1974 YAMAHA SRX PROJECT
My son and I (Larry Ellifritz Jr. and Sr.) have always enjoyed snowmobiling, but in our wildest dreams we never imagined we’d catch the vintage snowmobile “bug”. We did some grass and ice dragging in the 80’s, but at 7 years old I had no idea Larry Jr. was taking so many mental notes from the seat of his Kitty Kat. Building this was an amazing journey, one that I will never forget. Along the way we met some great people, and even a few crazy ones. But, more than anything, this 2-year project gave me a good excuse to talk sleds with my son every day.The thing I’ve noticed most about “unique” snowmobile projects, such as the 1974 Yamaha SRX, is that these projects often find you, rather than you setting out to restore a sled. In most cases you find a few parts, pieces and some inspiration (not based on anything rational) and it motivates you to a commitment.About 5 years ago, my son was collecting SRXs, GPXs and reveling in owning Lynn Trapp’s 1975 PDC sleds. Purchasing parts and pieces all over the country was a daily exercise on the Internet. Boxes would arrive at my house in Spokane Washington. My son lives in Hood River Oregon, about 300 miles away, and he has less storage, so most of our projects are finalized in Spokane. Anyway, as we were securing a pile of unique Yamaha parts, we learned a lot about unfamiliar sand cast magnesium. Finally, a light turned on, if only a dim glimmer, but after comparing pictures from every period publication, this sled started to become a possibility.Next, Mike Johnson chased down many leads – old ones, dead ones, even some new contacts that had been overlooked in the past. We give Mike a lot of credit for securing the Alaskan test sled and a bunch of parts from Kenny Edmunson – Anchorage Yamaha. Mike’s California connections even supplied motor parts and pieces applicable only to the 1974 SRX.The next major push to our project was a phone call from Len Champoux (70s Yamaha factory racer) informed us that his brother-in-law (Lynn Trapp) was in the area and would like to see his old 1975 PDC sled and see the progress on the rumored 1974 SRX. We enjoyed the afternoon with Lynn and Cindy Trapp, and from that day forward, we decided to finish the sled for the Snowmobile Hall of Fame Show in May. We finished the sled in April and had a great trip to Wisconsin catching up with old and new friends. There were so many people who contributed photos, parts and information…a big “Thank You” goes out to everyone who helped us finish this project.
Larry Ellifritz Sr.
