By: Eric
Back in the day when got cold and snowy out it was a hassle to travel places, especially if you were mail man and had to maintain a horse and sled for winter deliveries. Luckily the first snowmobile ever design came out and was by Virgil D. White. In 1906, Virgil White began converting Model T’s into snowmobiles by replacing the front tires with skis and the rear tires with treads. This allowed the Model T to move easily over snow and ice. By 1913 White built his first snowmobile attachment. It was said that it could travel over two and a half feet of unbroken snow, with an average speed of 18 miles per hour. The attachment was named Snowbird and in 1917 he received a patent to convert a Model T into a 'Snowmobile,' a name coined and copyrighted by White.
Back in the day when got cold and snowy out it was a hassle to travel places, especially if you were mail man and had to maintain a horse and sled for winter deliveries. Luckily the first snowmobile ever design came out and was by Virgil D. White. In 1906, Virgil White began converting Model T’s into snowmobiles by replacing the front tires with skis and the rear tires with treads. This allowed the Model T to move easily over snow and ice. By 1913 White built his first snowmobile attachment. It was said that it could travel over two and a half feet of unbroken snow, with an average speed of 18 miles per hour. The attachment was named Snowbird and in 1917 he received a patent to convert a Model T into a 'Snowmobile,' a name coined and copyrighted by White.
The
attachment was put on the market during the winter of 1922. The attachment
consisted of all the necessary parts to convert the Model T into a snowmobile. Though
the conversion kits were quite expensive. They ranged from 250 to 400 dollars, depending
on what gauge you got.
The
Snowmobile became very popular and wasn’t just used by every day consumers. Utility
companies, lumber companies, traveling salesmen, fire departments, school bus
and taxi drivers, undertakers, grocers, milkmen, truckers and cranberry growers
all used the new attachment. When the father of President Calvin Coolidge died
on March 18, 1926, a Model T Snowmobile led the Coolidge funeral procession
over the hills of Vermont.
Not only was there the snowmobile attachment, but there was a
sandmobile attachment too. With the skis removed and front wheels
installed; the Snowmobile became a Sandmobile. This was especially useful to
get through deep mud and heavy sand. Overall, with these new attachments the
Model T became a real all-terrain vehicle. (To see what one of today’s ATV
looks like, check out in one of our earlier bogs about the Russian made SHERP)
Works Cited
"Ford Model T with Snow Attachment." Ford Model T with Snow Attachment. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2016.
"The Snowmobile Company, Inc. – West Ossipee, NH." The Model T Ford Snowmobile Club. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Feb. 2016.
Very interesting to know how the snowmobile came to be. I especially liked the Coolidge funeral fun fact!
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