Chaparral vs John Deere: A Build-Off Challenge
- Thread starter skiroule
- Start date
skiroule
Well-known member
Yeah, Chaparral was in the non-metal pan game very early. I personally have never seen one that didn’t have a fiberglass pan.
These pans are surprisingly durable. I dug up this photo from the 72 650SS project. The maroon pan is off the 650 and the red pan is off a 72 400. It's obvious from the photo that neither one of these pans had an easy life but the only real damage is a small hole in the chain case cutout on the 650 pan. It’s interesting that they had to drill different exhaust hole locations for the two motors.
Speaking of fiberglass, thank goodness that by 74 Chaparral had switched from plastic (actually ABS) hoods to fiberglass. This makes repairs much easier, which is good because what I thought was just a deep scratch turned out to be crack all the way through the hood, plus a couple of smaller cracks for good measure.
Let the repairs begin.
I keep going back to that bodyless stripped down Chapparal picture you put up, I will admit I am not familiar with the brand other than the name but it really looks like they really had a well built sled and chassis. What ever happened to the brand? did they just go away as most did or were they bought up by one of the big guys? it just looks to me like they really had something there for the time.
skiroule
Well-known member
I suppose I’m biased but I’m not alone in my opinion that Chaparral was one of the most, if not the most, innovative sled company of the era.
Your observation is correct, they were very well-built sleds. The all aluminum chassis/frame was light and very strong and the use of other lightweight components made for a very light, very fast sled. At some point, Chaparral mostly went with the reliable and reasonably powerful Fuji engines. Fuji formed a partnership with Komatsu and began producing Xenoah engines, which served as the power plant for the first large scale production liquid cooled sled in 1974, the Chaparral SSX.
To raise more cash, the company, Powered Products Corporation, based in Grand Junction CO., sold out to a division of Armco Steel in 69. As often happens with large parent companies, Armco decided that profits weren’t meeting expectations and the brand was shut down on Feb 11, 1974, even though the forward engine 1975 models were ready to go into production.
Apparently, there were some companies interested in acquiring the company but due to problems of their own, it never happened.
I often wonder what the company could have achieved if the brand had been allowed to stay in the business.
mezz
Well-known member
I was a young kid when they were in production, but, even as a young kid, I could see they were a cut above the rest of the manufacturers at the time. The looks alone put them in a class of there own. My nextdoor neighbor & one of his friends in town had Chaparral sleds, I was envious, of course, any sled caught my attention, but, these were something special to lay eyes on at the time.
skiroule
Well-known member
I guess the theme of this post is that you’re never too old to learn something. I’ve always assumed that the Chaparral pans, and later the hoods, were made of fiberglass because it looked and behaved like fiberglass. Even so, I was puzzled as to how they managed to get such an evenly finished surface on both sides without gel coat.
I did a little research today and found out they aren’t fiberglass at all. They were made using a Sheet Molding Compound (SMC) process. Rather than me trying to explain it, this is a good definition:
The sheet molding compound (SMC) process combines chopped glass fibers, resin paste, and fillers between two plastic films to form a continuous sheet. This mature sheet is then cut into charges, placed into a compression mold, and heated under pressure to cure and form the final, high-volume product. The process is efficient and cost-effective for creating lightweight, durable composite parts for automotive, construction, and industrial applications.
Now it all makes sense. In fact, it also answers the question about the Cyclone hoods, which were obviously made using the same process.
While it really isn’t fiberglass, it works well with repairs that use standard fiberglass and after finishing the repairs on the inside of the SSX hood and painting it, I think it looks much better than the inside of the conventional brushed on fiberglass resin/mat hoods.
I did a little research today and found out they aren’t fiberglass at all. They were made using a Sheet Molding Compound (SMC) process. Rather than me trying to explain it, this is a good definition:
The sheet molding compound (SMC) process combines chopped glass fibers, resin paste, and fillers between two plastic films to form a continuous sheet. This mature sheet is then cut into charges, placed into a compression mold, and heated under pressure to cure and form the final, high-volume product. The process is efficient and cost-effective for creating lightweight, durable composite parts for automotive, construction, and industrial applications.
Now it all makes sense. In fact, it also answers the question about the Cyclone hoods, which were obviously made using the same process.
While it really isn’t fiberglass, it works well with repairs that use standard fiberglass and after finishing the repairs on the inside of the SSX hood and painting it, I think it looks much better than the inside of the conventional brushed on fiberglass resin/mat hoods.
