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Frandee snu shu

Ajay1118

Member
I was looking for a vehicle to leave in the states the site I was on is bring a trailer
There’s a frandee snu shu it’s pretty kewl it’s in a auction current bid is $4500.00
Ends in four days !!!! I ve never heard of these !!! Check it out tell me what u think they say it’s fully restored and no reserve !!! I’m a tucker guy !!!
 

PJL

Well-known member
That would be Bud Nikson's resto-mod Frandee. He is well known here. He Youtube documented the whole build.
 

MNoutdoors RIP

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Yes, he did a wonderful rebuild on that machine. The bid is at about 10%
Of the price he would like to get for it. Right now @4500 I think he has listed elsewhere for 45K
 

Pontoon Princess

Cattitute
GOLD Site Supporter
I was looking for a vehicle to leave in the states the site I was on is bring a trailer
There’s a frandee snu shu it’s pretty kewl it’s in a auction current bid is $4500.00
Ends in four days !!!! I ve never heard of these !!! Check it out tell me what u think they say it’s fully restored and no reserve !!! I’m a tucker guy !!!

I know this machine well and have seen it since being finished, Nixon did a good job and it is well sorted out, ready to go, and quite sure it would give you years and years of trouble free use...

IMHO, it is worth every penny of the $45K he is asking, it is a good value for the money, and yes it is a proven machine in the snow.

if you want to call him, pm me and I will give you his cell number, he is a good person and trusted member of the snow cat community, he knows what he is doing when it comes to restoring these old machines
 

Nikson

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
I would love to get $100k, but more I wish it finds a good home, hate to have my work go to waste without machines been well cared for after they leave my home.

In any case, yes, I listed on BaT site to see where it stands in general, not in a rush to sell, but would like to free up space so I can start on other projects.

Its ready to go, all the info about its rebuild process is documented online in a photo album as well as on my Youtube channel.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words. We do what we love, dont we!?
 

Nikson

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
in case you missed it... Frandee went for $7777, i'm tempted to give it up
 

andyv916

Member
Dont sell it for that low Bud . The right buyer will come along don't give it up to some cheap skate .
 

rdynes01

Active member
It is a beautiful restoration of a very early version of an early over the snow vehicle. That being said,even the videos on you tube show it's limitations in deep snow. It performs well on trails with good snowpack but I question it's ability to break a trail that we need to get to our destinations. I think it belongs more in a museum than out getting beat up in the snow. More of a toy than a serious snow transport. I thought I saw that the starting price somewhere was 70k which was ridiculous. current 45k still seems high as the high bid was 7k. As always supply and demand dictates price so i'm curious to see what it goes for.........Bob
 

HankScorpio

Member
It is a beautiful restoration of a very early version of an early over the snow vehicle. That being said,even the videos on you tube show it's limitations in deep snow. It performs well on trails with good snowpack but I question it's ability to break a trail that we need to get to our destinations. I think it belongs more in a museum than out getting beat up in the snow. More of a toy than a serious snow transport. I thought I saw that the starting price somewhere was 70k which was ridiculous. current 45k still seems high as the high bid was 7k. As always supply and demand dictates price so i'm curious to see what it goes for.........Bob
I had similar thoughts. The Frandee restoration is top notch, no question there. When you look what is available on the open market at $40k and up I would never pick the Frandee. $40K+ gets you your choice of sno-cats that are more capable. 2 track, 4 track, plows, drags, etc, for the money you can get anything you want.
 

1boringguy

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Depends on what one wants, you're definitely not talking apples to apples. Someone wants a restored 57 Chevy, someone else wants a couple year old vette. Same money, very different everything else.
 

Nikson

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Anyone wanting to buy this age of a cat for "travel/plowing/every week use" is smoking something that I almost want to try. With that said, anyone ever asking me about it, I've always told - you want an everyday cat, get a new/newer Tucker/Pisten, etc.

With that out of the way, I've had this machine in 5ft snowpack with 3-5ft of powder on top, doing what it does - going where I told it to, now did it do it as well as new machines? No, but thats like asking Ford Model-T to do something that F150 of our era does...

Can you say why model-T costs what it costs now vs the newer F150?! I think most get my point.

This was a labor of love, and I wouldnt consider giving up this machine to anyone considering to use it "heavy", as it been said - it belongs in someone collection, its more of a "bragging rights" thing in my opinion, most likely 2nd or 3rd or even 5th snowcat in that shop where person understands what they are getting.

No matter how one is to resto an Imp, or Spryte, or even a Tucker, none of them are as rare as Frandee.

What will it sell for?! God knows - I'm not in a rush, but I'm not a collector. I've got 2 other machines to play with at this point.

p.s. as far as value of restoration, once I've been told that men's restoration labor should be around $100/hr; I'm well past 500 labor hours in that machine, not counting countless hours of assistance from my buddies.
Should have sent the Frandee to China, and get a "cheaper" labor rate option LOL
 

Nikson

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well that must have been disappointing. Are you committed to the sale?

I'm not committed to anything at this point.
But think may be a Youtube video is in the making

"The Burning"
featuring Frandee Sno-Shu vs 5 gallon gas can, those tracks will keep the show going for awhile, and the views... gosh millions of them... :) LOL
 

Blackfoot Tucker

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Anyone wanting to buy this age of a cat for "travel/plowing/every week use" is smoking something that I almost want to try. With that said, anyone ever asking me about it, I've always told - you want an everyday cat, get a new/newer Tucker/Pisten, etc.

With that out of the way, I've had this machine in 5ft snowpack with 3-5ft of powder on top, doing what it does - going where I told it to, now did it do it as well as new machines? No, but thats like asking Ford Model-T to do something that F150 of our era does...

Can you say why model-T costs what it costs now vs the newer F150?! I think most get my point.

This was a labor of love, and I wouldnt consider giving up this machine to anyone considering to use it "heavy", as it been said - it belongs in someone collection, its more of a "bragging rights" thing in my opinion, most likely 2nd or 3rd or even 5th snowcat in that shop where person understands what they are getting.

No matter how one is to resto an Imp, or Spryte, or even a Tucker, none of them are as rare as Frandee.

What will it sell for?! God knows - I'm not in a rush, but I'm not a collector. I've got 2 other machines to play with at this point.

p.s. as far as value of restoration, once I've been told that men's restoration labor should be around $100/hr; I'm well past 500 labor hours in that machine, not counting countless hours of assistance from my buddies.
Should have sent the Frandee to China, and get a "cheaper" labor rate option LOL


I understand your point about putting a lot of work into something and wanting the purchaser to both appreciate the work involved, and not abuse it. But the reality is, once it's sold - it is theirs to do with as they please.

There is a big difference between "rare" and "desirable". Ideally one would like to have both qualities, but rare alone doesn't command a high price. Here's an example: In 1965 the base engine in the Corvette was a 250 HP 327. One could order an automatic transmission, but back then it was the two-speed Powerglide (less than 10% of the cars built had the Powerglide). Goldwood Yellow was not a popular color, and convertibles outsold coupes by roughly 2:1 Now imagine a Goldwood Yellow 1965 Corvette coupe with the 250 HP engine and a Powerglide transmission. A very rare combination, but not very desirable, and not likely to bring significant money. Contrast that with a Rally Red convertible with the 425 HP 396 big block engine and four-speed, close ratio transmission. More popular in terms of numbers sold (and hence less rare), but that car would sell for a whole lot more money... because it's more desirable.

Very, very few restoration shops can command a labor rate of $100/hour. In a previous post in a different thread I mentioned I'm having a sixties muscle car restored by a small shop that routinely wins awards such as Best of Show, and at the national level. (Incredible workmanship and attention to detail!) Their rate is $55.00/hour.

My buddy Scott and I put a lot of time into the snowcats we work on. We enjoy working together, and absolutely don't do it for the money. The Vail Cat (1642 re-cabbed into a 1643) was a ton of work, and when all was said and done I don't think we made ten bucks an hour. Now a big part of that equation is I paid too much for the machine to begin with, and I expect we'll do substantially better when we sell the 1986 1544 we're currently working on. But even so, when evaluating the money vs time continuum, it's not a good proposition.
 

olympicorange

Active member
………. Amen to all of that ,.... if only our '' hobby & passion'' for the old and antique , etc. snocats was profitable. it's a ''niche'' that hasn't really caught on ( or a small percentage),.. as compared to say the ''hot rod'' world, ( of course it hasn't been as well known & popular, but has been around as nearly as long....). most of us that have these, work & maintain them ourselves. the only ones that probably make money on snocats, are the dealers , working on fleets , of the newer generations, etc...…
 
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