By John Gunnell
For some reason (look out the window in winter) North Central Wisconsin has always been a place that snowmobiles came out in winter. In fact, the story of modern snowmobiles can be traced back to a hand-built machine that Carl Eliason put together in 1924. Today that original snowmobile is on display at the Vilas County, Wisconsin, Historical Museum (www.vilasmuseum.com.)
Eliason dubbed his creation a “motor toboggan,” but advertised it as a “snowmobile.” Later, Eliason became part of the Four Wheel Drive Co. of Clintonville, Wis. and motor toboggans were built by them through 1953. The FWD-Seagrave Museum (www.fwdseagravemuseum.org) in Clintonville currently houses two of them.
In February 2022, one of those early “sleds” was brought to the Manawa Snodeo (www.manawasnodeo.org) to headline the antique snowmobile show that’s part of the Snodeo event. Dennis Handschke, of New London, Wis., is the organizer of the Snodeo’s antique snowmobile section.
Dennis is actually continuing a long tradition for Waupaca County. Years ago, the first vintage snowmobile show we went to was in the Waupaca area. At that time, a national snowmobile collector’s club was headquartered in the City of Waupaca. Another city in Waupaca County—Manawa—was the home base for Trade Winds snowmobiles in the 1950s. Many sled enthusiasts contend that a racing-style Trade Winds Cheetah was the first snowmobile to go over 100 mph. Several of the rare Trade Winds models made there were at the 2022 Snodeo, including a reproduction of that 100-mph machine.
Dennis Handschke’s 2022 array of older snowmobiles also included his own 1963 Fox Trac; a 1963 Polaris L60 owned by Ken Johnson of Iola; (who also brought a 1969 Snowbug); a 1970 Ariens 340 SE owned by Ted Peotter of Stevens Point; a 1971 Artic Cat Panther owned by Marti Cook and Chantel Lisney of Blue River; a 1984 Polaris Trail owned by Guy Jacobson of New London; a Harders 440 owned by Mark Radtke of Bear Creek and Wayne Trapp’s 1975 Yamaha PDC GPX 338 owned by Leon and Penne Koch.
These are just some of the classic sleds that came last year. Also shown were several 1930s Model A Fords with Super Snowbird track-and-ski conversions owned by Steve King of Wisconsin Rapids and Joe Reid of Almond. The Snow Bird kit was made by the Arps Corp. of New Holstein, Wis. even after the Ford V-8 arrived in 1932. That was because A’s had more road clearance and their body design worked better with the kit.
Dennis Handschke is planning to have even more vintage snowmobiles on display at the 2023 Manawa Snodeo, which takes place on February 18 and 19 at Bear Lake Resort, N4715 State Road 22-110 in Manawa. For info call 1-920-470-1417.