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In the 1950s, the modern world ground to a halt in rural Sweden, when heavy snow fell. The Volvos were confined to the garage and out came the skis and sledges.
Then Lars Laarson came up with the Snow Trac – an arctic all-terrain vehicle. It had a VW engine, canvas tracks and a simple aluminium body, and could get seven people up a mountain in the worst weather conditions.
Although they look flimsy, they are tremendously capable machines that perform brilliantly on snow. Between 1955 and 1981, more than 2,000 were produced and over three quarters of them were exported – as far afield as Japan. They really took off in Scotland. Every highland estate had one, as did the electricity board and even the phone company.
They were so popular that, when production stopped in Sweden, a Scottish engineer bought up all the spare parts and started manufacturing a home-grown version in Perth.
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Bob Bateman has always been fascinated by Snow Tracs. He still owns the Matchbox model he was given as a child and jumped at the chance to buy a full size one when he saw it advertised. Although he has some restoration experience, including rebuilding an American Ford fire engine, the Snow Trac was beyond his abilities.
His ambition is to drive an original blood-orange-coloured Snow Trac to the top of a mountain and have a refreshing cup of tea at the summit.
When Claire and Suggs first see the Snow Trac, it looks conspicuous parked in a Leicester side street – and it's a real wreck.
Thom Hendy, a Devon farmer and engineer, is an expert at coaxing truculent old farm machinery back to life as well as being a classic car restorer. He's the perfect choice to take on this unusual machine.
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As Thom and Claire start to strip down the Snow Trac, they find that it's missing some major parts. The main sprocket carrier (which transfers the drive to the track) is broken; the track cogs are very worn; and the chassis is split down the middle and full of rust. Luckily, though, the VW industrial engine works first time.
Suggs has to track down another Snow Trac that they can cannibalise to replace the broken sprocket carrier. Once again, Claire ends up in a muddy field with a hammer in one hand and a gas axe in the other.
The perished and torn rubber on the tracks also has to be replaced, and the steel cleats that hold the tracks together need to be completely renewed. Claire and Thom also have to cut out the really corroded bits of the chassis and replace them with new box steel sections.
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Reassembling the Snow Trac is a race against the clock, as warm weather threatens to melt the snow on Glen Shee, the Scottish mountain that Suggs has found to put the machine through its paces.
Luckily the cold weather lasts, and a delighted Bob fulfils his dream of driving his own Snow Trac up a mountain. Suggs is even waiting at the summit with a hot cup of tea.
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