Snowmobile

[Jamie]

Anyone care to identify this?

[Sixty8panther]

NO clue but I want one!!!

[balthazar]

A modified Reeves Octa-Auto?

[Sixty8panther]

Useless piece of crap! It's RWD therefore it will never make it up any hill i the snow, it will fishtail out of control at the slightest amount of throttle and black ice will leave it in the snowbank as we all know only FWD and 4x4 vehicles stop safely on slippery surfaces. [/obnoxious_sarcasm]

[Jamie]

A modified Reeves Octa-Auto?

[post="45957"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Nope, it's GM based ...

[razoredge]

Useless piece of crap! It's RWD therefore it will never make it up any hill i the snow, it will fishtail out of control at the slightest amount of throttle and black ice will leave it in the snowbank as we all know only FWD and 4x4 vehicles stop safely on slippery surfaces.

[/obnoxious_sarcasm]

[post="45971"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

I think I still would have rather pulled ol Jeb and Bess out of the barn and headed down town with bells a jinglin' B)

With rubber tires this thing would be pathatic next to a Cord. And with the tracks and runners Id prefer the old Cord :AH-HA_wink:

[all seriousness]

[Sixty8panther]

It did look like there was a Chevy bowtie on the radiator support. Check out those cushy brass era seats. Crazy.

[razoredge]

Nope, it's GM based ...

[post="45978"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

So your looking for the company that did the conversion ? Or your saying it was a GM in house project ?

I wouldnt know either way but I like how they did the leading wheel. I should remember some of the names of earlier track companys but its all slipped away except Cletrac and Cat. and County. Wonder if anyone in these parts every had one ? Most like at least one or one of the old track tractors. Grandpa would remember, miss that guy, he was a walking history book of this area since the 20's and remembered stuff he had seen even younger and older infomation he learned. Lived healthy to 93. I have old runner made locally from who knows when. Its stamped into the fine grained old growth white pine, the name of the man and the town. Its a relative from my mothers side of the family.

Love those seats !

[Jamie]

So your looking for the company that did the conversion ? Or your saying it was a GM in house project ?

The base vehicle is a GM product, but the conversion was done by some people at a telephone company.

The vehicle in question is currently in an auto museum.

Love those seats !

Stock GM seats for the era.

[Jamie]

Since nobody seemed to come up with the answers ...

This snowmobile began it's early life as an ordinary 1918 Chevrolet 490 Touring and was converted by the North East Hope Telephone Company in the early 1930's to service their lines during winter months. A second axle was added and the tracks were created out of old tires and chain. The front skis were made by cutting a set of wooden front wheels in half and securing runners underneath.

The vehicle used to reside at the Minnie Thompson Museum of Stratford, Ontario, but it was auctioned off and is now on display at the Oshawa Car Museum.

There are more pictures here, here, and here.