Over the summer we are pleased to rewind our most popular Old Sled Sightings from our SnoRiders Old Sled Zone page by re-posting the Top 10 most popular posts from last year.
From the dozens and dozens of Old Sled Sighting posts we have selected the best by reader reach. Do you have an Old Sled story or photos to share? Email SnoRiders at [email protected]
We are pleased to re-run these Top 10 most popular Old Sled Sightings postings, ranked by the number of people reached each week with our Facebook postings. We had a tie for #10.
#2 - Old Sled Sighting – Raider Double Eagle and Trail Roamer (Part 2) — (Reach 1143)
Here’s some more detailed information from Jeff Tanach and Rick Rivers of St. Andrew’s Manitoba about their amazing collection of Raider, Manta, and Trail Roamer snowmobiles:
“After reading your Old Sled Zone article in the 2016/2017 winter issue of Snoriders, I wanted to tell you about a small collection of snowmobiles that a friend and I have. Between the two of us, we have five twin track sleds. I have a 1974 Raider Double Eagle 440 fan with electric start, a 1985 Manta 500 L/C (currently being restored) and a 2001 Trail Roamer. My friend Richard has a 1984 Manta 440 fan and a 2001 Trail Roamer. My 500 Manta and the Double Eagle were bought locally, while Richard's 440 Manta was purchased in Minnesota. The 2001 Trail Roamers were bought on e-Bay as a package deal in Idaho,” wrote vintage snowmobile collector Jeff Tanach.
He continued, “The Trail Roamers have consecutive serial numbers 139 and 140. The MSRP for them were $9895 U.S. (we have the sales tags from the machines). When we picked them up, they each had around 9 hours and 150 miles on them. They have a 4 stroke, 725 cc EFI Kohler engine. Other features include: electric start, electric reverse (which uses a separate starter motor), heated cockpit, tilt steering, gas and brake pedals, full instrumentation, stainless steel tube frame, suspension and all fasteners.”
Jeff also wrote, “There were only 250 Trail Roamers made, while there were thousands of the Raiders produced from 1971 to 1975. As for the Mantas, there were 215 units made in 1984 and 150 units in 1985. The 1985 machines production numbers were 100 - 500 L/C and 50 - 440 fan units. The 1985 Manta has Ford seatbelts, and a Ford truck fuel door. All the snowmobiles have one neat thing in common; a gentleman by the name of Bob Bracey. He had a hand in all three types of these twin track machines in one way or another. Bob was also involved in the development of the Ford GT 40 race car in the 1960's.”
Thanks again to Jeff and Rick for sharing their old snowmobile stories with us. So you think Snowbikes are a new thing? Watch for Part 3 featuring the Chrysler Sno Runner next week.
Got a vintage snowmobile story or some photos to share? Please send them our way—just email: [email protected]
