User talk:PapaSnowcruiser

I am new to Wikipedia so I don't want to assume anything. I am interested in sharing information about the subject I call: The mystery of how OMC became a competitive manufacturer of quality ( and cheap ) snowmobiles for the world-wide market, and then seemingly - POOF, it was all gone.

Is anyone out there who may have any interest in Snowmobile or Marine Trivia interested in knowing more about the chapter of OMC's history that speaks about the remarkable 'tough as nails' and 'gritty dependability' of the OMC line of domestic snowmobiles known as Snowcruiser, Johnston and Evinrude Snowmobiles?

Just wondering. It seems very trivial, but I thought after reading the 'WIKY' story of OMC, too much was left out that would help many appreciate how rugged much of the so called 'small engine industry' in Canada had to be to survive such slammin' competition such as the bruttish but grandios in comfort snowmobiles OMC's line had to offer up.

My Grandfather, known to the fondest of relations as 'Unkie Harold, Unkie Foyster or UNK - and more importantly as 'PAPA' ( properly pronounced as 'Pup-pah' ) was the proud master of his, now extremely rare, 1970/1971 Snowcruiser 200E. It was nothing all that special by design, actually a step backwards compared to some models by Aloutte and Bombardier ( Ski-doo and Moto-ski ) but never the less a strong and rugged, simple design with a proven never-quit KOHLER single-banger. It started like a VW bug on a December - Southern Ontario morning, with the effort to overpower the enormous moisture in the intake, the cold nature of a 'mixed fuel' fuel source and the ever present danger of your jacket getting bar-b-qued with a hot, black, round POOF from the intake funnel ( by some mixed up, bitter German engineer's design I guess ) and without the keen lather of the electric start, that bone-rattler would pull you back into the handlebars with the force of a lonely, mountain bound Bavarian bush woman! Wow, what a shoulder punch! That machine was like the backbone of Papa's existence from the time the first snow fell in Haliburton, Ontario ( often compared to a region lost to time and space when winter hit so suddenly as it did..... ) until it decided to ease off, sometimes not until April ( like I said, lost in time and space it seemed ). He used that single-banger, knob-knocker for everything from getting to church on time, grocery trips and for the general service of vacationing ( and always ill-prepared ) seasonal neighbours, as well as for newcomers or new 'vacation home owners' who didn't read the owner's manual of their new snowmobile purchase. He haulled, towed, led ( like some lost in time snow-hero on some quest to circumnavigate all of Drag Lake and the surrounding trails ) fetched, searched ( as mentioned above regarding the more financially fortunate but less competent newcomers to snowmobile life ) and played with that cold version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for far too many years - for the punishment he put that machine through. Not including the punishment I, and a host of others had put 'old blue' through all those years when it was often the ONLY SNOWMOBILE that could be relied on in fierce, nasty weather - which was just about the norm in the heat ( or extreme cold in this case ) of Haliburton Highlands Winter weather in those days.

The essence of my appreciation for the machine was and mostly still is due to the fact that upon closer examination, it really was not designed with all that much incentive for inspiration - yet without a doubt, a proven rack on track snowmobile that proved it's moxy for over 20 years strong. I mean, come on!!! How many machines have lasted THAT long without a majour overhaul? None that I can think of. That KOHLER engine ( and I would assume the other more advanced versions by the same OMC snowmobiles ) was a fierce design, albeit a nasty customer if you abused it on a hot day - good thing for me I figured out just how big a snowball to smash into the intake funnel when it was sitting idle, and how to switch off the ignition when coasting down long hills to allow that VW like air-cooled bone-breaker to cool and then flash it up just as my momentum began to decrease again. It was a clever trick and I never had to drag 'old blue' home with the 'rope of shame' like so many other more advanced machines had to endure. The other sweet notion is that my Papa paid like about a thousand bucks including taxes and insurance and the 'extra' electric start feature. Some 'feature'.....starting that war-horse without it required the strength of 10 men, spring-time Squirrel reflexes and the faith of a Templar Knight on the last crusade!

So, if anyone, anyone at all is interested in more about the line of snowmobiles intended for domestic and recreational use by OMC called 'SNOWCRUISER', I will happily detour this colourful regailment and direct a more factual account of how pieces of our 'Canadian Shield' was melted down into steel, forged into the shape of a open-lid coffin with a bright red seat, sold back to Ontaio from Milwaukee, into the local dealership and then into my grandfather's wood-shed drive-through. That's right, a wood-shed drive-through, but you didn't dare get off.......the seat would freeze solid in the shape of your rump in seconds.

Happy reading, and when no one is looking.......go out and buy an antique snowmobile, just cause. It was made for fun. They had to be, they certainly could not have been a serious endevour, not really.

PapaSnowcruiserPapaSnowcruiser (talk) 11:20, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

long may you run