The 'Ol Bubbletops - > From Patrick Sullivan It's Not Just The Bubble-Tops...

"Hi Larry,
Another vintage sled head writing in here...I'm almost too young to remember our 4 sleds (I'm 17)...Hell I'm not even sure what one of them is. My dad relayed all this info to me. The pic that I have sent, shows 3 sleds, 2 1972 Ski-Doo's a T.N.T. 440 and an Olympic 335, a 1970 something Arctic Cat GOD KNOWS WHAT 440 w/ Electric Start..and a cigarrette lighter...My dad says the name Puma sticks in his head so I'm calling it a 72' Puma 440 for now.. and the only one not in that picture is the sled my dad hated with a burning passion...

A 1971 Suzuki 340. It was his worst nightmare. NOTHING on that sled lasted! Plugs went every 30 miles! Light Bulbs every 20 miles...Not to mention the endless pile of cleats and rivets on the bottom of the lake... He ended up trading it for the 72' Puma.

The Puma. That sled was MY favorite...when I was 2 I decided it was my sled and it was not going anywhere...Dad was ok with that, it was basically my personal playpen. Then came the winter of 1989, We did some hard riding on it that year. Until mid February, when the trackshaft snapped off at on the right side and rounded out the drive cog. I guess it just ripped off the plastic coating and chipped the metal underneath. He had to bring them to a machine shop because Landry's Snowmobile service said they couldn't get the parts.(my dad says it was a 7 point gear) We ended up giving it away for $50 bucks because we couldn't get it to pull over..(seized)

My dad even stuffed the cylinders with M-80 firecrackers 2 per cyl...he was a bit tipsy at the time... Him and our neighbor Bud lit em and it still didn't turn. The kid it was sold to called us back a half hour after he got home and they had it running. The trouble? Frozen electric start motor...Go figure...I'm still mad at him for that. Keep in mind this is in Derry, NH back in the late 80's. This was still "East Bumrash, Nowhere" back then...now, they closed down the trails near my house because of the rich people who were "really smart" and built their houses next to the trail.

But enough with that...
Then came the Ski-Doo's....
They came in the category right below that Suzuki.

72' Olympic 335
-Pipe fell off EVERY ride. It had been helicoiled and welded to the motor even! 3 times!!
-Light bulbs
-Backfire through the carbs
-skipping track shaft
-kept on suckin stuff into the carb...same old story....

72' TNT 440
-same thing with the pipe....except it held up better and helicoils lasted a bit longer than the oly'.
-What a Rocket that was!!
-did not like 3/4 throttle at all...above or below that she was fine but 3/4....Nooooo.
-your butt would be numb after 2 minutes on it with our trail system
- This sled got toweddown route 28 in a blizzard at night to the sled repair shop being towed with nylon rope behind (of all things) a Plymouth Champ...

I recall one incident with my sister tied behind the olympic on a saucer (you know those saucers you fly down a hill on) dad spun the tail around and threw her and the saucer off into the woods 200 ft. at 45 mph...She was 14 at the time. We used to go out to Long Island Pond to watch the demolition derby (cars, sleds u name it) on the ice, they had sleds going against chevy Impalas!! Of course there was also the pasttime of racing the neighbors...he he he...My dad, ran a bottle of isopropyl alcohol in the mix everytime.the 440 was no match for the neighbor's 87' Indy Trail 488 F/C. It got pretty close though!!

We finally broke the things... my sister put regular gas, no premix in the 440 and seized it. We sold it for parts. The olympic on the other hand, we lent to my uncle on the premise he would fix it. Never saw the sled again. He junked it. (The crank and case was toast the bearings froze in the case and would not move freely). Then again I didn't want to, nor did dad. After the olympic went we didn't start sledding again until 2000. That's when I bought my 87' Polaris Indy 400. for $160.00. It'll be vintage in a couple years...now we have 3 sleds again..and all is right with the world...Probably cause they're all Polaris's. (although I wouldn't mind having a vintage cat' again...)

Think Snow,
Patrick Sullivan"