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TOMMO BOUGHT A SNOW TRAC IN ENGLAND

Tommo

New member
SUPER Site Supporter
:tiphat: :coolshade :beer: :applause: Gentlemen, the sun is shining in Baghdad!!Because i am now the proud owner of a 1965 (Yet to confirm from the serial number) Snow trac which belonged to the Scottish electricity authority. It has a 1200cc VW engine with original A/filter, 7 bogey wheels, all original bits are on it along with some add ons such as Amber flashing beacon, tracks are good, original red paint can be seen from inside the engine bay etc.

There is a small bit of paint flake/rust on the roof where the front window meet and needs a general re-spray. The inside is good, the floor has had a peace of steel put down in place of the wooden floor? There is no heater in the cab and basically it is what on would expect for a vehicle of that age.

It starts on the button and drives with no apparent knocks and noises where they shouldn't be both for the engine and running gear etc...........I feel a restoration coming on.........stop me.....please!

My brother is a dealer of plant and machinery and he spotted it sat in the guy's yard and asked if it was for sale, has he new i was looking for one, but was unsure has to whether this was in fact a Snow trac, so of went the picture! And YES was the reply when he rang some 30 Min's ago.

Pictures are on there way to me so, as soon as i can put them on the site i will. The good thing is that I've just paid less than £3,500 for it!!

He is sending me the serial number so i can look up the year of manufacture, has this one sounds has though it could be an early one. How do i tell apart from the serial number, is there any thing that would standout. The engine could have been change at some point for the 1200cc unit, possibly?

Tell me your thoughts guy's and lets hope it's not going to be a lamb donkey!!!!!:beer: :drink:
 

Tommo

New member
SUPER Site Supporter
Re: Got a Flat Bogey last night! --- I need Villi's tool!!! --

Oh ya guy's, i will now need one of these special bogey lifting tools as well!

Bob, if you get a good set of drawing/measurements, i will buy one from you and will know doubt be looking for a V/belt etc and some good old advise!

Later lads:17875:
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
Re: Got a Flat Bogey last night! --- I need Villi's tool!!! --

Give that man a Cigar! Most excellent sir! I'll even drink a cup of tea to help celebrate (but would prefer an ice cold beer) You know the drill, PICTURES! We are becoming quite the Snow Trac forum!
 

Tommo

New member
SUPER Site Supporter
Re: Got a Flat Bogey last night! --- I need Villi's tool!!! --

Pictures to follow as soon as my Bro gets his act soughted out. You never know i could have bought a heap of shi...but knowing my brother like i do , it should be about the same condition has the Snow master you put on the site! ........i hope
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Re: Got a Flat Bogey last night! --- I need Villi's tool!!! --

Tommo said:
Oh ya guy's, i will now need one of these special bogey lifting tools as well!

Bob, if you get a good set of drawing/measurements, i will buy one from you and will know doubt be looking for a V/belt etc and some good old advise!

Later lads:17875:


Actually shipping from the US for a simple welded up steel tool would be crazy.

What you need to do is talk to Mith. He lives in the south of England, and is a very capable welder (better than me) so he could easily make up the tool too and you'd save a bundle on shipping. Just stand back, Mith tends to light things on fire when he welds!!! If we get the measurements from Villi, I will forward them to you.
 

Mith

The Eccentric Englishman
SUPER Site Supporter
Re: Got a Flat Bogey last night! --- I need Villi's tool!!! --

Tommo, if you want me to fab one up for you it wouldnt be a problem, probably got the steel here kicking around too for it. Even better, if your up this way pop in and you can have a go yourself :D

Bob, thanks for the compliment, but you must know I do only show my better results ;) And it aint me that makes the fires, its all them hot sparks and all that flammable stuff they land on :eek:
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Mith, maybe you need to stop welding on a table made of kindling and stacks of recycled newspapers, with legs made of dried firewood wrapped in oily rags. :yum:

Then again, my wife doesn't even know I have a welder in the garage :whistle:
 

Ice Queen

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
Congratulations Tommo, glad to hear you've joined the ranks of the snow trac 'nutters'. I still think I need my head read in buying one. Still tracking the history of mine, but it is ex electricity board. Don't know what Villi's tool is (perhaps I should have phrased that better?!) but do I need one for mine and if so could the eccentric Englishman make one for an English lady living in Wales, please? What part of down south of England? Anywhere near Dorset?
 

villi

Member
Congratulations Tommo! I am sorry ! I have not the measurements of the tool yet , I have to drive 22 km.to the station but I promise.
 

Tommo

New member
SUPER Site Supporter
:tiphat: Mith, thanks for that and I'll see if i can pop by some time when I'm in town for a chat and i bit of fire fighting no doubt!!:yum:

So I've joined the ranks of the snow trac 'nutters', along side Bob s, Snow Ops, Big Al, Snow queen, Villi and all who i cant name, just be gentle with me has I'm a shy boy really:fart2:

Bob and all, do we know how many Snow tracs are in the UK? i would like to keep tabs of where they are and whether they are used or rotting away!! Doe's anyone know the older gentleman that imported all the spares in Scotland and started building the last of them? Will he be a good source of info etc?? Do we have an address or contact details of this man, i understand he was on the salvage squad programme!:confused:

Thanks Villi for the info, if and when you can provide drawings/measurements i would like some from you or Bob if possible please.

Well folk's thanks go to you all for being here and making this site a fun and knowledgeable place for fun and advise. We are a small group of select guy's and girl's and we should aim (I will) to keep the Snow trac alive and kicking on it's One hundredth birthday!! What do you mean............It would be great to see them still in operation after such a long time.

Take it easy folks, I'm out of here for a bit.:17875:
 

Tommo

New member
SUPER Site Supporter
S/Queen, I'm from A small village just out side Plymouth, Devon and go to the major rallies when i can etc with my Fergi T20. I'm into military vehicles and classic vehicles.
I'm only 39 yrs, but the wife thinks i should have been born 30 year's earlier!!

So how did you get involved with the military hard wear then? You have some very nice stock!
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Tommo said:
Bob and all, do we know how many Snow tracs are in the UK? i would like to keep tabs of where they are and whether they are used or rotting away!! Doe's anyone know the older gentleman that imported all the spares in Scotland and started building the last of them? Will he be a good source of info etc?? Do we have an address or contact details of this man, i understand he was on the salvage squad programme!:confused:

Tommo, I'm sorry but I have absolutely no answers for you. I can tell you that whatever number of Snow Trac's you THINK you have in England is going to be off by 2. Both Gordon Robertson and myself imported our Snow Tracs to the states from England. What I have been able to find is that there were a total of just over 2200 Snow Tracs built in Sweden. Of that total, approximately 75% of them were exported out of Sweden. So roughly 500 to 600 are probably in Sweden. Scotland was one of the largest destination points for Snow Tracs, as was the northern area of North America with plenty of them landing in Canada and Alaska. There also seems to be a good number of them in the upper Northeast US. I could not begin to get any more specific than that.
 

Mith

The Eccentric Englishman
SUPER Site Supporter
Ice_queen - no problem. I live in Hampshire, just south of Basingstoke.

Tommo, would be good to see you. Bring a fire extinguisher ;)

Anyway, catch ya later, not feeling too sparkling right now :(
 

Snowcat Operations

Active member
SUPER Site Supporter
TOMMO,
BigAl IS NOT A REAL SNOWCAT OWNER. He is a bathtub on tracks owner. I mean a Kristi owner. Looks more like a Lou if you ask me though.:yum: :yum: :yum: :yum: :yum:
 

villi

Member
Hi Tommo
Try this email matt.bennett@walltowall.co.uk he was the director of the salvage program he must know somthing ..
Tommo said:
:tiphat: Mith, thanks for that and I'll see if i can pop by some time when I'm in town for a chat and i bit of fire fighting no doubt!!:yum:

So I've joined the ranks of the snow trac 'nutters', along side Bob s, Snow Ops, Big Al, Snow queen, Villi and all who i cant name, just be gentle with me has I'm a shy boy really:fart2:

Bob and all, do we know how many Snow tracs are in the UK? i would like to keep tabs of where they are and whether they are used or rotting away!! Doe's anyone know the older gentleman that imported all the spares in Scotland and started building the last of them? Will he be a good source of info etc?? Do we have an address or contact details of this man, i understand he was on the salvage squad programme!:confused:

Thanks Villi for the info, if and when you can provide drawings/measurements i would like some from you or Bob if possible please.

Well folk's thanks go to you all for being here and making this site a fun and knowledgeable place for fun and advise. We are a small group of select guy's and girl's and we should aim (I will) to keep the Snow trac alive and kicking on it's One hundredth birthday!! What do you mean............It would be great to see them still in operation after such a long time.

Take it easy folks, I'm out of here for a bit.:17875:
 

Tommo

New member
SUPER Site Supporter
Bob, thanks for the info, unfortunately, this will only mean i will be determined to collate all the relevant information on how many and where these vehicles are in the UK.........owe dear!:pat:

Mith, Just wondering how BIG a fire extinguisher i should bring with me! :yum:

S/Ops, thanks again for the PM, look forward to it. Kristi's are more like Porto-loo's that have fell on their face!! They probably handle better on the slopes than a Kristi wouldn't you say Al !!:yum::whistle:

Villi, thanks for the address, I'll give them an email some time today. I may well be able to speak to this original importer? :thumb:

Later Guy's & Girl's.:17875:
 

Ice Queen

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
Well, I live in Wales, but do get to 'civilisation' sometimes, especially during the rally season. I don't know why I am doing this 'collecting' of old and military vehicles etc., I rather think they 'collect' me, but it does seem to run in the family as my daughter and son-in-law are rather involved too (AEC's Tank, Jeep, Imp cars etc). My snowtrac is no. 2325, so perhaps it was not built in Sweden as I think there were some built in Scotland? It was declared new when first registered on 2nd of March, 1983. Any one any ideas and why does it have a taller cab?
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Ice Queen I have no answers for you but just guesses. Based on your serial number, your Snow Trac is probably one of those that was built after the factory production shut down. At that time, the Scottish importer of Snow Tracs reportedly purchased all the parts from Sweden and gathered up surplus VW engines from wherever they could be found and assembled them in Scotland. The way I understand it is that the only reason the Snow Trac went out of production is because VW stopped manufacturing that engine in Europe (I think it was still made in Mexico or Brazil?)

As to why it has the taller cab? Again I don't know. But it is well known that Snow Tracs were essentially built from surplus parts found in the VW factory. Mirrors no longer used on a VW vehicle were puchased and used on Snow Tracs, lights from Hella that no longer were used on a production vehicle were used on Snow Tracs, etc. So it was common to find 2 vehicles of the same year that had some different trim parts because as the supply of mirrors or lights or buttons ran out, they did not have new units made to match, they simply bought something else that was available. It is possible that the tall cab was an improvement for later production years that was designed that way, or it is possible that they got a supply of larger windows and simply built the cab taller to accomodate them???
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Yes, I've seen the tall cab on several Snow Tracs and Snow Masters. I just don't know if it was a change over at some model year or if it was an option or why it happened.
 

Ice Queen

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
Thank you Bob for your guesses, pretty much what I guess to. I haven't been able to glean much information on my snowtrac yet, but I have had a reply from the gentleman at the electricity board. All the records going way back have now been deleted. My snowtrac was taken out of service on 23 /11 /2000 (23rd of November 2000) and sold in auction shortly afterwards. It was originally based at the Penshaw depot and then finished its life of service at the depot in Northallerton, North Yorkshire. This depot supports the Yorkshire Dales area which is rugged and quite hostile at times to which a snowtrac is ideally suited. The workshop at Northallerton apparently cannabalised another snowtrac to keep this one going, there is no one left who remembers why it has a taller cab.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Ice Queen said:
The workshop apparently cannabalised another snowtrac to keep this one going, there is no one left who remembers why it has a taller cab.

Let's hope those people died of natural causes and were not cannabalized at the same time the other Snow Trac was cannabalized! :4_11_9:
 

Ice Queen

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
My goodness that was a quick post!! Must be the ghosts of the cannabalised snowtracs stirring things up!!
 
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