MOROCCO, Ind. – Tucked behind Dan Blaney’s law office in a historic renovated building built in 1899 in downtown Morocco is an unusual place, a museum, the Antique Snowmobile Museum. The only snowmobile museum in Indiana, the museum began after his wife Donna gave him a sign for Christmas one year. The sign said, “Dan Blaney’s Antique Snowmobile Museum,” and he took the assignment to heart.

Blaney became interested in snowmobiles doing it as a sport with his three kids when they were young in the 1970s. After he had a few snowmobiles, and received his sign, that was a sign to him, and his collection rapidly expanded. In his museum, besides his own collection, he also has models from the Ski-Doo Museum, Top of The Lake Snowmobile Museum and more.

While there are brands like Polaris, Mercury, Yamaha, Arctic Cat and Scorpion, there are also an array of snowmobiles made by agricultural manufacturers that will interest the antique equipment collector. Massey Ferguson, John Deere, Wheel Horse, Sears and Bohlen’s made snow mobiles. Massey Ferguson sold snowmobiles from 1968 to 1977. Originally, the snowmobiles were made by Massey Ferguson’s Canadian branch, which was the largest agricultural manufacturer in the world at that time. According to TractorData.com, “The majority under the Ski Whiz brand name. Massey contracted with Scorpion to produce Massey snowmobiles for the 1976 season. The Ski Whiz name was also dropped. Massey Ferguson snowmobiles ended after 1977.”

Scorpion manufactured snowmobiles at their plant in Crosby, Minn.

Blaney has one whole room dedicated to his large John Deere snowmobile collection and accompanying memorabilia. John Deere produced snowmobiles later than Massey Ferguson from 1972 up to 1984. They came on the scene during the height of the snow mobile popularity. One cool fact is that John Deere was the official snowmobile supplier of the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, N.Y. John Deere ended production in 1984 to focus on lawn and garden models.

Another Deere snowmobile fun fact is that according to the Deere publication the Plowshare, in 1972, the slogan, “Nothing Runs Like a Deere” came about during the snowmobile craze. Unlike Massey Ferguson, Deere manufactured their own snowmobiles at their Horicon plant in Horicon, Wis. Deere had a few firsts in the snowmobile development: they created the first direct drive snowmobile, the patented reverse secondary system, and created an exclusive clutch development.

Known for their lawn and garden tractors, the Wheel Horse company was formed in 1946 to produce outdoor equipment. In the late 1960s, Wheel Horse decided to add snowmobiles to their line. They entered the snowmobile production in 1969 by buying the Sno-Flite brand. These models had been made for the 1968-69 winter sport season by the C.E. Erickson Company of Des Moines, Iowa. Production was moved to the Wheel Horse South Bend, Ind., plant, where the name Sno-Flite was changed to Safari. Subtle changes were made to the Safari models. The new color went from yellow to red and the new mode had an airscoop on the hood and more. Production didn’t last long, with only a few produced in 1972. Wheel Horse left lawn and garden production in 2007. The short production run, and early manufacturing dates make the Wheel Horse models a lucrative item for collectors.

One of the reasons that Wheel Horse entered the snowmobile market was because their competitor – Bohlen’s – also made snowmobiles. Created under the cool name of Diablo Rouge, their snowmobiles were built at the Bohlen’s plant in Port Washington, Wis., from 1967 to 1969.

Sears manufactured everything from houses to tractors, and they even made snowmobiles. Manufactured from 1964, which is very early snowmobile production, they continued to produce snowmobiles until 1972. In the Top of the Lakes Snowmobile Museum webpage, they share, “The first vehicles were designed for traveling on frozen lakes and were called the “Ice Skeeter.’”

Snowmobiles have their own unique history and stories. Blaney notes the story of each model at his fun museum. For those interested, all these brands can be seen at his museum. To visit, make an appointment by calling 219-285-2008.