Kiekhaefer powered Ski-Doo was almost

[Doug]

Kiekhaefer powered SKI-Doo??

In 1970 Carl Kiekhaefer broke away from Kiekhaefer Mercury and restarted Kiekhaefer Aeromarine Motors his original company. After failed attempts at building a successful snowmobile Carl turned his attention as being an engine supplier. He set his test bed on racing and built a 649CC F/A 3 cylinder mounted in 1971 Polaris TX chassis which won both oval and obstacle course events in the open non production class with engine sizes larger then 800CC. He later turned the lead design over to his son Fred to build a liquid cooled motor. Fred designed an inverted V-twin liquid cooled. They made the rounds of all the major manufactures with Ski-Doo showing the most interest because at that time they did not have a liquid cooled motor. In May of 1973 the papers were being drawn up with a closing date of July 1 1973. The problem was 1973 was a terrible snow year and after the year was over all the manufactures had extensive carryover inventory and Rotax had also come out with their own liquid cooled engine. It was agreed upon by both parties to back away from the deal. Fred Kiekhaefer still has 2 V-twin motors, one under a coffee table the other still mounted in its Chaparral test chassis.