February of 1975, Me (driving), my brother Dan (back) and my Dad-Joe, hauling the burn barrel to the local dump site.  We are on a 1973 Polaris Colt.  My Dad would balance the barrel on the sled while I tried to navigate across a cornfield in Dakota City, NE.
Here we are in February 23rd of 2025 in the exact same field 50 years later with a restored version of the same model 1973 Polaris Colt.  Restoration photos and stories below.
All poor decisions start with an ad on Marketplace.  This sled had minimal photos but ad said that it ran on spray.  Tank looked good and grill plastics seemed ok.  Bumpers looked intact.  The track wasn't broken in the photos at least.


The sled traveled home safe but the more I'm able to look at it the rougher it gets.
Since the 1973 had become more popular to restore in recent years, sleds were harder to find and prices were going up so I decided to jump on this one and drive 14 hours to Northern Minnesota to procure a sled for the 50 year project.  This is November 1st of 2024 and I have to get it running and ready quickly
Dave Koenigsfeld

Everything appears normal and complete except for a missing airbox.
Dave Koenigsfeld
The tank was rusted quite bad so I took that off and ran fresh fuel out of a small fuel cell.
Then we are not.  After trying to tune carbs, chase bad spark plug wire, I discovered that I was really only running on 1 cylinder. I found that I had low compression on one cylinder and almost none on the other.  I had previously put my finger over the spark plug hole and thought it was ok.
Jugs were in great shape so I decided to keep moving forward.


Mid November the hood gets sent off for fiberglass repair and paint.  It doesn't look terrible but there are significant cracks and glass missing in places.
The undercarriage and suspension were rusted and worn out.
I'm in mid December starting to feel the crunch.  I mention to a friend that I'm problably not going to be able to find an interior shop that would work on such a low paying little job.
Old skis were rusted through so I got new skis and shocks.

The carburators look amazingly clean but I went through them anyway to make sure.  On November 14th, I got the engine to fire and run.  We are making progress.
I also discovered that the original 295cc motor had been removed and a period correct 340 had been put in.  Lower end seemed to be ok so I will rebuild the top end.


Compression is great on both cylinders now.  Spark plug wires are replaced, new fuel lines.  Had to get a new fuel pump since I found stripped screws inside original where someone had been in there.
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I found that the plastics were in worse shape than hoped.


New bearings, shock, springs and hyfax were installed.  Suspension got some much needed sandblasting and paint.
My friend said get me the seat tomorrow and I will take care of you.  What a great job!  The original bulbs still worked but I replaced with LEDs from a pinball restoration.
Brake yeast is never good.  The entire braking system need replaced.  I got new handle, master cylinder, lines and pads.  I still need to fix a leak down at the pads.
Its January and paint shop is test fitting the hood.  Parts are coming in and time is getting tight.
I purchased NOS parts as much as possible.  Supposedly I got the last NOS gas gauge known to exist.
Final hood paint looks amazing
A hood in primer looks amazing.  The finish is better than new.


The speedometer is vintage 1974.
I barely let the clear coat dry before I was getting decals and emblems on.  New windshield as well.
I have to stop here.  Looks great and good enough for photo.  More to do but not any kind of time line or rush now.
This sled has had a tough life.  It has been wrecked hard, rusty and crusty.  I need new handle bars and decide how to fix the front bumper dents.  I discovered that the rear bumper is the wrong year.  The tunnel needs metal replaced and dents out of it before I would repaint.
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We had fun talking about all the struggles getting the sled going.  The original Red Ryder sled was used as well as Dad's vintage helmet.  We wished there was more snow but it actually looked about the same in 1975 so it ended pretty good.

We actually got some snow in southern Missouri so I was able to do a test ride before the big trip up to Nebraska for our photo shoot.