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Nice looking machine for the day but I highly doubt that thing would take a blizzard 9500 of the same vintage

In 1979 when Kawasaki introduced the new Drifter F/A, I loved it. It was light weight, agile and great to break trails. Our type of riding back then was different then what I hear today. I can just imagine putting a larger F/A engine in it and widening the skis a little to stabilize. It would of been a super sled off trail.

Let's get Kawasaki back into making snowmobiles.

I work right across the street from Kawasaki's former research and developement test center in Shakopee,Mn. They had a bunch of acreage behind the plant for testing machines and supposedly 2 lead lined engine testing chambers. They buried all their machines behind the building when they vacated it in 1982. They later had to come back and dig them all up when a chemical company bought the building and dispose of them properly. The green Shark oval racing sleds are extinct. They originally built the engine test center in the early '70's when they were supply engines to Arctic Cat and continued there after buying out Sno Jet up until the last day when everyone got a pink slip. Too bad, I think they would have been a force in the sled biz.

We had a 1979 trailcat and like A72 Ski doo blizzard both of which kicked ass but when I rode our invader 440 it blew my mind😮😊

This video brought so much entertainment to both young and old. It took me a while to get this film converted from a large reel 16mm film to digital. It was all worth it. Like many of you, we watched multiple times . The times were family riding and enjoyment, much different from todays snowmobiling. We didn't have a lot of horsepower, just enough!

thank you for posting, thought i would never see this again! i worked at a john deere motoski dealer and this reel would be cued up in the showroom. i was already a major styx fan, i still am! when "sail" comes on, i go back to that time and throttle down on the grand prix special!

Dad started out as an Arctic Cat dealer in 1969. Later added Yamaha in 1973 and Kawasaki and John Deere in 1978. I got to ride the Best sleds built.

I remember going to Scarborough Downs to watch the Sno Pro races when I was a kid!!

Boss Cat One and Two at movies end.

1972 EXT oval racer in this movie.

1973 Lynx 1 production run about 2/3 through this tape. So this is from the 1972 summer season. Featured engine is 292 single Kawasaki.

High Tech leaf spring front suspension LOL

A new Kawasaki/Sno-Jet in old time livery would be awesome, I bet they could build a real contender for today. Come on Kawasaki lets come back to the snow ❄️❄️!

Dad and mom had invaders 440 and 340. The 440 had pipes and was fun just to look at. The throttle would make your thumb tired in a hurry though

I still own my '78 and '79 440 Invaders since new. Dad being a Cat, Kawasaki, Dealer allowed my to try out countless sleds.

I remember when the Kawasaki sleds came out and that they looked fast just sitting still! Never got to ride one, what a shame!

Love it

My father's got a Kawasaki Intruder 440 1978 I think they are getting very hard to get parts for now

Very cool video! I wish Kawasaki would have stayed in the industry. The R & D building in Shakopee is one block away from where I work now.

I picked up another one of these back around 2000, I'd run it sometimes with the guys lol at first they're saying bring your new sled as they didn't think I'd keep up. 😅 ya more like the opposite, light as a feather and just scream lol fun

I’ve worked at the Shakopee, MN facility that used to be the Kawasaki winter morter sports facility for the last 24 years. In some of the little used mechanical rooms there are stickers on the walls that speak to its past life and I think that is really cool. Heard a lot of roumers about shark sleds they buried on-site. Some of our coatings testing labs still have explosion shutters you can deploy over the wndows where engines were tested to to their limits back in the day!

I grew up in Upstate NY, and the winters are tough here especially by Lake Ontario. My dad taught me to ride one of these when I was really young since we were out in the sticks. He was a hunter and farmer who raised chickens and ducks to eat and I helped. Reminds me of my childhood and all the fun times I had blowing through all the snowdrifts.

cool they hummed and quick a contender to the blizzard although the blizzard was fast also and the cat 5000 had power air cooled it was nice machine

so cool to see. i love my 440, love making videos on it and having fun in the snow

first 10 secs all you need to watch

Don't feel so decompressed, the Kawaski Intruder will lift your spirits.

The 80's were the best

8 minute track change ? wow.

why did'nt the hyfax burn up on the ice ?........

I had a 1980 invader it was definitely cringe worthy.

God i miss my first one

I got 4 and mabey enough parts to make two more

Those tracks were excellent for speed but dont last long

Back in the day Kawasaki snowmobiles where no joke. The 440 and 550 where hammers

I used to have a 1980 440 invader. Loved it! Very fast! modified the clutch so that it engaged at a higher rpm to match the torque curve and boy did it jump off of the line! Rode it for several years before selling it to buy a hopped up 1990 Polaris Indy 500. Later sold that as I moved to a more southern state that did not get enough snow to warrant a snow machine.

restored my 81 ltd to mint condition...stored it at my brothers barn...called today to say i was coming to get it....he says ,we had a lil mishap.....OH ?....ya nephew got on it, laid on the throttle and wheelied into the front of the durango!?!?! ...kids ok..... sled, not so much!!!!!! now you know why i found this vid

had a 80' Invader 440 probably ran around 70 mph but it felt like 100

1980 Kawasaki LTD for sale in Ontario Canada 3400 $

Seeing this for the first time since I was 11 or 12 sitting with whole school on gym floor... been listening to this song a lot lately and remembered this film and being mesmerized, searched and oila!

First had a RUPP '76 340 Liquid-cooled sled. After warping the U-shpaed frame because of flying off snow banks, I got a '80 KAWI INVADER 340. Nice looking sled, but it was built for ONLY one reason .... snow highway traveling. "Off-highway' in back woods trails the engine would constantly overheat because the liquid cooling radiator built into the tunnel was insufficiently sized to dissipate the waste heat from the engine. Repeated calls to the Kawasaki Engineering Dept. went unanswered, even while sled was still under warranty. On lake riding or snow hwy riding, it was fine since the forward mounted radiator transferred the waste heat to the atmosphere as the sled was moving along at decent speed, but in the winding trails, not so good! VERY disappointed ... only kept it for a few years, then sold it outright, and never looked back.

Very cool !

Grew up in Saco Me..15,20 MI. south...the BLIZZARD OF '78.....just around the corner!ha!ha!...⏳

Very cool !!!

I wish they still did sled races at Scarborough Downs, only a few minutes from me. Id love to take the kids to a race like this. Thanks for posting!

I had the Ltd and 440 invader love and miss them always wanted the 440 fa

That's when Canada had lots of snow 2019 not worth having one

First scene guy comes down and bends the tunnel.

Sno Jets were good sleds ..!!

I had a 74 Polaris TX 250 in 1980