Early 20th-century ‘Snowmobile’ meet up visits Farr’s Field on Feb. 5

Jan. 29, 2022  |  By Lisa Scagliotti 

With skis replacing front wheels and tracks attached to the back, a Model T becomes a "Snowmobile." Photo courtesy the Model T Ford Snowmobile Club

Early makers claimed the Snowmobile attachments for the Model T would enable it to traverse through snow as deep as two and a half feet at a speed of 18 mph. Photo courtesy the Model T Ford Snowmobile Club

Another wintertime event happening in Waterbury next Saturday will be set up at Farr’s Field on Route 2 as part of the Model T Ford Snowmobile Club’s annual meeting. 

The group consists of antique car enthusiasts with a twist – their Model Ts are on skis and/or tracks for traversing snowy terrain. 

Members will be in Waterbury Friday-Sunday for their annual gathering and on Saturday, they will be offering free rides in their classic rigs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. 

“Come see vintage cars on the snow,” says club member Brian Moriarty, “48 acres of riding in the first snowmobiles in the world.” 

The club’s website tells the backstory that begins in 1917 when Virgil D. White received a patent for an attachment designed to convert a Model T into a “Snowmobile.” The name was coined and copyrighted by White who was a Ford dealer in Ossipee, New Hampshire. He built his first snowmobile attachment 1913, and by 1922 they were marketed and sold by Ford dealers.

The kit to convert the automobile into a snowmobile consisted of skis made of metal and wood and rear-mounted tracks of varying width depending on where the vehicle would be driven. Makers claimed it would enable the vehicle to travel over snow as deep as two and a half feet at an average speed of 18 mph, the club website states. 

“Country doctors and rural mail carriers were the largest users of this type of vehicle.  Other customers of the manufactured Snowmobile included public utility companies, lumber companies, traveling salesmen, fire departments, school bus and taxi drivers, undertakers, grocers, milkmen, truckers and cranberry growers,” the historical account describes, adding this bit of Vermont historical lore: “When the father of President Calvin Coolidge died on March 18, 1926, a Model T Snowmobile led the Coolidge funeral procession over the snow-covered hills of Vermont.”

The tracks without the skis were used by some to convert the Model T to a “Sandmobile,” enabling travel through heavy sand and mud. The club’s website says customers from far-away locations such as the Florida Everglades, Egypt and South Africa made purchases. 

Today, antique vehicle owners continue the Model T snowmobile tradition for fun and to share with the public at events. The group’s annual meeting is scheduled for Friday evening at the Best Western Plus. Its schedule posted on its website lists a number of meets over the next several weeks mostly in New Hampshire and also Maine. 

Moriarty’s announcement for the Waterbury event invites folks to “Come by car, truck, snowmobile.”

More information online at modeltfordsnowmobile.com.