Scrolling on farcebook marketplace, you do get some good local deals, I happened across this old girl:
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| MID 1960's Snowbird Snowblower for my southern friends. |
I have a childhood memory of one of those. It was the Blizzard of 1969. I was just over 6 years
old when that storm hit. The car was buried almost up to the roof. We could walk up the drift against
the shed and jump off the far side. At that time all we had was shovels. Then my Dad's brother
showed up with a fairly recent model of that snowbird snowblower.
It still took forever but it made it easier.
No one lost any limbs either. Searching around google to see if there was any info on them landed me
at this site linked just below.
For you old farts that love old equipment. Check out the array of antique snowblowers.
I bet some pets and limbs went missing rather religiously during the winter months.
Lawyers and OSHA would have a field day.
Vintage snowblowers. <<<< check out some of those designs.
Those were machines made for men. Not the coffee holder, hand grip warmer, let go of the controls and it shuts off immediately one's of today. Back then those things were like little Killdozers. You put it in gear and off it went. With or without you in tow.
Here's some ads for Ariens, notice Dad snowblowing in a tie.
Check out this craftsman version. Looks like someone had a sheet metal shop and they were bored.
If you're not done yet, just google vintage snowblowers. See you around noon. It's a deep rabbit hole.
I actually had one of those with the eBay mark on the pic. My first snowblower ever. Really worked pretty well if you picked your battles.
ReplyDeleteI lobbied my Dad to get a snow blower when they first appeared, advertised on the T.V. He said we already had one. Overjoyed, I asked him "What brand was it?" "It's an Armstrong" was the answer. Now go and chip the ice out, the City's snowplow left in the driveway
ReplyDeleteWhat an odd hobby, collecting snowblowers. To each his own, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI remember the winter of 69. Snow banks were unbelievably tall.
I was working at an international radio/tv company that was venturing into the growing computer business. One of the products that we made at that factory were disk drives the size of today's washing machines. They had a stack of a half dozen 18" diameter disk "platters" on top that, if I remember correctly, were 32K storage capacity. Minuscule by today's standards.
Back to the snow. The road into the industrial park was so narrow that they had to designate each of the two normal, two way entrance/exit roads as one way for about two weeks until the snow melted enough to allow two way traffic again.
Nemo
I thought we were starting Tuesday Terrific.
ReplyDeleteGood looking older ladies, or ones with a little extra stuffing, but snowblowers?
Snowblowers?
This makes me think of my brother-in-law. He was transferred to Indiana back in the mid 90's. He bought a high end snow blower because it was the only model available. After 3 years he got transferred to Tennessee where he has been ever since. He wasn't able to sell the snow blower before he left and no market for it in TN. He services it once a year then will run it for a half hour to run it out of fuel and fog it with oil before he puts it back in storage.
ReplyDeleteMy Grandfather had one just like the top pic.
ReplyDeleteStart it, set the throttle to high, put it in gear and get the job done.