440e, as in electric start. It looks like an absolute jewel in the photos.
They don’t show a photo of the engine, but here’s a screenshot of the little (vertical!) video they provided showing it being started with the little button on the left side of he cowling. They say this is the Hirth engine, which should be a 438-cc twin-cylinder with around 38 horsepower. You can hear the sweet sound of it starting and idling in the listing. At $625, this is a good deal for such a nice-looking snowmobile, and Chaparrals aren’t something you’ll see a lot of at vintage snowmobile shows. Have any of you owned one?
Now, why in ‘tarnation would BFs summon the guru of unusual, to report on a snowmobile, when 2/3rds of the nation is freezing. Not in sunny Colorado, 50s this week, BUT,,,on to this FANtastic, being fan cooled. Electric start was indeed a rare option in ’72. Batteries, usually 6 volt, just weren’t what they are today, and failures were common. Besides, these USUALLY started rather easy, but was considered high class. I know the untrained may look at this and think, what a spiffy machine. In all honesty, this is a rather poor machine, bogie wheel suspension is iffy, at best, and while they had plenty of steam, stopping and steering them( They did make one of the 1st IFS steering) was quite another issue, and where I bet 90% got wrecked. Hirth made a powerful motor, and these were clocked at almost 70 mph on ice. In case you’ve never been, 70 mph is FLYING on a snowmobile. Hazards come up awfully fast.
If I may say, while by the mid 70s, many snowmobile makers did quit, it was actually a heyday for the ones that remained. Snowmobiling was at its peak in the 70s and 80s, and when I did most of my riding. Chaparrals were actually pretty common, and over 65,000 sleds were made. Where are they all today? You know those “piles” of junk snowmobiles we see, guaranteed a couple of these are at the bottom. Great find.
Sleds are alot of fun, never came across one Chaparral.