Kitty Cat Snowmobiles

My father-in-law just gave ma a kitty cat that has a build date of sept. 1972 on the tunnel. The cowling is red with no decals and not painted, and the belly pan is grey. Is this a color that was offered or is it something that was aftermarket. I apologize for I don't know much about these sleds. I'm just trying to fix it up a little for my boys. It runs great but needs a seat too. Is it something that should be restored?

No kitty cats were ever made in red. Only black, I think all had decals. If your kids are going to drive it i wouldn't restore it...

I also have a 72. My kids ride it and an '87 kitty all winter long. My suggestion would be to clean it up, get it to run really good and let them have fun. My two kids 3 and 5 are really good about riding and taking good care of the sleds. teach your boys to never ever ever open the hood. They will open it and then lean on it or fall against it and in a second your hood is cracked and sometimes unusable. new hoods are costly as are used ones.

have fun

Turbojoe,

You may very well have one of an extremely rare kitty cat. In the early 1970s Arctic Cat offered a limited edition kitty cat with a choice of hood color, red or yellow in addition to the standard black. Most folks have never heard of this much less seen one.

My brother Steve from Tiger Chassis was fortunate to have restored two of them, one of each color. Aside from these two, which are now located in New York, we are only aware of one other red hooded Kitty Cat which is located in central Minnesota.

I have a few pictures of them that I've placed on my website at obups. On the home page, click the text that states "click here for more pictures". THEY ARE A MUST SEE.

These hoods are not painted. They are actually injected as red. If you examine the edges of the hood you should notice that there is no topical paint and that the plastic is actually red. If this is true, you have a rare hood. The gray belly pans are getting harder to find as well. As for the hood decals, they are nearly impossible to find.

If you find it is the red plastic hood, I would recommend restoring this little Kitty Cat and not chance destoying it.

when i was young my dad had a rupp nitro
and the local dealer in milwaukee had 3 of
these red hooded sleds i wanted one in the
worse way but my dad had just bought me
a new 77 kitty in fall of 76 so now 28 years
later im buildin a red 72 for my son with a mac
92b racin kart motor still have my origanal 77
also have 2 73s that are my daughters one stock
one not so stock
KITTYCATS FOREVER!