Recent Restoration: 1966 Arctic Cat 140D

Even though this 1966 Arctic Cat 140D appears to be hidden away in storage – and with it weighing 380 pounds, I’m guessing some sort of forklift was used to get it up there – it’s also shown in use, so we know it works. This older restoration sled can be found here on Facebook Marketplace in Cloquet, Minnesota, home of the only in-use gas station designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the seller is asking $3,000. Here is the original listing, and thanks to… hey wait a minute, I sent in this tip!

Maybe the last vintage snowmobile article of the winter of 2025/26, this new-for-1966 Arctic Cat Model 140D (Deluxe) snowmobile is one of two similar models made by this Thief River Falls, Minnesota maker of recreational machines. Edgar Hetteen started Arctic Cat around 1960 after having left another of Northern Minnesota’s famous snowmobile companies, Polaris, which he started in 1954. As with a lot of snowmobile makers, Arctic Cat ran into tough times. They went bankrupt in 1982, but came roaring back two years later. In 2017, Textron, an industrial conglomerate located in Rhode Island, bought the company for just under $250 million in cash. Sadly, Textron closed the plants in Thief River Falls and St. Cloud, MN in 2024. Thankfully, in 2025, Brad Darling, a former Arctic Cat big wheel, bought the company, and things appear to be back on track again, so to speak.

Speaking of tracks, the 140D came with a 14″ track width, and the 141D came with a 17″ track. Here are a few other Arctic Cat models for the 1966 model year, which was a breakthrough year for the company with its new 140 and 141 models. There was a version of the 140 with reverse, and the 141 could be had with a Hirth 300-cc two-stroke engine; otherwise, they had Kohler four-stroke 8-hp engines. The company made several other cool and now very rare vehicles, and if you ever see one, buy it and I’ll pay you back… I’ve wanted the Arctic Cub 2×2 for a decade, and they never come up for sale anymore. Arctic Cat made 369 Model 140s in 1966, according to this chart. It was the only model year for this snowmobile and for the 141, oddly enough.

This engine is Kohler’s 8-horsepower four-stroke single, and the seller says it runs well and is a late restoration that’s showing some use. It looks great to me, and I can hear the same 140D model that we had now in my mind. Dddddddddddd.… then, #$% #$%!! Why is this thing so heavy!? – when it gets stuck. As they say, don’t get ’em stuck and you’ll be fine. Or find one with reverse, which might help. Have any of you owned a snowmobile from the mid-1960s?