1962 Arctic Cat air sled clone at Waconia 07 with Arctic Cat founder Edgar Hetteen. Darrell said Edgar signed the hood. Darrell is even getting the original skiis for it!

This Cat is the 11th built in the 70 model year. Serial number 000011. This would seem to have been one of the �backorders� Arctic was trying to catch up on from the 69 run.

"There were a few running prototypes in 70 that were thrashed and trashed.  Most had Hirth motors and there was one JLo.  There were two sleds for the photo shoot. One that is in the flyer and was a running sled, 440 Hirth.  The other one was just a mock-up for looks and for press photos (what's left of this sled is still up in Thief River in really rough shape). The sled that was at the 2005 show was not a clone. Some of the differences between the prototype and the production 71 EXT are:  tunnels were different, rear bumper, sturups and gas tank mounting, seat has no cutouts for bumper, hood had no relief for the windshield to set in (it just bolted to the smooth surface of the hood, hood surfaces are similar but different, size and shape of motor cutout in hood is for the Hirth motor and exhaust, grill around headlight (there were 3 variations of this). One was like on the king kat prototypes (plastic pannel with a fin like pattern), and then a grill similar to the big mouth grill, but much narrower and shorter, first ones used the small headlight later ones had the 71 EXT style light."
Henry Briscoe.

****1970 Puma EXT prototype****

****1970 EXT prototype, Henry Brisco****

The 1971's were a batch of test sleds. there were around 50 made. They were quite different from the 1972 production Kitty Cats. The 1971's had a different front bulkhead and a silver flake fiberglass pan like the King Kats had. The ID plate was the same type used on the larger cats. The engine was a Clinton 2-stroke. No gear reduction, just the centrifugal clutch. The hood and pan are fiberglass. There is no kill switch built into the handle grip. Front hood vent is the same one used on the 1971 Kohler/Wankel Panther/Puma hood. The skis use hood trim on the tips and have a V shaped keel. The steering and bulkhead are totally different than a 1972/1973-. It also uses a piano hinge for the hood. It has a Fiberglass chain guard. The Hood is held down with pins through the locating brackets. The decal were unlike the 1972. They were very similar to the King Kat decals.

Evel Knievel's 1971 King Kat. Evel Knievels had two custom built King Kat  800's. Turns out, one is destroyed, the other owned by Evel's former chauffeur. Evel owed him some money, so he got the sled instead. Evel's tried to get it back but the current owner isn't selling.

This IS a King Kat chassis. The tag reads: Serial 1X29 - Model N-P. It was probably a 650 KK prototype that was built for the R&D shop. At some point it was stripped and someone took the bare chassis and made a trail rider out of it. Or, maybe it was a test sled, put together by the factory engineers to see how the "big" chassis performed as a trail machine. It looks like it has a Puma dash, complete with speedo, heat gauges, and a compass! It has a 1972 Panther/EXT handle bar pad. It has a 1972 Cheetah seat with Panther saddle bags. The gas tank might be a King Kat, or it is a 1972 Cheetah/Puma tank. The owner is pretty sure the track and suspension are from a Panther. The engine is a single carb, 634 Hirth with electric start, a can muffler and an 1190 Salsbury clutch. The tunnel, belly pan, body supports, front end assembly, hood, and skis are all King Kat.

This was a twin track prototype from 1974 shown with Charlie Lofton. They built it only to have one when they protested the Allouette twin track of Gilles Villeneuve. What they didn't realize was that it was the IFS suspension that made it handle well, not the twin tracks.

But Arctic took the threat seriously, and began their own twin track development plan.. of sorts. What evolved with the single Arctic Cat twin track snopro machine pictured here. Although finished at Arctic, it was actually built by an independent racer in the area. In fact, if you look close at the hood in this photo, you can see it says "designed and built by Roger Gage". Roger worked for Arctic, but was working on this at home when Arctic asked him to bring it in. The machines was designed with a rear drive clutch system so as to disconnect the inside track from driving a well - much like the later Ski-Doo twin trackers.

The chassis, motor and and all the other parts are safe. But the original glass is gone for good. Undaunted, the current owner plans to work with Kenny to completely rebuild the fiberglass and have this sled restored when time permits.

Arctic Cat founder Edgar Hetteen checking out his sled design.

Darrell Dey owns this 1977 jag that was sponsered by Revlon to promote their "Charlie" and "Chaz" perfumes. This one is appropriately dubbed a"Charlie Cat". Here is a Picture of Darrell's jag at the VSCA show in Thief River Falls and at a sled gathering in Detroit Lakes.

The hood has been widened for testing with the 3000 Spirit engine. It was cut up the front and below the windshield and glassed in place. The windshield is the original test sample. The handle bars have been extended higher. The gas tank is in good condition and appears to be off of a Lynx. The seat is a shortened 1973 Polaris Starfire with taillights. The rear bumper is an Arctic Cat mounted upside down. The sno-flap is a 1973 EXT. The track is very nice out of a 5000 El-Tigre. The suspension is out of a 5000 El Tigre. There is no chain case and it has a Gillmar Drive.

This is a 1982 Arctic Cat Twin Tracker 440cc prototype. Tested but never put into production, this was Cat's answer to the early 80's Ski-Doo Twin tracker threat. At the time, Cat was experiencing financial difficulties that almost killed all nine lives. When the fire sale came, this machine and her sister were in the parking lot for sale. Restored by SnoPro Unlimited and it's current owner, Jerry McGee, this is cetainly an endangered species and one of the rarest of rare sleds.  Jerry McGee bought this from Steve Olson in about 1997. Steve built the mold up to fix up the original hood, as you see it here. Arctic Cat had 2 chassis, this was the only one that got completed.

Pre-production prototype, no vin number ever. This Jag model had been entirely re-designed and is very different from the popular Jag models that had been offered from 1975 thru 1981. All-new chassis, rear suspension, belly pan, hood, seat, etc were to debut on this had it been released. This is another model that was to be offered for 1982 that has direct-drive. 440 fan-cooled engine with oil-injection. I bought this in 1998 from an Arctic dealer in MN that had purchased it from the old Arctic salvage department. We have repainted the hood and even managed to find an NOS seat cover and belly pan for it. It is now in good mechanical condition. Full instrumentation is in place but it appears that the speedometer has never been hooked up, actual mileage is unknown. It still bears number "P 25" on the side of the tunnel from its early days at Arctic Enterprises.

This is one of the never-released prototypes that was scheduled for the 1982 model year. Has direct drive without a traditional chaincase. 440 fan-cooled engine. Rubber track. This sled has over 6700 miles on the odometer and has had 2 owners prior to our purchasing it. It is nearly all original and likely will be left as-is to preserve as much of the originality as possible. This sled does have a vin number on it, 1000013. As more info is learned about the 1982 protos it looks as if 2 similar, but different, Puma models were being developed. One version had a slightly shorter hood/belly pan design and a 300 cc single-cylinder fan-cooled engine with oil injection. This twin-cylinder Puma's hood/belly pan styling mostly matches the 82 Jag design.

Pre-production prototype snowmobile. Arctic Enterprises was going to produce a 440 Pantera for the 1982 model year with a 440 oil injected liquid cooled engine package, this sled is a surviving example of that. We are the second owner of this sled. The previous owner had used it as a daily driver for many years. The bulkhead, belly pan and console are all similar to an 81 Pantera. The hood, tunnel, skid frame, oil tank, radiator mounts and more are all different from any production parts I have seen and are unique to this sled. No vin number on this sled ever.

This is a pre-production prototype that was scheduled to be released for the 1982 model year. Is vin numbered as a 1981 model. Has a 500 fan cooled engine with many signs of being a pilot build...oil-injection, dual carbs, 1st generation plastic cooling shroud, hand stamped i.d. number, etc. Has an 82 only hood, nose cone, console, fiberglass belly pan, seat, etc.

This snowmobile was a pre-production prototype. Had Arctic Enterprises actually produced any 1982 models, the El Tigre would have looked much like this sled. This unit was an engineering-model and not a photo-shoot model, thus it has a seat cover from a 1981 El Tigre on it. It is VIN numbered as a 1981 and looks to have began life as an 81 El Tigre. This has the common 500 liquid cylinders on the engine however it has a rare sandcast experimental bottom end on the engine that allows oil-injection. Oil injection had not been used on previous Cat liquids, nor was it used in the immediate years following either. The hood, windshield, nosecone, belly pan and console are all unique to the 1982 prototypes.

1982 Arctic Cat prototypes