Last Used 44 Years Ago? 1973 John Deere 500
Those of us who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s remember the glorious golden era of snowmobiles – the smell of gas and oil, getting stuck constantly, carrying a handful of extra spark plugs, most of which were already greasy and fouled out anyway but it made you feel better to have spares. This 1973 John Deere 500 project sled brings it back for me and this one is listed here on eBay in Clay City, Illinois. The seller has an $895 buy-it-now price listed or you can make an offer.
I forgot the part about always having frozen fingers and toes and trying to change a fouled spark plug with your leather choppers on, which then became dirty and full of oil and gas. It was a badge of honor in those days to look like that. Only the spoiled rich kids had fancy snowmobiles that actually ran like new because they were new. The rest of us had something like this JD 500 that we cobbled together well enough to run and operate, for a while anyway until it inevitably broke down on the trail in the middle of nowhere. Oh yeah, there weren’t cell phones in those days, either. How the H did we live through that era?!
John Deere snowmobiles were unusual to see in the wild back in this era, at least in northern Minnesota where I grew up. Most of us had Ski-Doos, Scorpions, Moto-Skis, or an old white Arctic Cat (remember those?) and maybe a random Polaris. The rich kids had Arctic Cats with electric start and nobody had Harley-Davidson snowmobiles, at least where I grew up. We all wanted those nice machines, of course, just like we all want a Bentley Continental GT now. The VIN decodes to this one being a 1973 and the seller says the last time it was registered was in 1980.
John Deere jumped into the snowmobile world at its peak and somehow lasted for a dozen years. It helped to have been a global company with endless resources, unlike a lot of snowmobile companies of the 1970s. They made almost two dozen models over those dozen years, starting with the 400 and 500, as seen here. The 500 was available from 1972 to 1974 and JDs were made in Horicon, Wisconsin where they also made and still make lawn and garden equipment. As with a lot of snowmobile companies in this era, they were looking for something to sell during the off-season when production slowed down because of the winter months. Most of us remember their later sleds with cool names, like Liquifire, Spitfire, and Trailfire, but the coolest John Deere snowmobiles, in my opinion, were the flat-black JDX series: the JDX4, JDX6, and JDX8. Very cool stuff, almost like a factory restomod. This 500 is definitely restorable, but the hardest parts to find will be embossed soft parts, like the handlebar pad and things like that.
The seller is including many spare parts, including more than one cowl that looks much nicer than the one that’s on the sled now. The suspension consists of trailing-arm bogie wheels as opposed to later models that used slides. There are benefits to both types: bogies are more free to move and conform to the terrain and slides can be smoother and lighter. John Deere ended up getting out of the snowmobile business and selling that division to Polaris in 1982 or 1983, but sales continued until 1984. The industry was slowing down, maybe due to ATVs and a couple of years without much snow. As I type this, we have 0″ of snow on the ground here in Minnesota and we should have 18-24″ inches on the ground. This is one of those very bad years for companies that make a living due to the normal snowfall, and when there is none, it’s tough to keep going. The big annual vintage snowmobile show is here this weekend and due to the lack of snow, they turned it into vintage ATVs, how fitting.
The engine is hopefully not stuck and is a CCW (Canadian Curtiss-Wright) 436-cc twin, which would have had 36 horsepower. The seller doesn’t know if all the parts are on this one and for sure the seat is missing, so they’re a bit high on their asking price for sure. Not that I’m the be-all-end-all on vintage snowmobile pricing, but for an unknown condition, 100% restoration project snowmobile with missing parts, they may be very lucky to get half of their asking price. Have any of you owned a John Deere snowmobile?
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Comments
Quick, in between innernet[sic] outages. John Deere is another of those Wisconsin industries that set us apart from most other states. While Minnesota is still the biggest in snowmobiles, Wisconsin gave them plenty to be nervous about. John Deere snowmobiles were made near my 2nd hometown as a kid, Horicon. The 500 shown here was kind of the last of the traditional sleds, and in ’76 came out with a whole new line of sleds, including one of the 1st liquid cooled sleds, the Liquifire. Nothing but problems, but in the early 80s, they came out with the “fire” series, Spitfire, Trailfire, and Sportfire 340 and 440 Kohler motors, and quickly became a very popular sled. Right around the time, its main adversary, Mercury, was just getting out. I do remember Harley sleds, basically a AMF Ski-Daddler, and never much even though, they were nice sleds too. JDs switch to Kohler motors was a big plus, I had a Scorpion with a CCW, and it never ran right. The 500 was kind of the workhorse of the fleet, and as the author accurately depicted, fun when they ran, but riddled with problems. Belts too, shredded them regularly. This sled was by no means a racer, just a good old sled to pull the kids around on, or a short ride, at least not much farther than you could walk, and it was a different time. You saw someone broke down, it was your mission to help them, as it could be you next time, like the truckers I ran with. Like IH pickups, John Deere sleds were #1 with farmers. Heaven forbid Farmer Brown who bled JD green, showed up at the tavern with a Yamaha. Ironically, it was Yamaha that put the lid on John Deere sleds, and another Wis. industry bit the dust. Sound familiar?
Just parts here and I miss snowmobiling more than anything else I did in my life, it was/is that much fun. From a time when this sled cost $687 new, and sometimes included a trailer. Yeah,,,imagine that. Thanks SG!
Do I remember these! The 400 and 500 weren’t too bad; even the 600 held it’s own but the JDX8 was a stretch. I had one and it was good in the mountains but terrible on the flats. I sold it to a customer who almost immediately seized a piston. Fixed that and richened the mixture enough to keep the new piston from making a repeat performance.
JD came out with a new line that were decent on the flats but were putrid in the mountains. They were boat anchors. The whole line got a major revamp in the form of Trailfire, Sportfire, and Liquifire. They actually worked pretty good.
Unfortunately, being a dealer in the Chinook Belt, we often went through entire winters with no snow. That left a lot of redundant inventory that practically got given away.
I hated being a dealer because customers would show up on Friday afternoon at coffee time. They would have a major catastrophe to fix and expect to have it ready by 5:00. Then they would expect warranty. You know chasing coyotes through a barbed wire fence, and following them with the snowmobile. The wires would slide up the hood and take the windshield right off. But that’s still warranty because the sled is new!!! Right? I had a few guys that I wish wouldn’t have been able to duck down and decapitated themselves.
Anyways I was glad when JD sold the snowmobile division to Polaris.
Oh, I hoped this would hit a nerve with you. The JDX was an antique, of sorts, they progressively got better. John Deere pioneered the “direct drive” system, eliminating the secondary clutch chaincase, a novel idea, but never took off for some reason. The Liquifire was also a pioneer, of sorts. Liquid cooling was unheard of, with only free-air and fan cooled. My Yamaha SRX was their 1st liquid cooled sled, and sucked, but was fast, I think JD was the 1st to use heat exchangers under the seat, the Yamaha had a radiator. I think the last JDs had Kawasaki motors, but couldn’t compete with the Minnesota brands.
My cousin had an Artic Cat with I think some kind of 750cc engine in it. It was way too much of a sled for 13 year olds. But, dang, it was fun. It never seemed to break down on us, but my uncle endo’d it into his Cutlass, one icy winter day.
The 800 King Kat? In the early 70s, Arctic Cat upped the ante with the mother of all bad axx sleds, the 800( cc) King Kat. It was either Kawasaki 4 cylinder, or Hirth 3 cylinder free air, both 800cc, and nothing was faster until Polaris came out with their 3 cylinder. 100 mph is way too fast for a snowmobile.
Back when the 100 mph Club was a real thing. Took some stones and a powerful sled to do that.
I remember it had a Kawasaki engine, and you had to hang on when you pulled the throttle.
<$100 at best. If it didn't have the JD name it would be worth 0.
We had snowmobiles from about ’72 onward. Ours were a Polaris Challenger 396 and a 340 TX. The neighbor worked at the JD retailer and came home with one of these, maybe a 400. Their son was a year older than me got one of the first Spitfires. His was a great little machine that got excellent fuel economy compared to the TX I rode. Great times and lots of snow back then.
Must be a slow day to have to feature a snow mobile.
Those of us in the north need something to do while the old cars are in the garage for 6 months hiding from the salt.
You are so right, Rumpledoorskin. I didn’t “have to” feature a snowmobile, steve, I wanted to because they interest me and I grew up in that era. We don’t all want to see a revolving door of Camaros, Corvettes, and Mustangs all day long here, some folks appreciate seeing something different from their childhood to bring back memories. That’s what this site is about for me. I’m sorry you have no interest in vintage snowmobiles but there are a few million other folks who like seeing them, and mini bikes, motorcycles, go-karts, ATVs, or whatever non-muscle-car vehicles we grew up with.
Scotty, Don’t forget the occasional plane and boat or even train.
Thanks, Jay! I’m glad there are others who like unusual vehicles being shown here.
https://barnfinds.com/railroad-find-1944-baldwin-ble-643-locomotive/
Scotty, when you mention what it was like growing up in the 60’s & 70’s you are spot on. All of the “farm boys” around me had the latest, greatest & fastest snowmobiles. I was fortunate(?) enough to get my hands on a 1970 Coleman Skiroule with the Sachs 440 (447cc 50-hp) 2-stroke engine. Unfortunately I have no pictures of mine, but I found quite a few pictures online of which I’ve attached one of showing the engine.
Evinrude with reverse was the top line by far.
Bob
Back in the 60s in Alaska bush, my mom had a Evinrude with reverse, dad had a Johnson extra wide track with 2 feet extended, my brother had a old colt 250 one thumper ..
I got a Johnson rotary sled once for free. It had like 50 miles on it, and like the previous owner, never did get it running. I remember it was a tank.
I had several John Deeres in my collection of parts sleds. My dad had a motorcycle repair business and we also repaired snowmobiles and just about anything else with an engine. We were a dealer for Parts Unlimited, and during the early to mid 1990’s they sent us catalogs for deeply discounted OEM John Deere snowmobile parts. Parts Unlimited must have bought out a warehouse of OEM John Deere parts. At the time I didn’t have a need for any of those parts, but the low prices were very tempting. Today those parts would bring some good money.
Back in 1980 I had a Johnson 650, man was that fast and never broke down. The good old days!
What a sled!
These sleds were on par with the other offerings at that time. Which is to say, primitive but fun. As a kid, you would do anything to get ANY snowobile. Based on condition, the price of this one seems too high.
Hard to believe that John Deere actually won a SnowGoer shootout in the early ’80’s with a Liquifire440. Surprising because there other sleds (especially the new Polaris INDY 340 which was miles ahead in handling!) were quite a bit better, but on that particular day, on the test course they had set up, it came out on top. It didn’t help sales much, and dealers were giving away Liquifires with the purchase of a new tractor.
The snowmobile industry got quite a hip check this year, which it sort of needed as limited availability and high demand shot pricing through the roof. Savvy dealers should have no trouble this season, but next year will tell the tale.
I had a trailfire 440 awesome machine ran it for about 8 years In Pa then not enough snow any more.
I am sure that just like me a lot of people enjoyed reading about the snowmobile. I always rode Yamahas. I would enjoy seeing one everyday with the cars. Enjoy the daily emails so much.
John
I had Yamahas too, and I realize the irony of that coming from Wisconsin. I had a ’77 340 Exciter, kind of the Japanese SnoTwister, that I had no intention of buying, but was a super deal. It drastically changed my attitudes about snowmobiling. For the 1st time, I didn’t have to mix the gas, didn’t need extra plugs, I put THOUSANDS of miles on that sled over say a 10 year period, it never let me down. It actually turned when you turned the skis, had a good brake, it was a great sled.
These things are totally foreign to me! A snowmobile here in the south is about as useful as a speedboat in the Sahara desert ! But I still think they are cool, no pun intended!
The best days of my life. You guys wanna hear something really crazy? I can still hear the JD commercial on TV for the liquifire in the late 70s I can hear it like yesterday. I liked that commercial so much as a kid that I put my cassette recorder on the floor by the TV with the microphone ready just waiting for that commercial so I could tape it. Oh I wish I could find that tape today! My deceased Mom Grandma and Grandpa are on that tape too! Wish I could find it. Is it normal to remember things like that this commercial always came on during the 6:00 news? This is almost 50 years later! Is that normal lol?
I remember those commercials.
“In the snow nothing runs like a Deere”
My first sled was a 1979 spitfire. Had the Kohler 340 free air that poked through the hood. Light sled. Have to admit, I was a little rough on it as a 15yr old kid and cracked the tunnel. Got my hands on a 1982 spitfire with no engine and swapped everything over… Took some doing as the 82 had a Kawasaki motor setup, but I got it. Little brother had a JD400(actually 1and 3/4 jd400’s). His had the 340 ccw and the dreaded walbro “stacked plate” carb that would’ve been better suited as a fishing weight… But when I put a 38mm mikuni slide carb in that man she really woke up! Scary fast for that bogey wheel rear and narrow stance front leaf spring setup.. I think we actually got it to top 60mph! Those were the days.
I had one of these, man it was the worst sled ever. Heavy, underpowered, and unreliable. Mine was a ’74 JDX4 with a 295cc Kohler engine and it wouldn’t run ten minutes without wheezing out of power and stalling out. Also had a terrible recoil design system with tiny pawls that grabbed the inside a notched small diameter pulley. Many times is slipped making pull starting difficult and frustrating. The backbone was also steel (not aluminum) which was rusting away. A bad design all around, imo. Good thing I only paid $50 for it ha ha (back in the 1980’s). I had much better luck and enjoyment with my Arctic Cat, Moto Ski and SKi Whiz. My whining aside, it’s still neat to see and brings back mixed memories.