<VV> 1926 snowmobile

[Gary Swiatowy]

> From: "Dennis Pleau" <dpleau at wavecable.com>
> Subject: Re: <VV> 1926 Snowmobile- NOW WITH CORVAIR CONTENT
>
> This is almost unbelievable.  Today in the Sacramento area all museums had 
> a
> free day.  My son Michael and I planned out a route hoping to see between
> three and five museums.
>
> Next stop was back to Woodland to the Hedrick Agricultural History Museum
> (eat your heart out Lon), lots of tractors including a Fordson snow 
> tractor,
> setup exactly like the one in the video Dick sent out.  Next to the 
> Hedrick
> Museum is the Hayes Truck Museum and in the Hayes Museum is a 61 Rampside.
> Nothing special.  It's a driver.  It could be spiffed up and since I'm
> unemployed, I may volunteer.
>
Even more on the 1926 snowmobile:
> In the 1920s the Armstead Snow Motor was developed. When this was used to 
> convert a Fordson tractor into a screw propelled vehicle with a single 
> pair of cylinders; the combination became known as the Fordson Snow Devil. 
> A film was made to show the capabilities of the vehicle as well as a 
> Chevrolet car fitted with an Armstead Snow Motor. The film clearly shows 
> that the vehicle copes well in snow. Steering was effected by having each 
> cylinder receive power from a separate clutch which, depending on the 
> position of the steering gear, engages and disengages; this results a 
> vehicle that is relatively maneuverable. The promotional film shows the 
> Armstead snow motor hauling 20 tones of logs.

In January 1926, Time magazine reported:
"Having used the motor car for almost every other conceivable purpose, 
leading Detroit automobile makers have now organized a company entitled 
"Snow Motors Inc.," to put out a machine which will negotiate the deepest 
snowdrifts at six to eight miles an hour. The new car will consist of a Ford 
tractor power-plant mounted on two revolving cylinders instead of 
wheels-something on the order of a steam roller. The machine has already 
proved its usefulness in deep snow previously unnavigable. One such machine 
has done the work which formerly required three teams. In Oregon a stage 
line uses a snow motor in its two daily round trips over the Mackenzie Pass 
between Eugene and Bend. Orders are already in hand from Canada, Norway, 
Sweden, Alaska. The Hudson Bay Co. has ordered a supply to maintain 
communications with its most northern fur-trading stations. The Royal 
Northwest Mounted Police have also gone into the market for snow motors, and 
may cease to be horsemen and become chauffeurs, to the deep regret of cinema 
people. A number of prominent motor makers have also been interested in the 
proposition from the angle of adapting the snow motors equipment to their 
ordinary models. Hudson, Dodge and Chevrolet are mentioned especially as 
interested in practical possibilities along this line."

An an extant example is in the collection of the Heidrick Ag History Center 
in Woodland, California. This particular vehicle is said to have been used 
to haul mail from Truckee to North Lake Tahoe.

Despite this interest, the Armstead Snow Motor was not a long-term 
commercial success

Gary Swiatowy