Some history and observations of the Boa Ski B.A.R.

* Special thanks to SnoTech magazine , Jerry McGee & Mike Golembiewski for their help with article ! *

Boa Ski B.A.R displayed at the 2004 Grantsburg show.

Owner : Brett Peterson

This is the first in what I hope to be a number of galleries dedicated to a specific model sled.

Having recently fulfiled a 10 year search for  a Boa Ski B.A.R. racer it seemed like a logical choice for my first effort at any type of historical article. No aspect of this is intended to be taken as absolute fact. If any one out there has anything to add for information on  or pictures of the elusive Boa Ski B.A.R ,  please e-mail it to :

Retrosno.com

Mike Duffy of Colorado was generous enough to send me his mint condition 1975 Boa Ski brochure. This is a priceless addition to the B.A.R. page.

The image below is the back page of the brochure.

Joe Chabot in action on the B.A.R.

Photo property of SnoTech Magazine.

Used with permission.

The Boa Ski B.A.R. is one of the lesser known models from snowmobile racing history. It would appear that when Alsport purchased Boa Ski some interest developed in building brand image by producing a racer. The idea was sound , having been done by any number of manufactureres in the past , but I believe Alsport's timing was a bit off. The heyday of the factory produced Mod racer was nearly at an end when the B.A.R. appeared.

The first aspect of this model to look at is the name . Although I have no proof , I have long maintained that "B.A.R." was a convenient shortening of "Boa Ski Alsport Racer". It is amusing  to wonder if the engineers also may have intended a thinly veiled reference to the original "B.A.R." ( Browning Automatic Rifle) of WW II fame  which itseld is a more than formidable weapon. That's the first of many questions we may never know the answer to.

First produced in the fall of 1973 , the B.A.R. is one of the wildest looking sleds to ever hit the snow. Built on what were essentially rolling chassis' manufactured by Texas Industries it is readily apparent that these  were a very purpose built sled. Having started with a platform that was essentially a Thunder Jet clone , Alsport need some mechanical aspects & styling cues that would make the sled their own. One need look no further than the sunburst head Kohler motor & Day-Glo graphics to see that this was achieved.

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This is the point where some speculation & conjecture comes into play. The B.A.R was produced in 2 chassis configurations. The first, appearing in late 1973, was a 32" ski stance version with a flatter  "grass drag" style seat & an essentially open hood design.

(See Below)

1974 Boa Ski B.A.R. 440

Owners: The Carsley Family - Newport , Maine

The alternate choice in the B.A.R. was a 36" wide chassis with a high back "oval track " type seat & a hood treatment that had a "nose cone" effect as seen in the following image. the seat on my 650 shown below is an incorrect custom version.

This style made it's debut in early '74

B.A.R. 650 Vintge Racer

Originally restored & raced by Chip Patterman of Team Obsolete , this sled is now in the Carsley Family collection in Newport , Maine.

I had always thought that there was only one year of production of the B.A.R. but have recently been told that the narrower version was a 1974 model & the wider version was produced for the 1975 model year. I do know that a pre-season press release photo of the 1975 B.A.R. appeared in an edition of Snowgoer magazine in the fall of 1974 featuring the 36" stance model. I suspect any B.A.R.'s offered for the 1975 year were carry over inventory from the later production '74's.

The possibility also exists that the B.A.R. was not ever actually offered for sale in the '75 model year.

Powerplant choices for the B.A.R were all of Kohler  F/A origin & were offerd in a 340 twin , 440 twin, 440 triple & the monster 650 triple.

In an interesting aside , it appears that there were plans for an all new B.A.R. to be released for the 1976 model year.

The press release above is the only reference I've ever seen to a '76 model.

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Perhaps the biggest claim to fame for the B.A.R. was it's appearance on the 1974 Sno-Pro circuit as a 'Kohler Sno-Pro".

Kohler of Canada showed up with re-worked B.A.R.'s mid-season in 1974 after the first genration Kohler Sno Pro chassis proved to be a dismal failure.

As you can see , modifications were made to the appearance.

The following images & text come to us from the owner of Kohler snoPro # 4 ,

Jerry McGee of Whitefield ,NH

 "Hi Jay,

As promised long ago here are a few pictures of the 2nd Generation 74

Kohler PDC sled. This one is #00004 out of what I understand were 6

originally built.

As you can see some things were beefed up on the original Boa Ski

Chassis and the steering post was lowered but most of the differences

seem to be in the ducting of fresh air to the lower cases.

I have not done really any research on the sled nor the motor that is in

it now. The ducting and the way it fits to the motor tells me it has

been there from day 1 but the motor looks to be of a 75 vintage. It

would be of little surprise to find out that is was a prototype of what

would be available to other manufactures the following year (Mercury,

Rupp, etc), then again lord only knows who changed what over the ensuing

years.

Take Care

Jerry McGee "

Pics of the ducting & chassis reinforcments under the hood of the Kohler Sno-Pro

A huge thank You to Jerry for sending us the pics of his Kohler " B.A.R." .

The original Kohler Sno-Pro.

Photo courtesy of David's Vintage Snowmobile Website.

I hope to obtain information on actual number of sleds produced and find out why the B.A.R's were not more prevalent. Even today , pictures of them in action are few & far between.

For now , we can at least enjoy the images submitted by owners & fans of the

 "Bad Ass Boa"

I welcome any & all submissions of information and material to be added to this article.

B.A.R. Gallery

Ken Pielechowski sent me these pics of his Boa Ski B.A.R. project sled.

"Boa Ski" really is a Polish name !

Mike Golembiewski of Mosinee , WI sent in this pic of his newly acqiured Boa Ski B.A.R.

This sled was previously owned by Ken Pielechowski.

See what I mean about the Polish connection ??

Mike is currently restoring the Boa.

Mike checked in to let us know that the B.A.R. is up & running.

Mike has done a stellar job bringing his B.A.R. back to life.

Thanx for the update , Mike.

Below is Mike's latest B.A.R project

B.A.R. 340 - Owner unknown

Joe Clark's B.A.R. 650