The un-sung heroes in inclement winter weather are the snowplows and snowblowers, and their respective operators. Without them and machines like this monster 1970 FWD/SnoGo blower, many roads and airports would be impossible or unsafe for traffic to travel. This absolute unit is up for sale here on Facebook Marketplace right now in Lebanon, PA, USA. Let’s check it out!
FWD is not a well-known vehicle manufacturer, however they were one of the early pioneers of four-wheel-drive automobiles. They had developed a passenger car in 1908 but the market was not ready for such innovation, so they shifted to trucks and formalized themselves as the Badger Four Wheel Drive Auto Company in Wisconsin the following year. Their highly capable, heavy-duty trucks were adopted by the U.S. and other friendly military powers during the first world war and today they are FWD Seagrave company, making multiple types of fire-service apparatus. SnoGo is a brand which was under Klauer Engineering Company in Iowa for decades but is now part of Wausau Equipment Company. They began in 1928 and still make mammoth snow-moving equipment for municipal and airport use today.
The example presented to us today is from 1970 and, according to the seller, has a 501-cubic-inch (8.1 liter) International Harvester engine for the truck and a large Allis-Chalmers diesel powerplant for the blower. They say the truck has about 5,000 miles and the blower engine has 480 hours.
We can see the orange exterior is is very nice shape for the age, save for a few expected rust spots visible and paint a bit dull. No obvious damage nor missing finish, apart from some on the impellers and blower body. May be a bit around the edges of the body panels.
The interior is in impressive condition, with instrumentation for both the chassis and blower engine. Given its age and purpose, we are suprised at how nice the controls, dash and vinyl seat appear to be.
We’re not seeing the engine compartment for the truck but we can see some of the blower engine, and all looks well.
Obviously, you wouldn’t win any races with this beast, but it is truly a purpose-built thing and looks like someone really cared about it and kept it nice when not in active use. I dig these old machines, not so much for the aesthetics but their usefulness, practicality, and the idea of a simpler time gone by when people built things to last and actually cared for them so that they would last.
Whoa, now we’re cookin’,,,( careful what you wish for) This would be considered a “modern” version. While visiting the UP( der hey), I stumbled upon the Lake Linden Hist. Museum. They have several outside displays of machinery from the past. One of the displays was a Sno-Go like this, only older. Maybe early 50s, also a FWD. The motor on the back that operated the blower, was run by a MASSIVE Buda 4 cylinder, with a HAND CRANK start! Through a complicated series of gearboxes and driveshafts, eventually made its way to the blower. At full speed( 1800 rpms) I bet that thing shook like a leaf on a tree. To understand why this was even needed, the museum had pictures of this thing in operation, and there was so much snow, the city streets were impassible, with snowbanks up to the roofs. This,,,thing, would make a pass, piling the snow even higher, to make a path for the trucks, and slog along blowing the snow into dump trucks. Global warming( cough) has pretty much put the kabosh on that, and only this year, have they had any measurable snow at all. Pretty sure FWD used IH or Dodge cabs, Dodge used here, and today, cost a whopping $800K and mostly used for airports. Judging by the 1st photo, the chute is clogged, never know what is in a snowbank, and these can shoot snow 100 feet, just be careful there, Jethro. Great find, keep ’em coming,, :)
Howard, The chute isn’t clogged. You can rotate the blower assembly out of the chute so that the outlet is blowing directly out of the spinning impeller. You get a ALOT more height and distance that way, but it only works in the direction of the rotation of the impeller. Any other direction ( including forward) is achieved by engaging the chute.
I have a lot of hours in one just like this. They are actually pretty enjoyable to run, trying to achieve a balance between the best forward speed and overloading the blower power.
These are amazingly tough machines, but they are quite slow. For that reason there are usually the second line of a snow clearing.operation where the snow pushed up by the graders and front end loaders become too high or there isn’t any more room to push the snow anywhere. They can easily chew through the frozen ice blocks. They have either a clutch or shear pins in the augers that protect the impeller from objects that might damage it. Where I worked in Truckee Ca, there was so much snow on the summit that cars would be completely covered, so people would put a tire behind their car and the auger would shear before it hit their car. Then I would spend a hateful half hour clearing the steel belted plies out of it!
This machine is in like new condition! The paint isn’t even worn off of the augers! 480 hours is 10 hours a year, it is hardly broken in. You can find these for a lot less, but not anywhere near as nice and I think the price is justified. Really an amazing find and I love seeing this on Barn Finds.
I would love to have this in my snow arsenal, but my 1964 Allis Chalmers grader is just enough to get me through the winter, so this would be overkill. It is sooo tempting though.. My wife would kill me. But wow, what a find..
Jay E. I live in the Sierras. (Kind of) and don’t know what brand Nevada and California use. But these are a God Send for clearing the sometimes 300″ of snow we get. When there is no where else to pile the snow, then shoot it over everything else. I remember my first winter in Nevada (1983/84). Waiting 11 weekends in a row due to snow restrictions to go visit family over in Grass Valley. Going over Donner Pass the snow was piled/blown up so high it was like driving in a tunnel with just maybe a 1 lane wide opening at the top. (5 lanes wide at that point including shoulders) just visualizing the snorkeling style shoot blowing snow through and over the top. It would be very cool to see.
FWD made its rounds over the years. When it came to needing a lot of muscle to do the job you could count on FWD.
Interesting company, they were definitely an assembled unit. That cab looks like a Dodge. Just before that they used an International cab. But they used that IH RD 501 six for a lot of years, regardless of who supplied the cab. I’ve sold a lot of engine parts to a guy down in CO who is restoring a ’57 model.
Howard, I’ve got to disagree with you on the Global Warming stuff, at least in the Chinook Belt. I think it was three years ago that Great Falls had spent its entire snow removal budget before the end of November. And that’s with at least three months to go.
Christmas of ’60, when I was in 2nd Grade, the grass was green and it was raining. April/May of ’67 we got six feet of snow. Christmas of ’68, it was 25 Below with 10 inches of snow on the ground; I might add that in ’68 – ’69, we had 104 consecutive days of -20 (F) or colder.
People talk about Climate Change. They’re right; I’ve never seen any two years the same. My grandfather wrote about it in January,1907 when he came up north for the first time in his life; Boarded the train in Salt Lake and it was ZERO, got off the train in Great Falls and it was +50, sunny, no snow…
Now, back to the truck…
I like that Geomechs…… “And now…… back to the truck”. Love it!!! And a really nice FWD you posted.
I can honestly say, it’s all a load of bunk,, :) I tell ya’, pal, we missed the boat on careers. We could have been weather forecasters. Just think, $200,000/year to be wrong. My favorite is “a 50% chance”, it might and it might not, heck, I could make that prediction. The mountains are particularly difficult, depending greatly on wind direction. They cover their axx by saying “snow showers”, could be a dusting to a foot.
Back to the truck, indeed,,,several companies used these set back axle types. The Hendrickson, Autocar, the M series IH, with those big fenders, all to get more weight on the steer axle and to get around better. The cab here, the Dodge C (?) series, was used on the short lived BigHorn tractors.
Awesome rig..enough sticks inside the cab to blow the average mind lol. Thanks for the good write-up Glantz. Imagine operating this beast. Requires alot of seat 💺 time, along with skill, patience, and sensibility. ❄️
This monster will make ANYBODY win an argument……… That THEIR snowblower is BIGGER than their neighbors!!! Lol. Can you just picture it???? Whats that Fred??? The town just plowed in the end of your driveway again and your Simplicity can’t cut through it??? OK, I’ll be right over…..
This is a monster. I don’t know much at all about FWD. But they look like a healthy beast. The Hand crank 4 cylinder Howard mentions just has me thinking, give it a snort of ether and hope it fires in the 10 below temps. The truck Geo has a photo of is really nice too!!! And Stans right, mind blowing sticks. But I’d be willing to bet that back in the day, there were operators that could run this thing like the back of their hand. This is a terrific find Russel, and you did a great write up on a truck thats not very common. I really enjoyed this. Thank you!!!
Hi Dave, yeah, that “hand crank” was intimidating. Those big in-line 4s were pretty low compression, but I can imagine it still took Jethro Bodine to start it. Make no mistake,, it was a rough job. Cold, noisy, and I imagine breakdowns were plenty. Like I say, those augers are unforgiving, aw, what the heck, I can’t sleep, so here’s a snowblower story for ya'( animal lovers stop reading now)
When I moved to the mountains, I was fascinated by the RR that cut through the hills, still am. The D&RG wanted a route over the mountains, impossible job, including the Alpine Tunnel around 1900. ( look it up, fascinating) Once completed, naturally, winter was the biggest obstacle. They had so much snow, it required these non-propelled steam rotary snowblowers that had to be pushed by locomotives, several sometimes pushing this thing. Many times, by the time they got to one side, the track was already snowed back in. On one trip, a brakeman recounted, the snowblower was slogging along, visibility zero, ran into some,,,obstruction. The engineer told the brakeman to see what it was. The brakeman was horrified to see all red, and a group of cows meandered down the track in the snow, and um,,,met their fate. He said the boys at the repair shop weren’t too happy.
My first Air Force assignment was Empire, Michigan, right on Lake Michigan and 20 miles west of Travers City. Word for the day in the winter was “lake effect”. Lots of snow to say the least. Lost my MG Midget for a while in a huge pile of blown snow. Crowning blow was a Ford Pinto that wound up buried in snow on the main road that one of these giant machines ate up and spit into the woods. Found the engine and pieces when spring thaw came. Engine was the biggest piece left.
We were snowed in about a block away and you can’t believe the noise that made.
They used something quite similar to this when I was in the AF in North Dakota. The drifting snow would surpass 12 ft and these would clear the roadways on base. Amazing how they would eat the snow and throw it.
Howard and Geomechs….the correct term should be “Climate Engineering” which as been going on for many years..Climate change has been happening since the beginning of time as we all know..as for the snow, up here in the U.P., we have already had over 5′ of snow- mainly “lake effect”..the big plows have been busy!!!
Hi Al, look what Mt. St. Helens belched into the air,hey, can I ask where in the UP? It’s still on the back burner if Colorado goes katywampus, and every indication it will. I’m partial to Ontonagon and the Porkies, but will probably “run the clock out” in Ironwood.
Stirlingville…a small ghost town of 13 residents….more cows than people..P.S. on many clear days that is not “lake effect snowing”..you can see many patterns of “trails” criss-crossing our beautiful skies…..can’t eat the snow anymore..
Howard and Al,
I live 8 miles from Lake Linden in Keweenaw County and we are at 67″ so far this season, 315″ last year. Moved up from Illinois and the snow is worth it!
“Stirlingville, Mi., population 13, SALUTE!!( HeeHaw) I wish this site had a message system, I see you are WAY the heck over there, I’m more of a Keweenaw Peninsula guy, spent the most time above Houghton,, and hopefully can “run the clock out” there. Colorado is okay, but until you’ve sat under the stars on “The Big Lake”, or watched a red sunset, well, I’m beginning to think, that’s where I want to go. If I ever can get an email( not here!) I’d like to keep in touch. FaceBook?
don;t do “Fase-book” Howard…but we’ll have to figure out a way to keep in touch..never to sure about giving out contact info out over the “interweb”..
I suppose if you have the space to store a beast like this, you probably also have a use for it.
My Dad had a well Rig that was mounted on a FWD truck same vintage as the 1970 pictured . Remember following Dad as he drove to our next job site after we scouted the drive for weak old bridges!, low overhangs & obstacles. 12 speed dual range transmission even with all the weight that truck never got stuck!
Guess I missed the party, wonder why it took 2 days for this to show up on my computer?
My money’s on this winding up in Western New York, where it can get used like nine months out of the year…
Buy it and retire to the U.P.
Well if you got it you can fly back and drive it home and clear any snow or a Prius out of your way on the trip back. We have been unseasonably warm this year and Hells Canyon is staying warmer than normal but over in Washington the larger passes east of seattle are getting snow so maybe it’s heading this way
Awesome machine! For some reason coming from inside, I feel like I need this. I don’t know why, or where I would keep it, or what the heck I would do with it…but I got to have it!
Wait a minute squirrel…
Truly a cool piece of equipment. I can’t use it down here at 4,216′ elevation. Speaking of climate change. Remember when we were in grade school and they taught us that we were heading towards an ice age?
At a museum up in the Greyeagle CA area there is a museum run by the county or state. They have many pictures of huge snow accumulation in the area. But they have been tracking annual snow fall for over 150? Years. And yes, at least in the Sierras the snow accumulation had been steadily dropping over the last century. But lately it has been climbing to about 1955 levels. When in the army my Dad was on MP duty for awhile and him and another MP had to come to Reno to bring back an AWOL soldier. It snowed so hard for days. That the train was stuck for several days. (1950 I believe) Since they couldn’t go anywhere, even out of town. They locked their firearms in a closet in the hotel they were in and spent the days gambling (with the prisoner) until the train was moving again. If I remember correctly, 1999 was where the annual snow level bottomed out.
I actually enjoy bantering with people about various topics. I think the crowd out here laughed themselves silly when Leonardo declared that he had personally experienced climate change in its worst form.
Yeah, you dorab, come back next week when the Chinook is gone and we’re back to being as cold as the ex-wife’s side of the bed.
Research geoengineeringwatch.org
Or don’t.
Afraid of what you’ll find??? Look up at the sky when you’re on your way to the next Barn Find.
“Edsel” Al Leonard is absolutely correct. The proper terminology for it is “Cloud Seeding” and anyone who really wants to find all the resources pertaining to the process just need to search two words: cloud seeding If that’s not enough search for “The HAARP Project” for next level uses, including by the military.
Paging Jeremy Renner.
“FWD is not a well-known vehicle manufacturer” oh yes they were!!! They were VERY well known!!! When it came to TOUGH, HEAVY DUTY TRUCKS, FWD was right up there with Mack, Brockway and Autocar!!! FWD was also HUGE in the fire apparatus industry, as they were part of Seagrave!!
It’s okay, Matt, just another hoaky Wisconsin pioneering industry, like Harley, Briggs, Nash/Rambler/AMC, beer,,, FWD was the pioneer in all wheel drive, something we take so for granted today, preceding the Nash Quad by 2 years. It should also be noted, FWD had the very 1st woman( 1918-1922) as their test driver, Luella Bates, and was the 1st woman in the US to be issued a commercial driving license.
Neat truck and piece of history. $25K though – it sold for $2,400 at an auction just a few months ago:
https://aarauctions.com/servlet/Search.do?auctionId=6715&itemId=166251
Wow…Dustin25 has a couple of BIG toys there!!!
On climate change – two years ago in Mammoth Lakes, CA we had record snow that we hadn’t seen *ever*. So much snow that it the snow load broke my deck. Back then they said “so much snow – climate change”. Now it’s “no snow – climate change”. Sometimes the climate is just random.
Yes Wayne, you did get a record snow. Climate change is cyclical AND regional. I don’t live to far from you ( down in the flats ar 4,200 ft) and witnessed what you guys went through. I just remember what they taught us in grade school was that we were on the verge of an ice age. Not sure how that computes to global warming. I know you guys depend on a good snow pack for your livelihood there up on the mountain. I just hope you get a manageable amount this year. Merry Christmas!
Research HAARP project- your Gov’t at work..while you’re on your way to your next Barn Finds, look up in the sky at all those lines!!