View Single Post
Old 02-03-2005, 12:11 PM   #5
mcdude
Senior Member
 
mcdude's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Rock Haven Lake - West Newfield, ME
Posts: 5,359
Thanks: 374
Thanked 1,041 Times in 489 Posts
Default From Last Week's Carroll County Independent

Link to Carroll County Independent Ossipee, NH
MIKE HASHEM, an antiques dealer in Ossipee and owner of his own Model T Ford Snowmobile, helped organize the Model T Ford Snowmobile Club’s home coming rally to be held in West Ossipee this weekend. Hashem’s Snowmobile, which still bears markings of its former uses for the U.S. Postal Service and Sanford Garage, will be one of those on display at the rally. Pictured above it has treds attached to the rear wheels, but awaits replacement of the front tires with Snowmobile skis.
SNOWMOBILES RETURN HOME
By Terry Leavitt
The Snowmobiles will be returning home to West Ossipee this weekend.
Owners of Model T Fords, converted for travel over snow with Snowmobile kits, will be gathering in West Ossipee Saturday, Feb. 5, for the Virgil D. White Snowmobile Home Coming Rally.
White invented his Snowmobile Conversion kit for Model T Fords, opening a factory in West Ossipee in 1923, and running it until 1929. In addition to selling kits to convert a Model T, the company also converted new Model T trucks, roadsters, coupes, and buses into Snowmobiles and sold completed units.
Sponsored by the Model T Ford Snowmobile Club, the home coming rally will take place near the site of the original Snowmobile Company Factory, which was located across the street from Whittier House Restaurant.
The Model T Ford Snowmobile Club has about 200 members, and organizer Mike Hashem said he hopes that between 25 and 50 machines will be in town over the weekend. The vehicles are expected to range from the fully restored and modified to completely unrestored.
Hashem, who owns an antique store in Ossipee, came up with the idea for the rally after moving here from Dover and opening an antique store. Hashem specializes in musical instruments and vintage motorcycles. But being in Ossipee, he said he bought an antique Model T Snowmobile to add some local color to his shop.
He knew he had to find out more about the vehicle that was invented and manufactured in Ossipee and sold through the Ford Company. “As soon as I came to town and started thinking about Virgil White and the snow machine it was a no-brainer,” he said. Still, he said, “I owned my vehicle for more than a year before I realized the factory was sort of still there.”
The Yield House Factory sits on the site of the Snowmobile Factory, but it is unclear how much of the original building remains because a fire severely damaged the plant in 1929.
Model T Ford Snowmobile Club holds annual meets in Lancaster and Townshend, Mass., but this would be the first time such a rally has been held in Ossipee.
Hashem said Whittier House will be the host area for the rally. There, visitors will be able to look at club memorabilia and historic photographs. The club will also use an open area behind the Yield House building for running the snowmobiles, and giving rides to other aficionados.
“If there’s snow, they’ll be out there. They’d like to play with them,” Hashem said.
Nearby, the Lion’s Club will be serving hot dogs, coffee, and other refreshments throughout the event.
Saturday night, there will be a banquet for the club at Whittier House. Richard White, son of Virgil White, will be the guest speaker at the event.
Hashem will be bringing his own Snowmobile to the rally, and he expects many Carroll County residents will be doing the same.
“Usually these type of vehicles reside in the back of a guy’s barn,” he said. He said he has spoken to several people in the area that have Snowmobiles.
Although he is doing some work on his car and expects it to be ready to run at the rally, Hashem said he does not intend to restore his vehicle to a pristine state. The history is easier to see with less work done.
“Its an unrestored original. The car, if you look at it, is exactly how Virgil made them to sell,” Hashem said of his Snowmobile. It is the only Model T he owns.
Most Snowmobile owners are more like Howard “Buzz” Baker, of Wolfeboro, who said he bought his first Model T for $25 when he was 12, and plans to bring his own Snowmobile to the rally.
His Snowmobile is one of several Model T Fords he owns today. When asked his favorite, he said, it was like being asked to choose a favorite child.
“You like it for what it is. These things just worked all the time. They don’t go fast — 18 miles per hour. And you have to plan ahead quite a ways [when you are driving one]. It’s not a quick steering thing,” he said.
Hashem said the Snowmobile Company was “the biggest thing that ever hit Ossipee. Supposedly he made 3,500 kits a year. Locals say he produced 25,000 units,” Hashem said. “These were exported all around the country and around the world.”
White was not the only person to be tinkering with a mechanized way to travel over snow. Alvin Lombard, of Waterville, Maine, is credited with building the first snow machine at the turn of the century. Several other companies produced automobile conversion kits in the 1920s and J. Armand Bombardier in Canada and Carl Eliason in Wisconsin were working on the single track vehicles that became the modern recreational snowmobiles in the same decade. But White did hold several patents on his design, and he trademarked the name Snowmobile.
The Model T, manufactured from 1908 to 1928, was one of the most versatile of the early automobiles, with a reputation for dependability and durability. The addition of Snowmobile attachments made it a four-season vehicle in an era when roads were not plowed in winter. Another set of Snowmobile Company attachments turned the Model T into a “Sandmobile” for travel in the desert, making it perhaps one of the first All-Terrain Vehicles.
Attached Images
 

Last edited by mcdude; 02-03-2005 at 12:14 PM.
mcdude is offline   Reply With Quote
Sponsored Links