chivalryalive
2022-01-11 03:10:38 UTC
I was 15 yrs and all my friends around the small lake in W Michigan had sleds. I wanted one too but I only had a small budget to work with. I hit the for sale ads in the local paper. I found the "1972 Evinrude, 650 Skimmer, so many dollars..." I wasn't happy with the prospect. One of my buddies had a couple Johnson sleds and they weren't very attractive. But I knew I didn't have much choice. I had little cash and I just wanted to ride with my buddies... Even if they would probably leave me in their tracks. Went out to see it and was amazed at what I saw! It was obviously old, very dusty and all the decals had faded off the machine... But with just a couple pulls of the cord - It fired right up! I bought it right then and took it home and started working on it... (That's when I discovered it was actually a '74!) I tore the whole thing down, piece by piece and proceeded to clean, lube, repair and repaint everything as I put it together again. Including a matching helmet! It had no speedometer and I never timed it alongside any of my friends Kawasaki or Polaris sleds... but it was pretty darn fast! It handled well enough as far as I knew --I had nothing to compare it to... But I loved that sled! It looked like a real queen and ran like a knight! Don't know why... but dad replaced it a year later with a 1980 John Deere 440 Liquifire. Painted my helmet to match once more... and we made quite a sight!