We'll end 2017 featuring one of snowmobiling's most unique companies, the Ski-Bee Scout. This old Scout was spotted at this fall's Edmonton Snowmobile Show, complete with its installed wheel kit. As shown with the model, the Ski-Bee Scout was one of the first-and-only snowmobiles to come out with a wheel kit so you could ride the sled in the summertime as well.
Here are some of the details:
Year: 1969
Make: Ski-Bee
Model: Scout
Engine: Sachs 277
Owner: Kevin Ball
With Canadian winters being notoriously long and snowy, it should come as no surprise that many of the early innovators in snowmobile development and design were found on the farms and in the garages of Canadians.
Names like The Huskymobile, the Bosak Power Tobogaan, Ekymobile, the Fudge Snow Sedan, the Arctic Glider, the Autoboggan, the Snowbug and the Bombardier Ski-Doo were all part of snowmobiling’s early developments.
One of the more colourful developments came from the wintery frontiers of Saskatchewan, as the Ingham Brothers developed their line of Ski-Bee snowmobiles.
Ingham Industries of Lanigan, Saskatchewan, Canada was the producer of the innovative Ski-Bee lineup. The Ingham company was in production from 1946 to 1963 building rear engine sleds. After a couple of years with no production they restarted in 1967 to 1970 with a front engine sled. The sold the company in 1970.
One model which was built by the Inghams was the Ski-Bee Commander—the only sled that was actually built to seat 3 people. The Commanders had a wide track, designed to give the machine lots of power. Interestingly enough, the 1968 Commander featured an aluminum hood that opened like a car hood.
One of the Ingham brothers, L. Allister, complied a book called, “As The Snow Flies—A History of Snowmobile Development in North America”. This large format book is one of the most comprehensive accounts of early snowmobiling and its history and development ever published.
We invite you to share your vintage snowmobile stories and photos in 2018. Just send them to [email protected]
