Vintage snowmobiles are a tough sell, both in terms of interest among the average person and in actually selling them, because the market for anything older than a handful of years is so limited. We grew up having one or two old snowmobiles at all times, so I love these things. This 1965 Arctic Cat 120D is listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, and the seller is asking $3,800. Here is the original listing, and thanks to Gary for the tip!
Since its founding in 1962 in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, Arctic Cat has made well over a million snowmobiles. That isn’t counting their other recreational products, just snowmobiles. For the 1965 model year, the company produced somewhere between 1,250 and 1,300 snowmobiles. 431 of them were the 120D, the company’s best-selling model. Front-engine snowmobiles were becoming popular, and Arctic Cat only made a couple of rear-engined snowmobiles by this era. They also made a very cool 2×2 motorcycle and 4×4 ATV, and someday I have to own a Cub 2×2.
At 375 pounds, this isn’t a lightweight snowmobile, but a modern snowmobile weighs much more than that. Of course, it also has several times the power, heated grips, electric start, and many things early Arctic Cat buyers could only have dreamed of. The seller says this example is an earlier restoration and is used mostly just for shows. Are any of you into vintage snowmobiles? Maybe this whole thing is a waste of time.
Clunky doesn’t begin to describe the design and construction of early snowmobiles. That isn’t to say they were shoddily made, but as you can see in the photo above, they weren’t exactly designed to be sleek, with sexy, rounded forms (that sounded creepy) and cutting-edge materials. They were fabricated out of union-made American steel, by God, and if you hit your choppers on anything other than the seat, you were relegated to being the kid with false teeth for the rest of your life, as they didn’t have dental implants in this era, for the most part, unlike today.
The engine is an 8-hp Kohler, like the one in our 1966 Arctic Cat 140D, but ours wasn’t nearly this nice. The 120D has a unique system that gives it two forward speeds and reverse, and the seller says it “runs and rides.” This sled has been on Facebook Marketplace for a month now, and at the seller’s asking price, I have a feeling it’ll be there a lot longer, maybe forever. Any thoughts on this one, or on vintage snowmobiles in general? Yea or nay?
I figured it was merely a matter of time, we’d cross the line from motorcycles to snowmobiles, and who better than to lead the charge! You aren’t wasting my time. We look at this and wonder what the attraction was. Riding an open machine in sub-freezing weather, well, I’ll tell ya’, winter can be a dismal time. Oh sure, there was ice skating, sledding or those kamakazi toboggans, or skiing, but nothing motorized. In the 60s, snowmobiles were a slow take. More of an annoyance than anything, but to the folks that bought these, it opened up a whole new world, and could involve the whole family. Like any new ventures, you don’t start out with hemi Cudas, took a long time to get there. Snowmobiles same thing. Consider this the Model A of snowmobiles, it actually had some modern features. It was not all charm, however, and these were noisy, smoky, plug fouling, belt shredding rough riding, and didn’t steer or brake very well, ( under the seat was at least a dozen old plugs, a half shredded belt,( could still get you home) and several oil bottles, leaking) but top speed was maybe 15 mph, and there was no rush. Times have changed and like anything, cost prohibitive, but for a much simpler time when TV, which these screwed up reception and TV watchers shaking fists, or worse, wasn’t this mind numbing entity it is today, and I had some of my best times on a snowmobile. With as diminished interest as there is, the seller is dreaming. I just don’t think this would be much fun for someone today except in a show and tell situation.
Ready or not, here comes winter,,,,and it’s going to be a doozy,,,according to Toros research team.
Old school cool!!
This is nice. It looks like a nice restoration too. Howards comment was spot on, a bunch of half fouled plugs and a half shreaded belt that was good enough to “Get you home”. Very true. We only had one snowmobile it was when I was a kid. I want to say it was a ’70 Scorpion. I don’t remember what model. It didn’t stay more than one season. But this is nice, that old Kohler looks great too.
Snowmobiles were somewhat slow to catch on in the Chinook Belt. Ranchers, like my Dad, looked at them and wondered how many bales of hay one could tow. We had a wild blizzard in the spring of ’67, and it dropped 6 feet of snow on us in three weeks. Dad managed to buy a used Snow-Cat with a flat deck and they used it daily for the better part of a month. We also got a lot of assistance from the Air National Guard who offered the services of a Chinook helicopter.
Snowmobiling lasted well into June in 1967 so Dad gave in to peer pressure and bought an OMC Sno-Cruiser. There was a guy in Conrad (or was it Choteau?) selling them and the price must have been right. Anyways, we rode that beast right up until there was hardly any snow left (lots in the coulees until July but they got too far away).
We put the machine away for the summer but the snow came quickly after harvest so we used the Sno-Cruiser right through the next winter. Blew at least one belt in the process.
Then came the winter of ’68/’69. That one got the brass monkeys talking with squeaky voices and looking at careers in hairdressing. 20 below or colder from 20th, December until the 12th of March. Needless to say it was pretty much too cold to use a snowmobile. There wasn’t enough snow to warrant keeping the Snow-Cat so Dad had an opportunity to send it down the road. I fed cows every day before school and that was accomplished with the ’67 Ford 3/4 ton. The Sno-Cruiser sat in the shop until March before it was once again suitable to take it out.
Anyways, (and this is becoming another long story) we were finally introduced to the region’s first Arctic Cat. And it was black. In fact, I never saw anything other than a black Cat. By this time, Dad couldn’t see much point in keeping the Sno-Cruiser so he sold it. I never got into snowmobiling much until ’73 when I bought a Yamaha GP433, which went like Jack, the Bear…
Ah, GPs, “Yamaha go sideways”, was the quote. I had to look up a “Snow-Cruiser”, not to be confused with Admiral Byrds monstrosity, and our 1st snowmobile was a ’69 Polaris Charger, 1 lung JLO( that never ran right with the hood on) and looked very similar to the OMC. As you say, snowmobiles 1st REAL duty was utilitarian in nature. People soon found out, it could be a great way to pass winter and they were cheap. I recall, 2 sleds, AND a trailer was under $1,000. Clubs sprang up fast, and spawned a whole new business opportunity for otherwise slow months up north. We stumbled upon a bar one night, middle of the Northwoods, had the most dynamite all you could eat buffet,,,they literally rolled us out of there. I will admit, there is a cutoff where it is just too dangerous to be going 60 mph in -20 weather, more simply too much snow is a problem too. The “Admiral” found that out( if only it had tracks)These machines, were strictly for putt-putt around a frozen bay, within walking distance of home anyway.
A fellow in our group had a Sno-Cruiser, we nicknamed it the Snow Crusher. It was so heavy that you needed 2 or 3 people to get it back on the trail.
Fun write-up SG. I know almost nothing about snowmobiles, so some history is educational. This looks like a clean restoration.