A March Vintage Afternoon

[skiroule]

It was suggested last year by garageguy and goofy600 this year that I try to get a photo of my vintage sleds in a single shot. I did get manage to get everything running in time to get them outside today, which turned out to be a nice, sunny day.

By a lot of vintage guy's standards, my inventory is fairly small, but it does represent a dozen or so years of acquiring, repairing, rebuilding, and riding. I did include the two rat sleds in the photo because they are part of the family and they did need some restoration to be rideable. Maybe someday they’ll get the full treatment.

The cool thing was, they all ran beautifully. It’s really interesting how differently each make/model rides, which makes riding them on the same day a lot of fun. I have space in the backyard for a “mini” dragstrip so I gave each one a couple of passes. The Skiroule RTX 440 was by far the quickest in that distance.

Seeing them lined up it brings back a lot of shop memories. Seems like a good way to wrap up the season.

 

[hermie]

Just awesome you do great work.

 

[goofy600]

Absolutely beautiful, great collection. And how great that you could get them all out and running.

 

[dwz]

What a beautiful collection of your work, thanks for the picture!

 

[garageguy]

Thanks, looks great!!!!!
Fantastic woek!!!!

 

[rph130]

Great pic Skiroule. That is something to be very proud of.

 

[wiscrev]

Aawesome!

 

[gary_in_neenah]

He could a ride a different one each day of the week and still have a leftover.

Speaking of Leftovers, that's a handsome stack of wood you have there!

 

[rv245]

Awesome collection, thanks for posting it. Is it possible to get a few pics of the Chappy? I have a 72 Firebird SS 400 that I will be doing once I get my 73 TNT 294 done.

 

[heckler56]

Awesome collection! Thanks for sharing!

 

[euphoric1]

The masters showcase! very nice!

 

[skiroule]

Thanks guys! It’s awesome to know that you appreciate these old sleds. It seems like each project had a different set of challenges to overcome but were always rewarding in the end. I’ve learned a lot.

I suppose the psychiatrists would say I’m trying to re-live my lost youth and maybe that’s partly true. Each of these sleds has a special appeal, going back to when they were new and I was MUCH younger.

I'm sure I’ve mentioned before that the only sled left on the list that I haven’t found (at an affordable price) is a 74 Chaparral SSX liquid cooled. It seems like they just can’t be found west of Lake Michigan in the Midwest. One shows up in lower MI once in a while but that’s 900 miles away.

He could a ride a different one each day of the week and still have a leftover.

Speaking of Leftovers, that's a handsome stack of wood you have there!

It’s kinda funny you mention the wood pile Gary, I was actually out cutting wood yesterday and will be cutting again today. This winter was hard on the wood pile.

 

[mezz]

I would not call that a small inventory. That is a great looking collection. Your level of ambition is amazing. They need a showroom to be displayed in! Thank you for sharing that.

 

[pclark]

Very cool Skiroule!