Polaris Mutt Mod
- Thread starter skiroule
- Start date
Tim in Indiana
Active member
Awesome job, I love it.
skiroule
Well-known member
Funny…Not really. In fact, I’ve only fished once so far this winter and the supply is getting low but I’m hoping to correct that problem in Feb. and March. Have a couple of extended outings planned.
It’s kind of a weird feeling seeing the shop like this. Not a sled in sight and the section of the bench where I keep a lot of my parts for a current project is empty. It is nice to have some time to take a breath, regroup, and reorganize though. I’ve been able to catch up on a bunch of stuff that has been neglected.
Could there be another project in the works someday? Maybe, if I figured I could get it done in a timely manner.
skiroule
Well-known member
I don't miss too many but I didn't see that one. The Skiroule snowmobiles still have a really loyal following. Like so many snowmobile brands of the day, if they had been able to build a better dealer network, things might have turned out differently for the company.
skiroule
Well-known member
Finally managed to load up a couple sleds and get out to a show in East Grand Forks this weekend. As with a lot of the Midwest, it didn’t look much like winter. Brown grass and bare pavement instead of snowbanks and ice-covered asphalt.
In spite the uncooperative winter it was a great show with lots of cool stuff to see, like this Thunder Jet racer. Talked to the guy that used to race this very sled back in the day. He had some great stories and also brought four of his other race sleds to the show.
The restoration bar is usually set pretty high at these events and this pair of Masseys is just one example. Beautiful sleds.
Sleds aside, one of the best things about these events is the interesting and friendly people that you meet. There’s probably no place on the planet where it’s easier to strike up a conversation than at a vintage sled show.
Speaking of interesting and friendly people, since it was his home turf, I managed to track down the bear rassling legend, Bearrassler himself. Been several years since I went on a ride with him and some of his ND friends and tried to keep them from getting more than one zip code ahead of me.
It probably wasn’t quite the same as the Centurion he used to ride but I thought he looked right at home on the seat of the Mutt.
In spite the uncooperative winter it was a great show with lots of cool stuff to see, like this Thunder Jet racer. Talked to the guy that used to race this very sled back in the day. He had some great stories and also brought four of his other race sleds to the show.
The restoration bar is usually set pretty high at these events and this pair of Masseys is just one example. Beautiful sleds.
Sleds aside, one of the best things about these events is the interesting and friendly people that you meet. There’s probably no place on the planet where it’s easier to strike up a conversation than at a vintage sled show.
Speaking of interesting and friendly people, since it was his home turf, I managed to track down the bear rassling legend, Bearrassler himself. Been several years since I went on a ride with him and some of his ND friends and tried to keep them from getting more than one zip code ahead of me.
It probably wasn’t quite the same as the Centurion he used to ride but I thought he looked right at home on the seat of the Mutt.
skiroule
Well-known member
The recent “mini-blizzard” gave me one last chance to take this little buckaroo out for a spin before it was put away for the season. Good thing I did, as most of the snow has already melted since this photo was taken.
It’s been a while since it was finished so maybe I’ve forgotten how much work it was but it really feels like it was worth the effort. It runs even better than I had hoped and I love the look and sound of the sled and how it rides.
A co-worker picked up a 79 El Tigre’ this winter and only got to ride it enough to know it’s crazy fast for a vintage sled, as I suspected it would be. Another friend is getting his Scorpion Stinger and 440 Whip up and running so we should have some fun next winter.
I missed out on the vintage event at the Boondocks this year due to a medical appointment conflict but I don’t intend to have that happen again and am already booked into a cabin there for next year.
It’s been a while since it was finished so maybe I’ve forgotten how much work it was but it really feels like it was worth the effort. It runs even better than I had hoped and I love the look and sound of the sled and how it rides.
A co-worker picked up a 79 El Tigre’ this winter and only got to ride it enough to know it’s crazy fast for a vintage sled, as I suspected it would be. Another friend is getting his Scorpion Stinger and 440 Whip up and running so we should have some fun next winter.
I missed out on the vintage event at the Boondocks this year due to a medical appointment conflict but I don’t intend to have that happen again and am already booked into a cabin there for next year.
skiroule, is that a true massey sled? as in "massey ferguson"? have never seen one of those and if it is I didn't think they were in the business long enough to make a sled that looked like that, aerodynamically that is, only ones I've ever seen were quite boxy.
any hints to what may be next on the horizon?
any hints to what may be next on the horizon?
skiroule
Well-known member
The sleds in the photo were sold as Massey Fergusons and as you said, they certainly don’t have the “garden tractor” styling that was typical of the Ski Whiz. This is because the last couple of years that the Massey snowmobile brand existed, their sleds were built by Scorpion.
The Massey Storm is similar to the Scorpion Whip and since Scorpion had purchased Brutanza Engineering, they built a Massey version of the Brut and it was sold as the Cyclone. Even though they were built by Scorpion, Massey Ferguson apparently had a lot of input into improvements that were incorporated into the Massey versions of the sleds.
They are cool looking sleds but I don’t think they sold a lot of them so you don’t see them very often.
As far as future projects, I’m sure I’ll continue to mess around in the shop but don’t really have anything that I can commit to at this point in time. So far I’ve been lucky because I haven’t been burned by launching into a public build long before I had any idea if it could be finished. Maybe I’m worried about continuing to push my luck. Guess we’ll see if anything looks promising by next winter.