I’ve been doing research for a project I’m working on, during which I came across this advertisement for a 1973 Arctic Cat Kitty Cat ad. And I can’t stop thinking about it.
By the time I’d gotten into snowmobiling in the early 1970s with my folks and my uncle, I was already big enough to ride the smaller full-sized sleds we had access to, so a Kitty Cat was never in play for me.
But it’s a fact that Kitty Cats have sparked the snowmobiling passion for generations of kids, just as 120s have for the past decade.
My kids started riding on 120s a few years back, and now have graduated to leaf-spring sleds from the 1970s. Very fond memories of them learning to ride the 120s around the yard, packing down every square-inch snow. I’m sure many reading this have similar stories.
I give a big tip of the hat to Arctic Cat for pioneering the “kid” sled when it introduced the original Kitty Cat for the 1972 season. I wonder if the brain trust at the time realized how successful the machine would be, and how important it was to the entire snowmobile industry?
By the way, the ad appeared in this December 1972 issue of Snowmobile Times, which is notable because it was published by Michael and Jerry Hoffman, and featured a tech story in every issue writted by John Ramstad, more commonly known as C.J.
Hoffman and C.J. founded Snow Week magazine.
This cover is also notable because of the wickedly-bent ski on the Rupp in the background. I’m guessing a straight T-bone happened that day.