Today's high-powered, sleek and snarling snowmobiles reach speeds of 150 mph. Drag-racer snowmobiles exceed 200 mph. By comparison, the earliest snowmobiles, on display at the Volo Auto Museum, "hurtled" along at 20, 25 mph.

The exhibit has just over two dozen vintage snowmobiles, from converted Model A and T Fords to a 3,000-horsepower rocket-powered snowmobile. The latter, made with NASA parts, left bemused visitors shaking their heads — as in "I wouldn't be caught dead riding that thing."

The exhibit opened Dec. 26 and will run through April. Museum Director Brian Grams said the exhibit was in the planning stages nearly three years.

"We've had some vintage snowmobiles on display and have been teasing people with them for a while. Now it's a full display."

The earliest snowmobiles weren't recreational. They were made for rural mail carriers, utility workers and doctors making house calls, another relic of the past. Successful trappers, and others who had to traverse great distances in deep snow, purchased the pricey, utilitarian vehicles.

Many of the vintage machines on display appear of such solid build and engineering as to inspire confidence. But a Model T Ford "Snow Flyer" conversion kit, offered in 1924 for a whopping $400, often didn't survive harsh northern winters, according to exhibit information. Only 75 were sold.

The 1929 Super Snow Bird kit — available in 10-, 12- and 15-inch wide tracks — converted Model A Ford sedans and Ford trucks into machines capable of 35 mph and able to traverse 5-foot snow drifts, according to the manufacturer.

Grams said "It wasn't until the mid-1960s that snowmobiles became recreational vehicles. In the 1960s, roughly 300 brands of snowmobiles were on the trails and slopes. By the '70s, manufacturers had dwindled down to the present-day four (Ski-Doo, Arctic Cat, Polaris and Yamaha)," he added.

Modern, stock snowmobiles can run upward of $12,000 and feature heated handgrips, heated seats and remote starting.

Grams is the son of Greg Grams and nephew of Bill Grams, museum founders, who began in 1960 to cobble a half-dozen buildings into present-day 75,000 square feet of exhibition space, on property formerly an 1850s dairy farm.

John Lindberg, president of Wauconda Snowmobile Club, with about 20 members, owns five vintage snowmobiles, including a 1984 Ski-Doo, his first brand-new purchase. "These machines help to tell the history and development of the sport of snowmobiling," he said.

The club will hold its 8th annual Snowmobile Ride on Feb. 7 at Cook Park in Wauconda. "We usually have between 25-30 vintage machines to show the public," Lindberg said.

Denys Bucksten is a freelance reporter for the News-Sun.