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| This page created on May 16/2005 & updated August 10/2006 |
| Don Elias Vintage Sleds |
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| Here is a shot of us working in the pit area at the Canadian Championships. I am wearing bib # 114 (which I still have), and Harvey and his soms are helping me with final adjustments. I think this is the time when we put a 340 pistons and jug on the other side of my 250, as we knew in the teardown, they only checked the right cylinder. We thought this would give us the winning edge, which of course it didn't! We usually stayed in a motor home in the pit area, and have vivid memories of Gilles and Jacque Villenue working on their Alouettes in a converted school bus next to us. They totally kept to themselves, didn't party or fraternize; they were there to race, and it was serious business. We, on the other hand, were there for a good time as well as the racing. |
| This is the final points tally, which was my best year, fourth in the 250 and 340 classes. The kids were growing, we had started skiing, and my career at work made for a lot of weekends burning the midnight oil. Then came the oil crisis of the mid seventies, no snow for five years, and you know the "rest of the story", life goes on. A heavy involvement with family skiing competitively, jobs expansion, and the lack of time or funds to do everything. Did I mention my car hobby anywhere? That's another story to be continued on another web site. |
| picture of 1971 Puma coming soon |
| This sled was purchased new by Don Braun of Altona, as the '70 634 mentioned earlier was too much sled. The dealer here was also the local Ford dealer, the Rhineland Car Company. Don parked it on our rural property two miles south of Altona, and asked me to look after it. It had only 300 miles on it at the time, and 10 years later, it was sold to Harvey Friesen with 400 miles. It went to a remote cottage in Northern, MB. Over the next 15 years, only 350 miles went on the odometer. I aquired it at the time, and decided to restore it. I had met the master of restoration of old sleds, Don McLennan by then. His site is Don's Vintage Cats. What follows are the other sleds in my collection, with a brief history of each. With my extensive car collection, I am in the process of downsizing; so most sleds are for sale. |
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