These are some pictures of my 1982 El Tigre prototype.
Some back ground....I first learned of this particular sled back in 1991, I then lost track of it. I tracked it down again in 2003 and this time got it purchased. I am the 4th owner of this since it was sold on the Arctic Enterprises liquidation auction back in the early 80's. It has been a "daily driver" for each of the previous owners. It has over 6000 miles on the odometer!
At one point after the original engine had broken down, this sled even had a (cough) Polaris fan-cooled engine in it. Miraculously, the sled owner had the forsight to save the entire original engine, mounts, exhaust, etc; even though the crank was broken. After purchasing it, I had the original crank rebuilt and put the entire package back in the sled.
After great debate, I did have the hood refinished. For the most part, as much of the sled as possible has been left as original so as to try to preserve as much of the historical accuracy as possible. This 1982 was an "engineering" sled and not a picture/display model. Thus, it has the 1981 Tigre seat and not the 82 style as in some of the show pictures that exist today. This sled is serial numbered as a 1981 model. A fellow collector in MI has an 82 like this that is only 2 VIN numbers apart from mine, the sleds are nearly identicle in every way.
There are many things that make this proto unique..The 500 l/c engine has a "sand cast" lower end so as to accept the oil pump. Arctic had never yet offered an oil injected El Tigre at the time this was being developed. As a matter of fact, it was the 1986 model year before they actually did offer an oil injected Tigre. This also has an experimental oil tank over the driven clutch, a production sled never used this design.
This sled also has a never-produced dash/console that was being developed, it is a slightly "flatter" design. The hood is a design that never made it to production either, even though some of the 1986 models have some similarities. This sled uses a "nosecone", these had not previously been on a production Arctic. The belly pan on this model was destined to be redisigned and produced of TPR rubber. The belly pan on this proto looks as if it may be an 80 Panther pan that was widened out to serve as a starting point for further production.
Various holes in the side of the tunnel lead me to believe that different skid frames may have been in this sled at some point. Even though it was still a leaf springer, I think that Arctic would have been onto something big had they been able to release this model.
Compliments of vintagesleds.com
Some back ground....I first learned of this particular sled back in 1991, I then lost track of it. I tracked it down again in 2003 and this time got it purchased. I am the 4th owner of this since it was sold on the Arctic Enterprises liquidation auction back in the early 80's. It has been a "daily driver" for each of the previous owners. It has over 6000 miles on the odometer!
At one point after the original engine had broken down, this sled even had a (cough) Polaris fan-cooled engine in it. Miraculously, the sled owner had the forsight to save the entire original engine, mounts, exhaust, etc; even though the crank was broken. After purchasing it, I had the original crank rebuilt and put the entire package back in the sled.
After great debate, I did have the hood refinished. For the most part, as much of the sled as possible has been left as original so as to try to preserve as much of the historical accuracy as possible. This 1982 was an "engineering" sled and not a picture/display model. Thus, it has the 1981 Tigre seat and not the 82 style as in some of the show pictures that exist today. This sled is serial numbered as a 1981 model. A fellow collector in MI has an 82 like this that is only 2 VIN numbers apart from mine, the sleds are nearly identicle in every way.
There are many things that make this proto unique..The 500 l/c engine has a "sand cast" lower end so as to accept the oil pump. Arctic had never yet offered an oil injected El Tigre at the time this was being developed. As a matter of fact, it was the 1986 model year before they actually did offer an oil injected Tigre. This also has an experimental oil tank over the driven clutch, a production sled never used this design.
This sled also has a never-produced dash/console that was being developed, it is a slightly "flatter" design. The hood is a design that never made it to production either, even though some of the 1986 models have some similarities. This sled uses a "nosecone", these had not previously been on a production Arctic. The belly pan on this model was destined to be redisigned and produced of TPR rubber. The belly pan on this proto looks as if it may be an 80 Panther pan that was widened out to serve as a starting point for further production.
Various holes in the side of the tunnel lead me to believe that different skid frames may have been in this sled at some point. Even though it was still a leaf springer, I think that Arctic would have been onto something big had they been able to release this model.
Compliments of vintagesleds.com