Half of the US would probably never have a need for or wouldn’t even want a snowmobile, let would have owned or ridden one. It’s an odd sport for anyone who didn’t grow up with snow on the ground for several months out of every year. The seller has this nice-looking 1976 Ski-Doo Elan Deluxe 250 snowmobile listed here on eBay in Tomahawk, Wisconsin and the current bid price is $1,725.
Just when we’re shoveling snow, skiing, and riding snowmobiles in the Northeast and upper-Midwest, the other half of the country is finally getting some relief from the heat over the last few months. This Elan would have been like a Cadillac compared to the ancient snowmobiles that we had growing up. We had one brand new one, a 1971.5 Ski-Doo Olympic and we only kept it one year.
I think our new Olympic was a little too “powerful”, or at least our parents thought that my brother and I would get in trouble with it so they sold it and bought an old round-hood Ski-Doo with a 10-hp engine. It was slow and old and we wanted that Olympic back, or something like this Elan. The Elan was made from 1971 to 1996, a long run. Here’s a photo of the underside. This one has a bogie suspension but by 1975 some Elans were available with a slide suspension.
They started out with a single-cylinder engine but starting in 1973, a twin-cylinder with a little more horsepower was available and an upgraded version of that came along with even more horsepower. A friend of mine somehow shoehorned a 640 cc engine under the hood/cowl of his Elan and it was a beast. A half-dozen years ago, the seller of this Elan replaced the handlebar pad, windshield, and decals and recently they’ve rebuilt the carb, replaced the wear bars on the bottoms of the skis, and replaced the belt. It’s ready to go!
The engine is a Bombardier 250T, a 247.3 cc twin-cylinder with 16 horsepower. They say that it’s a good-running sled and it sure looks good. Have any of you owned a Ski-Doo Elan? Let’s hear those snowmobile stories!
Just when I said “where’s the snowmobiles?” Ta-da,,careful what you wish for, eh? Located in ol’ “Chop chop”, I did a LOT of riding in the Crivitz/Tomahawk area, north of Wausau, some of the nicest riding you’ll encounter, in the Badger anyway. Folks not familiar with older sleds look at this and read Scotty’s narration, and think, “this, modern?” You bet, compared to the original sleds where the motor was in the open and drive belts that would suck your scarf in, this was all enclosed, and comfy. The cowl and windshield really protected you from the wind, ( the wind chill is a killer sometimes) and while slide suspension handles better, bogies ride a lot better, and that what this sled was all about. Not some snow melter, just a dependable putt-putt through the woods, and guess what? That was good enough. My kids still remember the rides I took them on when they were young. It was good, cheap family fun. Something almost nonexistent today. With as many sleds that were sold, there’s simply bound to be dozens of these stashed in grandpas barn, that while sounding fun at the time of purchase, turned out to be a hassle, and many just sat. If, and it’s a definite maybe now, I move back to the North Pole, I’d love to have a vintage sled. It, for me, was the most fun you can have with your clothes on.
The other day, I rode past the local ATV repair shop, and out in front were 2 sleds in very poor condition, Rupp Nitros. Remember Rupp Nitros? They were fun sleds. Here’s a short video of what all the hub bub was about on a Rupp Nitro 400. Watching this video reminds me, I could do that all day, and into the night.Don’t forget the volume, and the only thing missing is that smell, they were a handful so, HANG ON!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWa2tBUAbn0
Wanted the RV340 Fad bought on of these
Go back to your chop chop, your post makes no sense to most of us, take ur beavers with you…
Come to cleveland ill show your chop shop some real snow
I’ve ridden an Elan, a get you where you want to go machine, they were truly the work horses not speed oriented but fun still.
Hey Gregg, the real “workhorse” was the Alpine, with one ski in the front and twin tracks. Before these fancy shmancy ski groomers of today, many resorts used Alpines. I think they had the honor of being the slowest snowmobile, but could pull stumps out.
Ski-Doo also offered the Valmont which was a single front ski. I’m not sure which was the larger unit…
You bet Howard, and I rode one of those also. My cousin’s had a bar/restaurant off hwy 70 near Winter, Wisconsin right on the Chippewa river. They had an Alpine they used to make trails and signage from their place to the main trails. They also had 2 Scorpions. What a thrill back in the 70s to make trails and have a blast with the old sleds. The Alpine was SOLID. Good times.
Nice post howard. This is exactly as I remembered it..Remember coming back stinking of gas from the open carb spitback? And the can of ether under the hood to get it started? Not the least expensive sled is 8K, with performance so far superior from this one. It makes you wonder how we could have had so much fun with so little. I’ve still got an old 340 TX out back in the blackberries, perhaps it is time to drag it out and fire it up.
I had a 294SS, I think it was a 77 or 78 model year. Funny when you sit only a few inches off the snow you think its so fast. I figured it topped out atleast 65mph…..54 on radar, lol. it would go about anywhere tho, considering the length of the whole sled was almost all track…..
There were some Elan models out west but the dominating Ski Doo was the Everest. A friend of mine who went to the mountains with us had one. I never rode it but it had no shortage of power. Most of the guys who went with us rode Sno-Jets which had a similar engine to my Yamaha GP433, only with single carbs. Interesting that they seemed to use the same amount of gas as my twin-carbed sled.
Everything out here in Colorado are long tracks, and for good reason. We finally had our 1st snow, maybe couple inches, but 40’s next week, so a snowmobile doesn’t pay here, but if I wanted to schlep one back into the hills, they’ve had like 3-4 feet already, and a long track is imperative in those conditions. Reverse too. More than once I wished my sleds had reverse. As an old man, that too is imperative. Rentals, as expected, are big business here with mostly guided tours and “castrated” sleds, 20 mph max, and every sled comes with “avalanche poles”, which makes me a bit nervous. And at $50/hr.,,4 hour minimum, it’s out of my league.
I don’t know why I would even think of questioning you, I thought Sno-Jets used Kawasaki motors and they did,,,after 1976, BUT,,,early ones, I read, used Hirth and Sachs, when they stopped production in ’73, Sno-Jet turned to Yamaha, and their 338. In ’76 they sold to Glastron and used Kawasaki motors.
There were three guys in our group ran Sno-Jets. Two were brand new ’76 models and one was a ’74. All three of them were “Yammer-Hammers.” Come to think of it one of the guy’s boys ran a 295 which was powered by a Yamaha 292. In ’78 John Deere revamped its Snowmobile lineup and its Liquifire had a Kawasaki engine. I noticed new Snojets with that same engine, only with a lot less headaches (I think JD ended up with all Kawasaki’s rejects because they were terrible). I later heard that Kawasaki owned Snojet. About that time JD sold it’s snowmobile line to Polaris…
In upstate NY, in the 70s Bombardiers were the preferred choice to ride on the frozen over Champlain Barge Canal. A few lucky ones rode TNTs.
And we all knew that guy who had to have tge fastest sledvin town.
I have two fully restored Elan’s. A 73 and a 96. The 96 being the last year they made them. If I am lucky one day I will get my hands on a true 300ss slide model Elan like I had as a kid. The single cylinder 250cc sleds though slower were far better in deep snow. The twins tended to spin the track to quick and dig a hole.
Good hunting and trappers machine. Lite weight enough to man handle and get out of a jam while riding solo.
I did most of my sledding in the late ’70s to the late 80s and I remember seeing quite a few Elans riding in and around Ashland, Northern Maine. Most of the guys who had them were older and seemed to use them for more practical uses like ice fishing, trapping or just getting from A to B. Being younger, I was all about performance and speed. I started out with a ’74 El Tigre which was pretty fast but not too comfortable for a tall guy. My 1981 Polaris Centurion was one of the fastest stock sleds you could buy then and a blast to ride. It was fairly heavy so it wasn’t the best sled for breaking trail but on the hard pack or ice it was an awesome performer. I’ve had a few hot cars, many pickups and some nice motorcycles but riding sled was the most fun I’ve ever had on a vehicle.
The Blizzards were uncontrollably fast machines, but it was the El Tigre that changed everything. Guy up Nort’ where I lived, had one of dem 3 banger Polarises, it was a poor machine, almost impossible to start, but it does have the distinction of the 1st snowmobile I went 100 mph on ( briefly). I thought otherwise, it was a POS. He also had a Skidoo Formula Plus SS,,,THAT was a fun machine,,but steel chassis was too heavy.
Polaris Centurion “First Across the Lake” poster. Remember that? Put on a set of SLP pipes and the sound was unforgettable. Drove much faster than it could absorb bumps so it was a pretty scary ride too.
Hi Jay. Your mentioning “First Across the Lake,” reminds me of an incident that happened 45 years ago out west. We are subject to a lot of Chinook winds and 1976 was no exception. In late February a couple of guys got racing across a frozen lake up in the mountains. They went from east to west without checking to see what condition the ice was in. Well, about 100 yards from the west chore the wind and mild temperatures had dispersed the ice leaving a lot of open water. They both ran out of ice and hydroplaned for a spell but eventually lost out and their machines went down. Both were Ski-Doos; one was a brand new 340 Free-Air and the other was an older single-cylinder unit (it could’ve been an older Elan). They hauled the machines out of the lake, drained them, and attempted to get them going again. The old machine required a couple of blasts of ether and it fired right up but the 340 was hydraulicked and the engine was destroyed. Kind of interesting how two different engines going down in similar conditions can have opposite effects…
The Elan was probably 8 to 1 compression and the TNT was 12 to 1 or higher; no place for the water to go,
Yeah, we can thank Polaris for the speed limits on lakes now. ArcticCat made a 4 cylinder, King Kat 800 F/A, that was pretty hard to get to run right, but the 3 cylinder Polaris, with mild tuning, took speeds on a snowmobile to new heights. Too bad the DNR( darn near Russia) had something to say about it, and have radar on some of the bigger lakes, and a 50 mph max, making these “snow-melters” of today kind of obsolete. With hefty fines, AND a breathalyzer to boot, it’s not 1976 anymore.
As per your lake story, I always was uncomfortable on a lake, even at 0 degrees. I always rode in someone elses track and never went off trail blazin’ on a lake. There are competitions on how far a sled will go on open water,,,not many make it.
Nice sled. We rode in Conn/Mass starting in ‘70 when dad bought our 1st Ski-Doo Nordic then our 2nd was an Olympic……always lusted after a T’nT tho……. All had leaf springs and boggey wheel suspension, except for the new T’nTs. Others we rode with had Arctic Cats, Polaris, Rupp.
still have all of mine from 1970 to 1995 elans in the barn most are ready to ride 2 twins and the rest are singles i think there are 12 or 14 total when i’m gone the kids can do what they want with them lol
For conversation’s sake, which is better: bogie or slide suspension?
Here in southern NH, I once lived in a nice residential neighborhood. My neighbor used to trailer his snow machines 6 hours north, close to the Canadian border for a week of nothing but riding on the snow from town to town.
Once, he showed me a small trail that he cut into the woods in his back yard that connected him to trails that connected all the way up to Canada. Quite a system.
I’d vote slide, less parts to freeze up, slides are generally easy to replace. We kept our sleds in a warm garage at night so they’d melt off. I would put silicone and graphite on my slides before riding. Only took 5 minutes, spray silicone and powdered graphite would stick to it. Old racers trick I heard. Worked too……………
Depends on where you ride and the conditions. Slides require lubrication from the snow. In low snow conditions, or frozen snow across lakes or windblown lakes way up north slides perform poorly. You can add ice scratchers to help. Boogie suspension requires no lubrication and ride anywhere, even on pavement. There is a weekend a year where antique riders get together and add wheel kits to their ski’s and ride the Mackinaw bridge. Only Boogie’s can do that.
PRA…lots of folks and their ” supplies ” have crossed the border on ski doo over the years between Canada and USA lol
I too vote for slides. Bogies, like others said, are more for a “workhorse” type of operation, and much more adaptable to rough conditions. Slide is just a simpler and lighter way, and much more stable on flat trails and corners. Bogie sleds have a tendency to roll over on hard cornering,, where as slides, you basically just spin out. Slides will melt, even in normal riding, and on my Yamaha Exciter, I could change them in about 5 minutes. The biggest innovation in ride and stability came with what they called “IFS”, or independent front suspension, which is kind of misleading, as they were all IFS, but it was when they got rid of the leaf springs, and went to a trailing arm and coil spring, like Polaris, they steered like they are on a track, much improved. And longer travel rear suspensions helped a lot. The trails get unbelievably rough, and I swear, these “snow-melters” go so fast, they skip from bump to bump. THEN, the groomer goes through,,,ahhhh, like a sidewalk, that’s where the REAL fun is, on a freshly groomed trail, sorry to babble, I really miss snowmobiling more than anything else from my youth.
Thanks for keeping the vintage sleds coming Scotty. My best friend got a new 71 Elan back when we were 10th grade. We rode that durable machine every where. And while Arctic was advertising the smooth ride of their patented slide rail system, they needed snow for lubrication. That Elan with bogey wheels and rubber track could ride down a dry road with little of any damage. Meanwhile, I had to keep my Arctic Cat Puma in the snow. Memories. I still ride, but down to one sled from 10 a few years ago. I have a still reliable 77 Arctic Pantera. Simple. Cheap to fix and that 500 cc Suzuki FA goes fast enough for me. Keep bringing us those great sleds of the 70s. How bout a 1972 797 Blizzard? A landmark sled for Ski Doo.
Good times out here in the west on the sleds, the Sierra back hills were great with the frozen lakes a plenty. Had a Ski doo TNT first and an old Rupp to play around with, moved up to a Ski doo formula plus in 1990, very fun sled and would go as fast as I wanted especially across the frozen lakes. My brother had a new Ski doo mach 1, and that was a fun fast sled back in the day also.
I got a 71 élan in the early 90s and both my girls learned how to ride on it. They fell in love with a sport because of that Sled. I put in eyebolt through the rear bumper, and then pulled a Santa Claus snowmobile Sleigh that I acquired. I swear I had six kids in the Sleigh, two kids on the slide besides myself and nothing just put it around the yard for hours! You could run that thing 810 hours on a tank a gas! We go up to northern Wisconsin and all my cousins kids learn how to ride on that slide to, a blast! I only wish I had it now……I could write a book on the snoventures we had with that sled!!
Ah good memories. Just missing the spare drive belt looped over the handlebars :-)
Howard A, go to Cadillac, Michigan and watch the snowmobiles go between two lakes on an UNFROZEN canal!! Yes, they fly across open water. Quite a sight.
my 1st sled was a 69 panther with 303 wankel…i bought it when it was 3yrs old for $350. I was a sophomore in hs at the time an couldnt wait to get home after school an ride with my buddys that had ski-daddlers, skiroules, boa ski, couple other jlo panthers, an a rupp..that was when a 6mile trip to hawk mnt was quite an undertaking, no trail groomers then, it was make your own trails. Ride one day, tinker the next…an absolute blast. I cut the windshield down to about 4 inches cause it looked cool, lol, it was cool alright….Im sure i was quite a spectacle coming down the lake with my stars an stripes helmet, mittens my mother made and black and red checkered wool pants an coat…..
Howard A, I disagree with your choice of “real fun”. The real fun I enjoyed, back when snowmobiling was new (early 70’s) was going down a deep snow-covered trail with a bow wave of snow pouring off the machine, or racing (some sleds would go almost 40) across the ice of a frozen lake – confident that the ice would hold ’cause of all the ice shanties with cars parked beside them. If I felt the need to roar down a groomed trail with cold wind in my face and no bumps, I would just drop the top on the convertible and hit a back road not plowed but snow packed due to traffic. And to be honest, I don’t understand the thrill of speeds of 60 to 100+ mph on a trail through a forest of unforgiving trees with a machine that is reluctant to turn at speed.
i see alot of talk about 3 bangers but know one is talking about the Ski-doo Blizzard line. Buddy of mine had quite a few that we used to run (am sure he is still running) 72 800 triple, only upgrade he ever did was add pipes. that was a wild ride. and would usually beat anything at the drags and speed runs.even newer stuff. i had a couple of 72 775 TNT, 73 400 F/A, 75 245 RV, 77 RV Cross Country, 90 mach 1, 96 Grand touring and finally 98 MXZ 670. then sold all and moved East. sure do miss riding
when the 72/73 fall edition of ” Race & Rally” mag came out, the fall edition always had pics and specs of the new sleds. I already had owned 3 cats by then, above mentioned 69 panther, 72 440 cheetah and 72 340 ext. When i saw the pics of the 73 400 F/A, I. drooled over that sled. I did end up with some Ski-Doos tho…294 elan SS, 340 RV, i think it was a 76, it was FA and I believe the 77 RV CC was liquid, 81 7500 blizzard and last one was 96 F-111
Auction update: this great-looking Elan sold for $2,150!
Great stories and memories, folks, keep ’em comin’.
Fantastic machines if you get it stuck while riding the bush trails you can easily pull it out by hand by yourself. Not so easy on those bigger sleds!