AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com
Back in 1970 Gehl Company, from West Bend, Wis., had produced farm equipment for 110 years and saw the popularity of snowmobiles rising.
Its first adventure out of the agricultural equipment market came from looking for a vehicle that could be used for both farm use and pleasure riding.
Gehl contacted Alsport Inc. from Norwalk, Ohio to build 75 snowmobile-like units they could test-market in Minnesota and Wisconsin dealerships. At this time Alsport was already making a snow vehicle. It was a bright orange machine called a Tracker. The one manufactured for Gehl was called the Blazer, and it was bright red. During a time when many equipment manufacturers were developing snowmobiles the development of the Blazer was not too surprising.
The Great ‘Thing Doer’
Gehl’s district sales manager at the time was Terry LeFever. He recounted the history of the Blazer to AmSnow. It listed at $1,595 with a load capacity on land of 500 pounds and 400 pounds on water. The Blazer saw speeds up to 65 mph on land and floatability for use in the water with speeds of 5 mph.
Dimensions for this unique machine measured 60-inches wide by 108-inches long and 42-inches high, and came with 6-inch wide skis. Some dealers sold them with a special trailer to haul them because of the Blazer’s 60-inch width, according to LeFever.
The adaptable Blazer had the ability to change the skis to wheels in very little time. It could be a snowmachine in the winter or a dune buggy for the summer!
Comfort, style, safety
Weighing 750 pounds, the GT-15 model came with twin 15 1/2-inch wide poly Gates tracks supported by an aluminum suspension with bogey wheels. Power was provided by a CCW twin-cylinder, 30 horsepower, 2-cycle motor with a forward, neutral and reverse Apex transmission.
Standard equipment included a speedometer, cigarette lighter and fuel gauge. Fuel capacity was six gallons, and the machine was made with an all-fiberglass body so it was sealed when used in the water. There was an interesting rally-type steering wheel with automotive-type steering. Deep, padded bucket seats with center console control gear selector made it possibly “the first side-by-side comfort-plus snowmobile,” LeFever said.
The dealer motto was “Ride and Drive,” but it was hindered by its width.
“With it being 60-inches wide it was hard to go down the trails we had back then,” LeFever said. Sleds nowadays can’t be over 48-inches wide for a state permit.
Another downfall was the disc brake on each track to help make turning easier. There was a pedal for the left track, a pedal for the right track, AND a pedal for the throttle! When braking hard, you could easily stretch a drive chain to its breaking point. It was a tough job to work in small quarters to put it back together or replace according to LeFever.
Alsport didn’t want to fix this major problem, so Gehl backed away from selling Blazers. Dealers and customers could send Blazers back to Gehl. After a year or so of testing in the market Gehl felt the Blazer wasn’t going to work into their future market strategy, and the remaining inventory was liquidated.
One person from Milwaukee bought 15 remaining Blazers – presumably waiting to be discovered. Wouldn’t that be a great find!