The Snowmobile Exhibit at Volo Auto Museum

By: Jonathan Jones 02/19/2016

With a day like today, you don’t have to worry about snow. However, winter isn’t over and the Lake County weather tends to play tricks on us from time to time.

However, Volo Auto Museum has an interesting, nostalgic and authentic Snowmobile exhibit all winter for your viewing pleasure through April.

There are a lot of different stories in regards to the first snow mobile. Sometimes they were called snow flyers and sometimes they were referred to as mobile sleds. One source explained that a gentleman by the name O.C. Johnson built the first snowmobile that actually drove on top of the snow. Alas it was kind of hard to find research on the snow mobile, oddly enough.

That’s where the Volo Auto Museum comes into play.

Some of the finest remaining examples of the first ever snowmobiles dating back 92 years will be on display at the Volo Auto Museum. You can see the evolution of the snowmobiles from the 1920's through the 1980's can be seen.

The 1923 Snow flyer is known to be the first inception of the snowmobile. Virgil Hampshire is the maker of this contraption. Volo obtains one of the 75 Ford Snow flyers produced in 1923. At the time, the cost for this snow traveling machine was $750. Many could not afford these in that era.

Present-day, snowmobiles average cost is $11,429. Yikes!

Other feature snowmobiles you should feast your eyes upon include the 1965 Arctic Cat 500 D.E. (one of only 30 built resides at Volo), the 1962 Scorpion Trail-A-Sled Scorpion, the 1960 AutoBoggan W-9E (one of only 160 ever made), the 1923 Ford (which ironically looks like the Ford Model T on skis), the 1979 Super Sonic Rocket Sled (a motor that has 3,000 horsepower) and so many  more.

While you’re there you can take a close look at some of the famous rides used in movies and television like the Batmobile (the Adam West and Michael Keaton versions), the 2002 Aston Martin DB5 from James Bond, the DeLorean from Back to the Future and a slew of other cars.

So if you’re looking for something to do while walking in a Lake County Wonderland, take a trip out to Volo Auto Museum. While you’re there, you can have a look-see in the Antique store as well. Volo Auto Museum is located at 27582 Volo Village  Rd., Volo.

So what’re you doing next weekend?