R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press “Rusty” Anderson of Rapid River poses in his “650 room,” which contains vintage snowmobiles with large engines. This showroom on the corner of U.S. 2 and North Main Street will be open during the upcoming Rapid River Relic Riders show on Jan. 25.

RAPID RIVER — On a family farm and in the building that was once The Gift Shoppe in Rapid River, local resident Gordon Russell “Rusty” Anderson has accumulated a large collection of vintage snowmobiles.

Positioned in the quiet central Upper Peninsula, Rapid has become a destination for aficionados of Ski Whiz, Sno-Jet, Arctic Cat, Polaris and more. The small town hosts the annual ride and show of the Rapid River Relic Riders — this year to be held on Jan. 24 and 25 — and fills with hundreds of vintage snowmobiles and many more spectators during the event. But the number of sleds that fill South Main Street for the show doesn’t include the approximately 100 that Anderson keeps in climate-controlled buildings on his farm — or the dusty partially-disassembled ones.

To eliminate confusion, it seems prudent to clarify that Anderson is yet another Rapid River man who’s made a hobby of this sort. A few months ago, the Press featured David Shope, who owns the building that’s become the Relic Riders’ clubhouse and a good number of snowmobiles — but Shope said that his assortment, mostly Ski Whiz, is dwarfed by that of his pal Rusty’s.

Anderson said that a piece of advice someone gave him when he began collecting was to seek out “the two Rs — race and rare.” Sure enough, the models he’s bought that were made for racing or were produced in small quantities have shot up in value.

A peek into Anderson’s passion for collecting may begin at the old gift shop, the building kitty-corner from Jack’s Restaurant which features an exterior wall with “Rocketown Rapid River” painted on it. Anderson bought the building about three years ago and fixed it up — it had been vacant for a while, and in rough shape, with the back ready to collapse, he said — and it now contains Anderson’s “650 room,” a showcase with a simple but strict theme. Only engines sized 650 cubic centimeters (cc) or greater made the cut.

“This is some of the Holy Grail stuff. In collecting these old race sleds, like cars, the bigger the engine, the more they’re worth,” Anderson said. “So 650 was a big size. It went all the way up to 800 in the day — which some of these are.”

The sleds are from a variety of manufacturers, a number of models, mostly produced in the 1960s and ’70s. Anderson only started collecting in the last 20 years, and says that preserving the machines is a way of paying respect and thanks to his parents’ generation who got their children into snowmobiling.

“Snowmobiling was a heritage, rich in these parts. Everybody was into it. It was a family event,” said Anderson. “When I was a kid, every weekend had like a sanctioned race that you could go to. There was the big Gold Cup Races here — people would come up from Illinois and all over to race here. In the ’70s, there was no internet and everything else for entertainment — motor sports were heavy entertainment.”

There were a number of different snowmobiling clubs at that time, too, including the Stonington Stump Jumpers and the Rapid River Riders — the name of which inspired that of the Rapid River Relic Riders, the revival that celebrates the nostalgia of sleds from that era.

There are 17 in the 650 room — which will be accessible to the public as a sort of open house during the upcoming show on Jan. 25 — but that number is limited by space, not by Anderson’s collection. The downtown showroom is just the tip of the iceberg.

On his family’s primary property, which serves as a base for the Anderson Excavating business, a working farm that grows cash crops, a horse boarding stable and riding arena, the assembly continues.

Under the same roof as a ring that Anderson said he had built for his barrel-racing daughter, a wing with heat and a humidifier contains about 30 Arctic Cats, tidily lined up, well-preserved and dusted. There are engines of various sizes, multiple models from the ’71 lineup, and three Turf Tigers — made for riding on grass in warm weather.

Noting that the Turf Tiger with the original carburetor couldn’t run in winter: “It runs on alcohol, cooler than gas, so the motors wouldn’t overheat,” Anderson said. “People didn’t want to stop racing just because it was summer.”

A lot of the sleds Anderson has were designed specifically for racing, as opposed to casual trail use. He explained that some manufacturers designed models for racing as a promotional move — if an Arctic Cat won the World Championship Snowmobile Derby in Eagle River, Wis., sales for the brand were likely to go up, even if the everyday rider was on a different model.

A crown jewel of Anderson’s is a 1971 King Kat 800, only 124 of which were ever made. With a four-cylinder Kawasaki engine attracting attention to the open hood, the sled left others of the time in the dust.

“It was so fast and so wicked … in the late ’60s, your top speed on a racetrack might have been 45 or 50. In ’71, this thing’s coming out going over 100,” Anderson said, standing over his prized machine.

There are more King Kats from a race team in his workshop waiting to be put together.

Even rarer is the 1967 Arctic Cat Drone Panther, built with a 600cc Hirth aircraft engine. Only six or seven were ever made, and Anderson thinks his may be the only in original condition — the other three he knows of, including one at the Top of the Lake Snowmobile Museum in Naubinway, are restored.

Another unusual model is the ’73 Alley Cat, reportedly made for Arctic Cat employees using assorted parts from snowmobile models from the previous few years — hence the “Alley Cat” name. Anderson said he only finally found some by going to Thief River Falls, Minn. — where Arctic Cats are made — and searching the barns of old employees.

While the majority of the snowmobiles he owns are complete — even if they don’t all run, all the parts are there and might just need to be tuned up — Anderson also has acquired a number that are partially disassembled and gathered quite a bit of dust.

“They were passed on to the racers’ kids, they broke down, and with good intentions to fix it, they tore it apart — and 40 or 50 years later, that’s how you find it — in pieces,” Anderson said. “These will run again, and they will look nice.”

Since his primary work with Anderson Excavating is seasonal, Anderson is able to spend some of the wintertime in his workshop, where he has drawers and totes and shelves of snowmobile parts for when repairs are needed. He avoids making alterations, though.

“I try to keep things as original as I can,” Anderson said. “Original never goes out of style.”

Anderson, Shope and the rest of the Relic Riders look forward to welcoming other snowmobilers and interested members of the community to Rapid River for the Relic Ride on Friday, Jan 24 and the show and swap on Saturday the 25th. The “650 room” at the northeast corner of U.S. 2 and North Main Street will be open for visitors during the show.