These snowmobile conversion kits from the 1970s transformed sleds into tricycles.

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      Snowmobiles are enjoyable until the snow disappears. Unless you reside in a specific region of the world (a list that continues to shrink), your snowmobile likely occupies a significant amount of space in your garage for much of the year. This has been an issue since the inception of snowmobiles, and over the decades, creative individuals and entrepreneurs have devised some intriguing solutions.

      During the late 1960s and early 1970s, it was possible to purchase kits that transformed a snowmobile into a three-wheeled ATV for use in the summer months. However, the emergence of purpose-built ATVs in the 1970s seemed to put an end to this concept, although the Internet keeps it alive. If you spend enough time on Facebook, you might come across the Wunder Wheels/Skat Trak Registry and Help Line, a community dedicated to this small part of powersports history.

      This group appears to be the largest source of information on Wunder Wheels and Skat Trak, the two brands of snowmobile conversion kits that were most popular back in the day. Wunder Wheels was produced by Forward Ideas Limited, a Canadian company established in 1968 by Andry Balazs. A newspaper article from that era, shared in the Facebook group, mentions that Balazs sought an inventor to create something innovative. The inventor, British designer Donald Sessions, developed a steel frame that could slide beneath a snowmobile, along with steering mechanisms for two front wheels and a drive sprocket for a single rear wheel.

      Skat Trak began in 1952 as Acricast. Its snowmobile conversion was somewhat simpler, featuring independent front suspension attached to the pickup points of the snowmobile’s skis, instead of a completely separate frame. Additionally, Skat Trak produced its own line of paddle tires capable of converting a snowmobile into a sand rail. Those tires are apparently still available, although the company’s website is currently inactive.

      The practicality of these kits is clear—converted snowmobiles could even be driven on certain public roads in Canada at the time—but their actual popularity remains uncertain. A member of the Facebook group, referencing discussions with insiders, claims that 1,751 Wunder Wheels kits were produced at Forward Ideas’ facility in Tillsonburg, Ontario. This explains their scarcity today; if you’re looking to add wheels to your snowmobile, you’ll have to do it on your own.

      Kits like these are not only fascinating for their pragmatic approach to maximizing vehicle use but also provide a glimpse into an era when starting a new niche business involved more than just locking programmers in a room to create an app. Unconventional ideas like this contributed to the growth of the aftermarket.