Chaparral vs John Deere: A Build-Off Challenge

[heckler56]

My first new sled 1974 433GP fan cooled and I believe it had the high/low

New Years Eve 1979. Living on Lake Superior by what is now Lakenenland, 4AM, two men still standing. One with a GP and the other EW. GP says he wants to ride and EW says you’re too drunk. EW goes to bathroom, GP suits up and leaves. As I tried to chase him down the headlight disappears in the trees after riding the road. I turn my head to see if there is carnage and Bamm, hit the rear skid on a ditch culvert. The GP was so much faster than my EW.

The GP was a fast sled at the time (dual carbs as I recall). I don’t remember if they had the high/low but the EW was used in the first expedition to make the Arctic circle.

 

[heckler56]

Well now we’re talking! If you ever decide to follow up on this thought, I’d recommend holding out for that very sled model for a couple of reasons. First, it has a special significance in your snowmobiling history and second, you know the sled and that would make working on it that much easier. Plus, it would look really cool sitting in the garage next to your other sleds.

Vintage sleds are funny, they have a way of falling into your lap when you least expect it. I’ll bet half my vintage sleds have been acquired this way, so you never know when something you're looking for will pop up.

Yamaha was a big seller back in the day so there should be a fair number of parts floating around and I suspect that items such as ski/suspension parts, graphics, windshields, seat covers, etc. are being reproduced.

People like to rip FB (and rightly so most of the time) but there are a lot of vintage sled groups there that can be very useful for obtaining parts, information, and even complete sleds.

I actually am tracking one on FB. Price is steep and need to off load my back up sled so the wife doesn’t see the initial money go out the door

 

[dwz]

Correct twin carbs, first sled I actually saw 70 MPH on the speedo

 

[skiroule]

New Years Eve 1979. Living on Lake Superior by what is now Lakenenland, 4AM, two men still standing. One with a GP and the other EW. GP says he wants to ride and EW says you’re too drunk. EW goes to bathroom, GP suits up and leaves. As I tried to chase him down the headlight disappears in the trees after riding the road. I turn my head to see if there is carnage and Bamm, hit the rear skid on a ditch culvert. The GP was so much faster than my EW.

The GP was a fast sled at the time (dual carbs as I recall). I don’t remember if they had the high/low but the EW was used in the first expedition to make the Arctic circle.

Great story Heck, I can visualize the whole thing, right up until the culvert.

My first new sled 1974 433GP fan cooled and I believe it had the high/low

So, do either of you guys know when the free-air GPX came out? maybe later, around 76? I assume it was an amped up version of the GP. I think Lenny, who used to hang around on the site quite a bit, had what was probably the successor, the SRX. That thing was stupid fast.