In doing research on a Sno Jet prototype that I acquired, I put this informational timeline together to better visualize and layout some of the applicable factors.

• 1969 Model production aprox 22k units
  
• 1970 model production aprox 32k units
  
• 1971 Model production aprox 28k units
  
• 1972 model production aprox 25k units
  
• 1973 model production aprox 20k units
  
• 1973 Begins major 3 phase 3.5 million Capitol investment, raising production capacity by another 60K units and parts supply increase of 225% Thetford Mines, Burlington and elsewhere.
  
• 12/11/73 Finished 74 production 10 days early. Snow Sports dealer news 1/74.
  
• 12/73 1974 Model production aprox 18k units
  
• 12/73 or 1/74 Phantom final protos built. 600k invested in new Phantoms.
  
• 1/21/74 1975 model production begins “Snow Sports dealer news 1/74”
  
• 1/74 President Council SST F/A’s built.
  
• 1/74 Early production SST F/A’s built. 600k invested in new SST.
  
• 2/74 Sno Jet announces production cut of 40% or 8000 units for 75 models over 74, economy, low snow winters, fuel and 12-14k leftover unit surplus.
  
• 2-4/74 Just completed 25,000 ft fiberglass/rubber plant Thetford Mines, new 50k ft parts dist ctr Burlington, completes 3.5mil expansion plan.
  
• 4/74 “tough decisions… A few have already decided to get out. We don’t blame them!… But We’re staying!… Sno Jet is growing!…” Keith Orme Snow Sports dealer news 5/74
  
• 4/74 “Sno Jet has invested 1.2 million dollars in engineering and tooling for a completely new line of snow machines for 1975 to be complimented by a revolutionary new machine already built and in testing for 1976!” Keith Orme Snow Sports dealer news 5/74
  
• 4/74 “… with the first new 1975 machines already in dealers hands this past winter.” “A limited number of these new sleds were released to its distributor and dealer organization for thorough testing and evaluation. Each owner was enrolled in the Sno Jet President’s Council, and completed an extensive appraisal to be used in future development and modification.” Snow Goer Trade 5/74
  
• 4/74 “Sno Jet has also completed and built a number of 1976 machines. These sleds are completely new and employ several revolutionary engineering techniques in their design and assembly. They are currently undergoing testing and evaluation at the factory level. Current plans call for an early release program through the Presidents Council. Thus both 1975 and 1976 will see the introduction of completely brand new snowmobiles from Sno Jet.” Snow Goer Trade 5/74
  
• 4/74 Final third phase of 3.5mil expansion plan complete. Thetford Mines and Burlington. 5/74 Snow Goer Trade
  
• 7/74 Interim production SST F/A built
  
• 12/74 1975 Model production finished aprox 10k units
  
• 12/74 Sno Jets last prototype built a SST 440 fan.
  
• 3/75 Thetford Mines Sno Jet snowmobile company halts production and lays off some workers.
  
• 4/75 Snow Goer Tests the 1976’s. Sno Jet sends a production 75 SST fan with an “E” motor transplanted, 75 pipe and 75 Keihin carb. 76 changes still being developed.
  
• 3-4/75 Dealer meeting in Lansing Michigan. Sno Jet discloses Conroy wants out, possible acquisition with Kawasaki.
  
• 10/75 Production of 1976 models begins, substantially paired back from previous plans. Model cuts and no new models. Arctic Cat is contracted to assemble units with parts supplied by Sno Jet and some from Cat.
  
• 11-12/75 Conroy parent of Sno Jet “officially” announces the acceptance of an offer from Kawasaki Motor Corp USA for the business and some assets.
  
• Kawasaki contracts Arctic Cat to build 1977 model Kawasaki Sno Jet snowmobiles.
  

“Years after Sno-Jet had been sold to Kawasaki… we threw a reunion party. It was to get everybody from those days back together again. It was named something like ’15 Years of Sno-Jet being Defunct Party’. We weren’t celebrating Sno-Jet’s demise. More like 15 years has passed since Sno-Jet closed it’s doors, and changed it’s name… sad, but we can’t change that, so lets all get together to remember those days. Nearly everyone from those times returned to Vermont for a weekend, except for a very few. We all agreed that, looking back, this was our favorite job. Nearly all of us got along famously, and many remained tight over the years. Ex-employees came from California, Michigan, Texas, etc. Many great stories from those days were recalled.” Peter Morris

1975 – 1976 Serial/Model Registry Following is a serial number registry I compiled while doing the research on my prototype. It helped to put some timelines in perspective in addition to revealing other interesting information. The owners of these snowmobiles have been omitted along with the last two digits of the serial numbers for privacy purposes. I want to thank all the owners who have been willing to add their information to this small listing. Sno Jet used a serial number system that assigned the next consecutive number to the next tunnel produced, regardless of the model or type of chassis, prototype, race or production.

Serial Number	Build Date	# From Previous	Model
000128/2049xx	12/73-01/74		Phantom Proto
000129/2049xx	12/73-01/74	4	Phantom Proto
2050xx	01/74	41	75 “pres verified” SST440FA
2050xx	01/74	2	75 “pres”?/early prod SST440FA
2050xx	01/74	26	75 “pres”?/early prod SST440FA
2050xx	01/74	42	75 “pres verified” SST440FA
2051xx	01/74	<100	75 “pres”?/early prod SST440FA
2065xx	06/74	1421	75 whisper jet
2065xx	06/74	37	75 whisper jet
2066xx	06/74	120	75 whisper jet
2071xx	07/74	422	75 interim prod SST440FA
2071xx	07/74	<100	75 interim prod SST340FA tag’d as 440
2071xx	07/74	31	75 interim prod SST440FA
2072xx	07/74	31	75 interim prod SST440FA
2072xx	07/74	23	75 interim prod SST440FA
2075xx	?	326	75 SST ?
2076xx	?	130	75 SST ?
2079xx	08/74	224	75 sst440fc
2081xx	08/74	207	75 sst440fc
2081xx	08/74	26	75 sst440fc
2082xx	08/74	76	75 sst440fc
2085xx	09/74	357	75 SST440FA
2086xx	09/74	86	75 SST440FA
2091xx	09/74	505	75 SST ? FA
2093xx	?	146	75 SST440FA
2094xx	10/74	147	75 SST340FA tag’d as 440
2095xx	10/74	85	75 SST340FA
2096xx	10/74	135	75 SST340FA
2097xx	10/74	72	75 SST340FA
2099xx	10/74	157	75 SST340FA
2102xx	10/74	331	75 astro340
2103xx	10/74	120	75 astro340
2103xx	10/74	27	75 astro340
2108xx	10/74	509	75 astro340
2110xx	10/74	119	75 astro340
2112xx	10/74	270	75 astro340
2116xx	?	343	75 sst440fc
2116xx	?	42	75 Thunder Jet
2116xx	?	22	75 Thunder Jet
2125xx	11/74	829	75 SST440FA
2126xx	11/74	166	75 SST440FA
2127xx	11/74	89	75 SST440FA
2128xx	11/74	73	75 Thunder Jet
2132xx	11/74	355	75 SST440FA
2132xx	11/74	<100	75 SST440FA
2135xx	?	366	75 SST ? FA
2147xx	12/74	1122	<75 astro440/td>
2147xx	12/74	73	Prototype 76 sst440fc
60500xx	10/75	new # system	76 sst440fc
60501xx	10/75	122	76 sst440fc
60504xx	10/75	315	76 sst440fc
60508xx	10/75	338	76 sst440fc
60508xx	10/75	9	76 sst440fc
60508xx	10/75	53	76 sst440fc
60515xx	10/75	680	76 sst440fc
60517xx	10/75	211	76 sst440fc
60518xx	?	86	76 sst440fc
60540xx	?	2252	76 astro340
60542xx	sticker torn	107	76 astro340

 

I want to take a moment to thank all those who assisted me in the resurrection of my prototype and the research, which helped to make it happen. Special thanks go to vintagesleds.com for the wealth of information and camaraderie and my longtime internet friend Blake Read who built and maintains a wonderful snojet.com site. Both of these resources are invaluable to us in the vintage snowmobile community. Thank You All