Ford Model T Snowmobile

Before the 1930s, few towns and cities in the United States plowed their streets, so car owners often stored their vehicles for the winter months. For people who needed to travel regardless of the weather, like doctors, mail carriers, farmers and utility company workers, this meant reverting to horse and sleigh to travel on icy or snow-covered roads. This inspired inventors and tinkerers to develop cars able to drive in snow.

The first mass-produced automotive snow vehicle was created by New Hampshire garage owner and car dealer Virgil D. White. He began by trying to adapt a Buick Model G for snowy roads in 1906. It took him over a decade, switching from the Buick to Model T Fords, and developing five different patents along the way. His ingenuity and determination created a way for Model T owners to adapt their cars for the snow, with runners in the front and a belted track, like that of a military tank, in the rear. White’s Snowmobile Company, Inc. began selling his “Snowmobile attachment” in 1922 for $250-400 per kit. White also sold Model Ts already converted to snowmobiles for $750. Over the next six years, his company produced some 25,000 snowmobiles before he sold the business to the Farm Specialty Company in Wisconsin.

In January of 1924, many Midcoast Maine residents caught sight of a Ford snowmobile on the roads of Rockville, West Rockport, and Camden. The local newspaper reported that the rural mail carrier, R. J. Heald was driving the “contraption” along his mail route. Heald told the reporter that he was “pleased” driving the snowmobile, but it isn’t clear how long Heald used it.