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Welcome to the collections area!

Here I will showcase all kinds of snowmobiles restored and original from many different owners. Think of it as an online show. Most of them are from what I have come to call the 'Oxford Collection'. Oxford is just our home town in Nova Scotia, Canada. This makes up the sleds of Rob Vandam, ' RTX Dex' Vandam and me, 'Sled Steve' Weeks. We compete with each other, yet we help each other too. You can be sure if one of us finds some monster sled in an old shed that we will say everything about it except for where we found it! It is kind of funny, sometimes we get pretty ticked off at each other. But in the end we are all in it for fun!

1972 OMC-Evinrude Bobcat SS 399

This is another sled from the Vandam collection. The machine is a 1972 Evinrude Bobcat SS, marketed as a high performance machine by Evinrude. It is a different looking yet highly sought after snowmobile. Short, small, narrow, opposed twin cylinder motor, this thing has features that very few sleds ever had. Right now there are very few of these sleds around and lots of collectors are right in love with them! I think it's kind of the same deal as the Ski-doo Elan and Scorpion Lil' whips....they are cute little sleds and people love them. Well enough mushy stuff, lets continue!
This sled was found on a farm and it was completely covered in muck and grain which kind of helped to preserve it or 'mummify it'. When it was picked up it was quite dirty but a quick wash revealed that that the dirty covering had preserved the body and the seat really well! The machine has a couple minor broken components and a bad track which are all being replaced with good parts
Here some before and after the clean up pictures, this machine will be restored probably by next year.

1976 Scorpion-Massey 'Whirlwind 440'

This sled is currently up for sale due to my relentless pursuit of Sno-Jet brand snowmobiles

My 1976 Massey Whirlwind 428 in nice original condition, will be showed as original, just needs minor clean up. The engine in this thing is a complete ROCK! The suspension is the unique Scorpion 'pararail'. You have to see what the original track looks like on this thing, IT'S THE BEST ONE I HAVE EVER SEEN ON AN ORIGINAL! It has 1700 miles on it.

It was actually manufactured by Scorpion for Massey Ferguson after Scorpion purchased the JLO engine company which used to be Massey's chief supplier. Scorpions new line of sleek trail cruisers would become the the base of the new Massey lineup as well They were known as the Whip series. Their frames are almost all aluminum and they are very light sleds. The Massey Whirlwind and Scorpion Whip snowmobiles are 95% the same. The only differences are the hood and the colors.
The Whip/Whirlwind suspensions were the patented Scorpion 'Para-rail', a combination of Bogey and slide suspension. The suspension was better for light snow conditions where slide rails would melt. It was also pretty good in deep snow, keeping itself quite clean and freewheeling. My major problem is when the snow melts and leaves ice behind in the drive cogs. Other brands tried and failed to make their own 'hybrid' suspensions but the Scorpion Para-rail was by far the best of them.
Under the hood is where the real beauty sits, the 428cc Cuyuna twin cylinder engine. This is basically a JLO-Rockwell twin with a little more power from a better carb and exhaust system. Scorpion bought out JLO-Rockwell and soon transferred the operation from Germany to the U.S.A. These engines are among the most reliable and simple snowmobile engines ever made! The whole layout is built for extreme sound proofing, the airbox and vents are really tight. The sled is really quiet! This particular motor has 1700 Miles on it which is quite low.
This machine, along with it's brother (Scorpion Whip 440) is a leader in it's class for fit and finish, ergonomics, handling, fuel economy and reliability. The JLO/Cuyuna motor is well known for rock solidness. This sled is classified with: Mercury's Trail Twister, Ski-doo's Everest and Motoski Futura, Yamaha GP and STX 433, Arctic Cat Panther, Polaris Electra, and Sno-jet SST. Compared to those sleds, the skis are much stronger, the front tierods/suspension is much tighter and tougher. The Pararail works and has a very nice trail ride. There's nothing loose or shaky about the sled it is a quality built machine. Get this! The frame is all aluminum!..right up to the steering support and front crossmember. But..it is well put together with excellent welding. One thing I note over all it's 'classmates' is the efficiency of the drive line. You can be driving at 50mph, cut the engine and the sled will roll to the end of the earth it seems. It's got about as much friction as a train! The track is an internal polytrack. The material in the track shows no signs of cracking or ageing at all!

1976 Sno-jet SST 440

Here's some shots of my 1976 SST, Inside and out. The first picture is from November of 2000 when I got the sled, It was in pretty good shape for having sat outside for 3 years. The other pictures are of when I tore the whole thing apart and rebuilt it from scratch! It is mostly done now but I need my new decals put on and some of the hood repair on the front went wrong so that has to be fixed right. This is a sled with a million bugs! I worked out just about every kind of gremlin you could imagine, the end result is a dirty engine area from all the tinkering. Now my Hex clutch was binding on it and I took it off and threw it against a wall! I'm looking to try a 102 C Comet on it soon but there's this other problem......it's smoking like crazy! I jetted it down from 350 to 320 and it didn't do a thing, now I figure that I mixed the gas rich. If this thing ever runs and looks great I will be extremely happy!

Here's some more recent shots from this year. That's a 1972 Superjet Wide tracker beside it. It has a beautiful frame and stellar engine (which may lend itself to a 73' Starjet for awhile). The track is shot and there is no seat and dash so it would be hard to restore right now until I get the right parts. Everything I have right now is all for narrower track models. If I find a parts sled maybe I could restore it easily. The frames are the worst headaches with old Sno-jets and at least that one is already covered!
(March 22, 2003) Well, it's been year #3 and this sled still won't run right. I have been searching for an Exciter or Enticer engine to pick CDI stuff from. I bought brand new decals for it so if it runs good then I will take it from 'rider-refurbishing' to a really nice 'rider-restoration'!

This is my beautiful 1973 Sno-jet Starjet 338. It was built by Sno-jet to be a reliable trail/family sled and this one is still like new with 500 miles on it and 150 PSI compression per cylinder. The engine is a 338 Yamaha radial fan cooled twin producing 24HP. It has a big HD carb and a fairly simple can exhaust. The Starjet is a basic bogey wheeled shockless machine but it is pretty fun to ride.
(March 23) I bought this sled with the idea that it was like a showroom deal. Well, I wasn't disappointed at all. I put maybe 35 miles on it and the middle boge assembly cracked apart. Luckilly, I had lots of replacements. I also replaced a front ski that needed welding on it's front grab bar. Those 2 repairs kind of kept it out of MVP contention with the Whirlwind.

This is a new member to the collection, Rob Vandam's 1973 Arctic Cat El Tigre 250. What a nice little monster this is! It's in pretty good shape. The 73' El Tigre 250's dominated their class in most forms of racing. The 250's are rarer than the other Tigres too as well as being the most successful at racing. This one just needs some minor cosmetic work and the carbs need to be set up. Curiosly, it had a 28mm carb on one side and a 30 on the other. Luckily, the clutch has no bushing wear so this sled should be ready to fly soon. These low light pics will be replaced with some better ones soon.

Here are some rare sleds owned by Arctic Cat collector and restorer, Rick Vansnick who lives about 25 miles from me. He has a detailed eye and does work for other people as well as on his own sleds.
Here is Rick's 1977 Z 440 race sled.

This is his 1972 Kitty Cat, the nicest one i've ever seen before!

This is an Original 1975 Z 340, it just needs the flame graphics and a few other minor cosmetic details completed. It has a 340 Free Air twin plugger Kawi with twin pipes!
Still to come!...... UNDER HOOD SHOTS and more nice kitties!