What is the vehicle I picture the Dos Equis guy riding? Of course, it’s “the most interesting vehicle in the world” – the snowmobile!
Seriously, let’s look at this. What other machine can ride on snow, ice, grass, asphalt or water, and jump football fields in a single bound? No other vehicle offers the same performance of a sled for a base price of around $10,000 US! But we already know that! The machines we ride are unlike any in the world.
Perspective is what this “vintage” issue is all about. We often complain about how expensive sleds are. True, the majority of us don’t use sleds in the summer (grass drags or asphalt drags or watercross), so the average snowmobiler is limited to 3-4 months a year. BUT, realistically, so are boaters or motorcyclists if you live in the snowbelts. Most boat owners put their boat in on Memorial Day and take it out on Labor Day. Bikes might get a few more weeks in spring and fall, but both pursuits are expensive. A new Mastercraft ski boat runs $100K and a new Harley-Davidson Fat Boy runs $16,700! Heck, a new utility ATV costs $10K, and a new side-by-side is $20K!
Nonetheless, it’s still nuts to see what we were paying just a few decades ago. We do that in several articles in the
February 2016 issue, including a “From the Vault” article from 25 years ago (yes, 1991 is considered “vintage” now). That shocked me, because my first “real sled,” an Enticer 250, is considered ancient by kids today!
Mark Boncher, Editor