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?
Love the ad. What can’t this tow ? Lol. Nice feature SG. ❄️ 👍
We can compare this to a new snowmobile, like the phone Andy Griffith used( Sarah, give me Mt. Pilot ) to a Smartaxx phone of today( which I refuse to own, until the old flip phone isn’t available) Different times dictate different gadgets. In ’66, this was the ultimate, I know, different planet? Nope, just a simpler one, one I miss dearly. The snowmobiles before this, were crude buck boards with a motor, actually fun to see the development. Arctic Cat, Polaris and SkiDoo seemed to lead the charge in transforming those crude sleds into something a family could use. Remember, these were pulled by Rambler Americans, and speed was not the issue. It was a slow ride, taking in the sites of winter with the little ones, not barreling aXX over teakettle to the next watering hole at breakneck speeds. That came later. My 1st sled, was a ’69 Polaris Charger, one lunger JLO, and very similar to this sled. It’s not fair to classify such early inventions as junk, even though it was, I’d say, under developed, as more people bought these, and territories expanded, it was clear, a better machine was needed. And build they did, over 220 snowmobile makers, all trying to cash in on what was the humble beginnings right here. For what this is, at the time a very modern, simple unit, and somewhat dependable, until the kids got a hold of it that is. Great find, again and again, this stuff was our fathers toys and the kids don’t want it.
Epilogue: Snowmobiling will never be like it was, for a number of reasons. I’d say this Darling fellow would be better off designing a vehicle that the masses could actually use for the future. Like Harley too needs to diversify, nobody wants this stuff, and that’s the way it is,,
No kids today want to do things out in the “cold”…Don’t know what they’re missing says I…
Really? My son is in a Boy Scout troop and they love to go camping in the winter. Me, not so much…
These old sleds were cool! Simple, fun affordable unlike today’s examples of expensive technology that not many owners can work on. I could have sworn this was in Maine when I saw the picture of it up on the shelf. There’s a snowmobile museum in the middle of nowhere on a back road in Maine with vintage sleds up on shelves like this. I found it by chance when driving truck. Somewhere between I-95 and Rumford was a 3 bay garage full of 60s sleds. This example seems cheap for what it is. Nice!!
I appreciate and enjoy the occasional old snowmobile showing up here. You do a nice job on sharing some history of the sport and the manufacturer. Well done.
If you are going to collect an antique or vintage snowmobile, in my part of the world, an Arctic Cat is a good choice. I believe they have more collectors in the hobby than even Ski-doo or Polaris. For me its Ski-doo, but Cat fans are well known for their “passion” to their brand.
My opinion is this price is possibly realistic depending upon the current status of its past restoration. The seller states it’s an older restoration and shows use so maybe $3K is reaching a little but the owner states “asking” price.
I believe the current market on “Antique”, and probably also “Vintage” era sleds is stable. Prices are a little stagnant right now but the hobby is going strong! Events every weekend of the winter. Try it, you’ll probably like it.
Hi John, well, if the hobby is going strong, it’s only because we had a lot of snow and cold this year, Scotty will agree, with 1 snowy winter and 10 snowless ones, (Denver set an all time no snow record, I haven’t had one snow storm this winter), is hardly enough to justify $10grand on a new sled. I think what will happen, is sleds like this will gain attention again, just for when it does snow, and not having $10 grand sitting in a corner.
We just did our annual Antique and Vintage Show (MVSS Midwest Ride-In )at the end of January. For the 3rd year in a row, we had almost, or no snow. (We are near MPLS.). We barely had enough snow for 3 trail rides but the Saturdays ride was nearly 400 sleds on the ride. Fridays ride was over 300. Saturdays show was 400 sleds. Lots of snow around the country did not help us but the hobby is still really strong. Better with snow, but still going strong w/o. I will hear final attendance numbers tomorrow night but we were over 3000 people coming out for old snowmobiles. Who’d have thought, huh!
I was not a snow machine kid growing up in MA, but I love reading these articles.
I have to hand it to Scotty for these well-written and researched articles. We all benefit from the time spent on these articles, not just a 5 minute throw together with a link to an ad.
I have ridden snow machines only twice. In high-school one of my buddies had a SkiDo. That we drove around out on the frozen like by his house. Then we graduated to the next door golf course. Taking a jump, I caught the windshield right a cross the throat. And once we had one traded in with the trailer and car at our Pontiac dealership that I worked at in college. One of the techs was jacking with it to see if it ran. (It was old and decrepit looking brand unknown) I happen to be sitting on it while he attempted to start it. I was operating the throttle when it started and the throttle stuck wide open. It launched off the trailer and shot me across the street headed for a lot full of new Pontiacs. I finally found the kill switch and shut it down in time to not crash into a car. I haven’t been on one since. That was 52 years ago. I’m not afraid, just never had the opportunity. We had problems with riders cutting across our ice racing track. Which was not cool when we were hitting 115mph on the back stretch. One of our guys ran over the top of a,snowmobile, the rider baled off in time.But once the ice racer got off the sled, It took off riderless across the ice full speed. The lake was about 2 miles wide. So I never heard or saw the aftermath.
…indeed i have, a 60s Mercury 250ER model from 1977 to 8. Since it was 2-stroke, it was shut off then restarted with a 2nd Starter Motor that started the engine opposite rotation, clever!
But damn was that thing heavy so good that it had a Reverse option for those occasional snowbank faceplants..