1994 Ski-Doo Formula Z

Okay, okay, it's not a car. Sue me. I'm a snowmobile guy; I've loved them all my life. Mind you, when one spends 12 years of one's life in the Ottawa Valley, one has little choice but to be a snowmobile guy. Up there, it matters not if you have a car. What matters most is not even if you have a sled, but how many sleds you have. We only had two at a time, but we put them to good use, when they were running.

I was kind of a weird kid. When my brother and I were about seven and five, we used to watch video tapes on Saturdays to pass the time. You may think to yourself that this is a fine and normal thing to do, until you learn that those videos were not movies, or TV shows or sporting events. No, on Saturday mornings, we used to watch and re-watch Ski-Doo promotional videos. By the end of the winter, I could have told you so about Ski-Doo's 1995 lineup, I'm surprised Bombardier never hired me as a spokesperson.

Now that I think about it, that would be a fantastic PR move. Brainwash a seven year-old to regurgitate company slogans and information to his seven year-old friends, who would then nag their fathers to go out and buy a new Ski-Doo.

Aside from my Brave New World-esque PR philosophies, I have another thing for you to buy into: this '94 Formula Z.

Is there anything special about it? Not really. It's an okay machine at an okay price. It's for sale in Dunnville (because else is there to do in Dunnville other than snowmobile?) for $1,200, and it would be a reasonably nice machine to get into if one wanted to take up the sport. The real reason I'm posting it, however, is because the moment I saw the ad, it transported me back to those Saturday afternoons of my childhood. I must have watched this video, promoting the 1995 Ski-Doo lineup (albeit, this is just the introduction) about 700 times.

I still love the '95 Ski-Doos. They look so muscular and purposeful, yet lithe and comfortable, and the colour differentiation between the models is a brilliant touch.

Feel free to watch it as many times as I have, and know that right now, I am reliving my childhood, over and over and over again.


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