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The early 1970s had stock market analysts giddy and conglomerates hungry for the purchase of whatever snowmobile company they could convince to sell. Polaris was scooped up by Textron of Bell Helicopter and EZ-Go golf cart fame. Fuqua Industries nailed down Scorpion. And Coleco (Canada) Limited bought out Montreal-based Featherweight Corporation to include Alouette snowmobiles in its recreational products mix.

Among the new Alouettes for 1974 was a high-performance 436cc liquid-cooled twin. This was to be a consumerized version of the successful Super Alouette racers combined with the trail manners of the Sno-Brute. Unique to the new Super Brute was a handlebar-mounted "control pod" that swiveled to aim the headlight wherever the rider was steering.

With six gallons of fuel the sled was said to weigh 360 pounds. Credit the use of a new aluminum chassis and race-designed front bulkhead that cradled the engine and Comet drive system. In addition to the 440 liquid, there were three other versions of the Super Brute, starting with a 291cc air-cooled Sachs twin and continuing with 338cc and 437cc Sachs fan-cooled models.

When I tested the original Super Brute 440 LC in the spring of 1973, it had been beaten up by other magazine test crews to the point where the mechanical brake was ineffectual. With a top speed easily over 65 and its quick acceleration, riding a brakeless Super Brute was intimidating. The rear brake light was a piece of wood painted red for photo purposes.

The steering effort from the Alouette Ski-Sober front suspension was extremely light, but the wide ski gripped well in the soft, slushy snow of the test site. Alouette's unique front suspension combined a coil-over-shock mounted to the forward base of the ski and back toward the spindle area. This gave the suspension a scissors action that was much smoother than conventional leafspring ski setups.

While I had a brief stint on the very prototypical 440-LC in the spring, I got a second a chance to grass test a production Super Brute later that year in upstate New York. Where the 440 liquid would churn the snowy 100 yard dash in six seconds, the axial fan-cooled 340cc Sachs was 1.2 seconds slower on late summer's grass. The 440 LC was said to have 42 horses; the 340 claimed 32.

The Alouette was unique. It was a precursor to modern race-bred trail sports sleds and was first with a fairing that Yamaha's Phazer would pick up in later years.

Shortly after the Alouette Super Brute went into production, Coleco did away with Alouette snowmobiles. Those giddy days of promise too quickly turned to reality.

If you find a Super Brute in good or restorable condition, glom on to it. It's a classic.