Last year produced

[North Country Tough]

good question, one of the trannys made for Amphicats wer made by Odg. go figure

We had a Amphi Cat built out of Ron Beehoo Ind in Streetsville Ont, cant quite remember but pretty sure it had a Sachs single in it and the trans reversing box was embossed ODG but it was more of a reversing box only.

[jpswift1]

As you know Borg Warner originally produced the t20, at some point Recreatives aquired the t20 and began producing them.

Back to the original question, I once owned a green Superchief that was stamped 88-xxxxxx. I hope Bill Gerber chimes in on this thread and sets us straight on it.

I believe it was in the mid 70's when Hustler Corporation and Recreatives jointly acquired the T-20 from Borg Warner. If you look on some of the older T-20's, you'll see it says "Skid Steer Corporation Jonesboro, Ark." on the tag riveted to the transmission case. Hustler was actually making the T-20 and shipping them out. The owner of Hustler Corporation, Lowell Chrisco and the owner of Recreatives, Sid Wallach had some sort of deal worked out. I believe it was after Hustler decided to stop making machines in the mid or late 80's, Recreatives took over Skid Steer Corporation and was the sole producer of T-20 transmission. I remember when I was at Recreatives, they showed me some old receipts from ABF Freight that were dated around 1976. They were for shipments for a quite a few T-20's from Jonesboro, AR to Buffalo, NY.

Yes, I hope Mr. Gerber can help shed some light on this subject for us. I'm very, very interested to know all the details.

[Bill Gerber]

I have thought about this for a while. I can not seem to put the dates on the events.
The original question was what was the last year of production. I dont really know.
There was a company name change each time the company sold.
The first company was ATV MFG. Co. My dad worked there and designed the original Attex.
They were all ABS bodies at this time. The gas shortage hit and sales dropped.
My Dad, Ray Mckay, and Jack Gould purchased Attex around 1975. The name was changed to Attex Inc. They changed the body from ABS to poly and put the 484 Chap in it and called it the Superchief. They added the Tomahawk with a 16 HP 4 stroke. And had a little truck style available in both models. There was also a 250 spirit with a single cylinder Chap. I dont know how many of those were actually produced if any.. What was said in this thread about the T-20's, sounds correct from what I remember. We could not run production because we were always waiting for T-20 shipments that were always late or did not come at all, not even mentioning the price. We usaly had a bunch of machines assembled as far as possable without the tranny. And once in a while we would get a few T-20's. We could finish a few and ship them. So production was very sporadic and getting worse. I was part time then and not needed very often. After a while the company was sold. I helped move the company to Revenna Ohio to the new owner. The name was changed to Attex International. I dont know a lot about about how many machines they produced. I do remember that Joe's gram-pap Bob worked for the new company to get the parts department set up for a couple of months. And Ron Mckay worked there for a year. Years later I asked Ron if they produced machines. He said that they did. I think this sale happened in 1979 or 1980. I know for sure it was sold before i got married in 1981. I can not say what was produced after the sale as I was no longer involved. Here are some pics of the last production run at Attex Inc. (East Palestine Ohio). Sad machines, backed up on the assembly line waiting for T-20's. Without T-20's, the end is near..

[kghills]

Very cool information Bill and very sad at the same time. Thank you for the insight.

Keith.

[North Country Tough]

Thank you Bill for the info,lots more was going on at Attex than I ever imagined,and some very disappointing times indeed,too bad the company was reduced to nothing they had a handle on design thats for sure,I guess having to rely on someone else for your transmissions was the eventual demise, something that Argo here in Ontario never had to do although their trannys weren't the best the supply was never interrupted which helped them make it in the 70,s market place.NCT

[George]

I think I might have a Spirit. I bought it from AmphibiousDrew last summer. He picked it up from JPSwift a few months before. Swift was of the impression that it was a Spirit. The only reason I'm not certain is because the original engine was replaced with a single Rotax. The rear sprockets look a little bigger than what I've seen on the Superchiefs I've owned. They look closer to the size on the Crazy Colt. Any idea if they went to bigger sprockets to make up for smaller engines? The machine I have is Poly green on top and bottom, no decals.

I also have a little truck that came with a Chaparral/T-20 that is stamped with an 82 at the end of the serial number.

[Matt O.]

Thank You Bill for posting the photos. I really enjoy seeing photos from the 6x6 past.

Matt

[Bill Gerber]

The sprockets on the 4 stroke were bigger than the 484 chap. I think they were two teeth bigger. The Spirit should have had the bigger ones too. I drove one, but that dont mean it was a production machine, They would only let me drive the demo or prototype stuff. I was known to be a little hard on equipment. Go figure!! My attitude was if you ask me to test something. I felt personally responsible to flog the snot out of it to see if it would hold up. That is the point, Right?? There was a sales brochure on the spirit. There was a lot of brochures on machines that never made it to production.. The Spirit was supposed to be the small machine but the small machine ended up being the 4 stroke Tomahawk.. I tested a machine with a wankle in it, pretty sure it was a JLO. It was smooth but no power. From what I remember about the serial numbers. I thought they were two lines. the top line was the year and the bottom line was the serial number. What they did after 79, I really dont know.

[Don]

Thanks for all the information, Bill. It's really interesting to many of us (mostly old guys). I've seen two Spirits that made it out of the factory, but if I remember right, neither of them had any stripes or model names on them. They did have the G25A engine and (trying to recall) the T20 locked into forward gear(?).

[jpswift1]

I think I might have a Spirit. I bought it from AmphibiousDrew last summer. He picked it up from JPSwift a few months before. Swift was of the impression that it was a Spirit. The only reason I'm not certain is because the original engine was replaced with a single Rotax. The rear sprockets look a little bigger than what I've seen on the Superchiefs I've owned. They look closer to the size on the Crazy Colt. Any idea if they went to bigger sprockets to make up for smaller engines? The machine I have is Poly green on top and bottom, no decals.

I also have a little truck that came with a Chaparral/T-20 that is stamped with an 82 at the end of the serial number.

George, That machine that I picked up had the motor mount plate that was for a 2 stroke, but it was only half as wide as a G50B engine mount. It also had a driven clutch on the T-20 that was slightly different that a driven clutch compared to a Superchief I remember. It also had larger sprockets like you said (to gear it down so the smaller engine could move it sufficiently, just like the 252 Colt did).

My 450 Tomahawk 'Lil Truck is stamped "80" at the end of the serial number in larger font and a space between the last digit of the serial number and the "80".

Thanks for all the information, Bill. It's really interesting to many of us (mostly old guys). I've seen two Spirits that made it out of the factory, but if I remember right, neither of them had any stripes or model names on them. They did have the G25A engine and (trying to recall) the T20 locked into forward gear(?).

I only saw one pic of a yellow Spirit (I think it might have been your pic, Don) and it had the G25A Chaparral in it like you mentioned. There was only one green one that I ever saw and that was the one I bought, then sold to Drew and Drew then sold to George. It had no stripes or model name on it too, as Don mentioned. I too remember hearing how the T-20 had two little metal mechanisms that were attached to it to keep it locked out of reverse gear. That was to probably help the dealers up sell people on the Superchief and Lil Truck models by stating that the Spirit had fewer features including the lack of reverse. Those little mechanisms were very easy to remove from what I hear, so the T-20 on the Spirit could be shifted into reverse just like the other models. There are some brochures or other information here in the "Brochures" section of 6X6World that mention the Spirit.