AmSnow.com is now SnoWest.com
“The Elite will change all your ideas about Snowmobiling.” That was a slogan back in 1973 when Ski-Doo came up with break-through side-by-side seating. Being a leader in innovation, Ski-Doo made something that looked and handled totally different than traditional sleds.
¦ What was it?
This absolutely out of this world machine had power that came from a Rotax 436cc fan-cooled twin-cylinder motor putting out around 30 horsepower, which was a little light on power for this large snowmobile with twin 15-inch wide rubber tracks. The engine was in the rear of the snowmobile, which was also very unique. Overall width was 44 inches and length was 103 inches. It was certainly larger than a regular snowmobile and it weighed in at 682 lbs. With that much weight and having less horsepower it wasn’t that speedy, but it had a nice ride. The fiberglass body was reinforced with steel bracing to hold its shape while riding all the different types of trails.
The Elite came in a white color and orange decals with black tunnel. It had a nice big windshield for comfort and warmth, with black seats and plenty of leg room for long rides. It had interesting features like a padded dash, electric start, a transmission with reverse and a covered rear engine compartment that looked stylish and helped with sound quality. It came with disc brakes for positive stopping action and a bogie wheel suspension so you could ride in fairly low snow conditions. The skis were made with nice large loops to grab. Ski shocks were also standard.