1993: A Major Milestone for a Pioneering Snowmobile

September 14, 1993

The two-millionth Ski-Doo snowmobile was manufactured in the city of Valcourt in Québec, Canada, approximately 34 years after Joseph-Armand Bombardier (1907-1964) introduced that pioneering vehicle.

Bombardier, a mechanic who had built his first snow-friendly vehicle in 1935 in a small repair shop in Valcourt, developed Ski-Doo as a faster and more lightweight alternative for winter travel. A significant but tragic impetus for Bombardier to create more agile and effective means of transportation for snowbound areas took place in 1934, when his two-year-old son died of peritonitis because — in the aftermath of a blizzard in the vicinity of Valcourt –the family was unable to take him to the nearest hospital in time for lifesaving medical treatment.

Ski-Doo is now widely considered to be the first modern snowmobile, and it has become a popular generic term throughout Canada for that type of transportation. This vehicle was originally called Ski-Dog because Bombardier viewed the snowmobile as a replacement for the dogsleds customarily used by hunters and trappers. A typo in a promotional brochure labeled the vehicle “Ski-Doo” instead, however, and that became its new name. 

While extensively used early on by trappers and hunters, Ski-Doo also eventually became popular with other groups such as missionaries and land surveyors that likewise found the vehicle helpful when it came to more easily traveling through snowy and remote regions. The biggest demand for Ski-Doo over the years, however, has come from winter sports enthusiasts and others appreciating the vehicle’s recreational value in the great outdoors. The various milestones leading up to the two-millionth Ski-Doo included the 225 sold during the first year alone; the 8,210 manufactured within a five-year timeframe; and the first million manufactured by 1973. 

The accompanying 1975 photo shows Gerald R. Ford (1913-2006), who served as the 38^th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977, riding a Ski-Doo at the presidential retreat of Camp David in Thurmont, Maryland.

Photo Credit: Public Domain

For more information on Joseph-Armand Bombardier, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph-Armand_Bombardier and https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/joseph-armand-bombardier

Additional information on snowmobiles in Canada is available at https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/snowmobile