Our Family's Second Snowmobile

[gary_in_neenah]

Our first snowmobile was a 69 Panther that was under powered and rather unreliable. Dad upgraded two years later with a 72 Panther that purred like a Cat. (No pun intended) Here's a story from SnoGoer and what they had to say about the 72 Arctic Cat....

https://snowgoer.com/top-stories/fla...panther/26641/

[skiroule]

Pretty cool little article Gary. Can you imagine a production run of 100,000 sleds? And this was at a time when there were probably close to 100 manufacturers, if not more. So it's not like they had no competition.

I have several vintage acquaintances that still ride 72 Panthers regularly on vintage rides so their popularity has not diminished in the vintage world. No question, they are an extremely comfortable sled to ride. In fact, if my memory serves me correctly, my brother had one for many years and he was not exactly a Cat guy. Guess he just couldn't find fault with the ride.

[BigSix]

I was looking for a used snowmobile in about 1996. I found 2 1973 340 Arctic Cat Panthers on my way to work in De Pere, WI. One was in much better shape than the other but the seller wouldn't split them up so I offered $175 for both. I got them home and the worst one had electric start so I put my motorcycle battery in it and it fired right up. I put a ad in the local Green Bay newspaper for $250 and about 10 people called about it the first day the ad ran. A guy came to buy it and said he wanted it for ice fishing. The other one was my main yard sled and ditch banger (I even rode it about 50 miles one day on the local trail system) for about 11 years. Below is a photo of that one from about 2001.
Panther3.jpg

I ended up selling it to Pat's in the UP in about 2007.

[gary_in_neenah]

Well, it looks like the windshields and seats have gotten a lot smaller over the years doesn't it?

[BigSix]

Gary,
Yes! And the horsepower and speed have gone way up. I think the 1973 340 Arctic Cat Panther was about 30HP and it would only go about 55-60 mph.

[gary_in_neenah]

Just for comparison, I had my first Ski Doo about that time. A 335 one lunger and about 30 horse. Vibrated so badly it shook itself apart after just a couple of years. Dad's Panther ran as smooth as a washing machine and was just as heavy.