Snow trac Dealer

Does anyone know who was the first Aktiv Snow Trac Dealer in the United States ???? and MN Outdoors is not allowed to answer.......

Rudy Robinson, owner of Twin Pines Equipment in Boston, MA?

Sorry, that is not correct, but you were only about 6 states off to the east ??? anybody else have a guess ???? Clue: in the upper central states..........

Rudy Robinson WAS the US Importer. He had sattellite dealerships that included a guy in yellowstone, an outfit in Seattle, and the guys in minisota. However, the sucession of 4 dealers in Alaska were seperate. There was also a dealer in Canada that was seperate, and Northwest Tell, the largest user of Snow Tracs in the world, got their parts direct.
The succession of dealers in Alaska: I never met or knew the first guy's name. He sold out to AL Gartz, in Delta Junction. Al in turn sold out to Bill Bolunis in anchorage, and after he died, his widow and son, sold out to Jerry Mentzel of North Pole. Jerry subsequently moved to Ohio, somewhere around Wright Field. He sold the remainder of his parts to Warren Jones, of Mazama Wa. I bought out Northwest Tell of all their spares and Al Gartz of his spares and purchased parts from Twin Pines at their place in Maine(Milinocket). the last time I spoke to Rudy he was in medical assisted living. Al Gartz was still alive and living in Delta Junction. I personally went and inventoried Twin Pines Equipment entire inventory in Maine, around 1996, and Bill Bolunis's in Anchorage in 94. By 2000 I had in stock one of every part, including body panels, for all 4 series of Snow Trac and Track Master, as identified by the tracks:2 Belt, 3 Belt, 4 Belt, and 5 Belt. I sold my entire parts collection to Warren which means that he currently has the largest selection of parts in the world. Christer, in sweden, was doing the same thing I was, which was having copies of NOS (Rare, made of UN-OBTANIUM, "New,Old Stock")parts and having copies made. Christer also had all the original drawings, which he offered me at one time early on.
The Place in Seattle was called Ski-Fac Industries, Twin Pines had a place in maine and their main place was in Boston. I have never been able to determine what the name of the dealer in Minisota was.

The Minisota dealer was possibly the first. When Twin Pines became the US importer the records of Westeraskmaskiner and of AKTIV indicate that practally every machine in the US was imported thru them. As their single largest dealer the owners of the manufacturer in Sweden wined and dined the Robinsons(Rudy robinson of Twin Pines and his daughter Lisa) at the plant in Sweden of which the family had quite a collection of pictures. The owners of Westermaskiner were the Bolinder family. Mr Bolinder can be seen on the cover of one of the older brochures wearing a wild hat, and looks rather like a cross between Santa and a Clown. Later , Bob Person bought out the company and it became AKTIV. Bob and his daughter are on the cover of the operators manual, the smaller booklet that has the variator tension adjustment drawing. In the Hot VW's article one of the editors penned in Hot VW's on his hat! The Bolinder's original plant where Snow Trac's were built has been torn down, but Bolinder/Volvo still manufacture a fairly nice tractor.

AND! I got 5 bucks says this wasn't a possible answer that you expected to get!

I got 5 bucks I will send to you Lyndon!!! the first dealer was in Grand rapids Minnesota !!!! you are correct, I am from Minnesota, and grew up in the Grand Rapids area in the summers when I was a kid........

I would have bet it was Redington who owned ESI (Equipment Services, Inc) in Anchorage, Alaska. He was buying the parts directly from the manufacture, if I recall correctly, back in the late 50's to early 60's.

If another dealer in the lower 48 started before Jan '59, then they'd be the first dealer in the US, even if ESI began first.

Bobcat said:

If another dealer in the lower 48 started before Jan '59, then they'd be the first dealer in the US, even if ESI began first.

Click to expand...

Oh yeah, we weren't part of the country by that time, so even if I was right, I am wrong........

Lyndon, I forgot to ask you, in a few of the threads I have read on here you seen to be really partial to putting a porsche engine in a snow trac, ??? is that a 356 engine and why ??? thanks Paul

Elsewhere in this Forum(you'll have to hunt around to find it) numerous of the members tracked down the fabled Porsche Powered ST4's. It was an Option, probably a very expensive option. As far as the members of the Forum were able to ascertain, only the operations on the South Pole ever ordered any of the porsche powered models. As of the date of their production the only Porsche engine available that would readily fit in was a variant of the 356 motor. This engine came in 60, 75, or 90 HP. The 90 HP, reffered to as the "Super 90" had a roller crankshaft and it is not likely that any of these were fitted to ST4's. What was fitted, was the Industrial motor. The later 912 motor is almost the same, with some suttle differences. These were manufactured in only 66 thru 69 and could have well been in ST4's. They have a displacement of 1600 CC's and a much wider rev range(6500 to 7000 RPM's -VS- 3600 to 4600 for a VW industrial) and had significantly more torque. A Snow Trac with a 356 or 912 motor would have been the fastest thing around as Snow Cat's go except for the Bombardier B12. Normal top end for a Snow Trac with a standard VW industrial 126 Motor would be around 22 MPH, where as with the beefy Porsche top end would likely approach 35 to 40 MPH. Bombardier B12's built from '37 to '71(an inordinately long run of production) with the later Chrysler 318's could routinely go 45MPH.

I tried putting larger (1700 & 1776 CC) engines in both Snow Trac's and Trac Master's. With the heavier Trac Master it didn't work that well. The gearing for a Snow Trac(12 to 36) was too tall, and the factory gearing with the big 46 tooth front sprocket was too low. But, in a Snow Trac it was a blast! One no longer needed first or second gear, as it would climb steep hills in third and even 4th. I used the built up VW engines instead of the Porsche motor due to cost and availability of parts. A really dressed out VW motor cost me 3000, where as a Porsche might run twice that, unrestored. Porsche parts are expensive and not readily available.

Lyndon How about one of these sprockets in a Snow Master? Pic to follow.