My Starting Lineup 72 HORSEPOWER & 258 INCHES OF CLEARING WIDTH!

Here is the lineup of front line machines as of February 1, 2004. I'd face any storm with any one of these machines. You'll find a picture of each below along with a little background. For this picture all of the chutes are pointing towards Plymouth, Wisconsin. They are lined up according to age with the oldest machine on the left. They range from 1966 to 1984. After the photo was shot they were all started and run simultaneously, what a sound! Also below is my Gilson (what else!) tractor with snowthrower attachment that became worthy after this photo.

It's a model GIL-478A Garden Mark machine built for the 1966/67 winter season. It is very similar to the 55002 shown below. One of the biggest differences is the straight line bucket in the front, the auger leads actually reach out ahead of everything else making this machine a tiger when a snow bank is in front of it since the two "dead" side plates of the bucket do not have to slice into the snow first. The machine cuts a 26 inch path and is powered by a 6 horsepower Briggs & Stratton engine. Other unique features include a transmission used only in the earliest models and butt jointed auger lead struts. Detail pictues can be found below. It was in pieces for several years while we built a new home but finally it's in service. After repairing an oil leak in the worm drive assembly the augers, gearcase and impeller are sporting a fresh coat of paint in this photo.

Model # 835 is from the 69/70 snow season. It's a 7 horsepower 26 inch gear drive. It features the straight sidded bucket so like my GIL-478A it just loves to tear into snowbanks. The reversing transmission is the Foote unit used in the later models and like the GIL-478A and the 55002 below it features the 2 speed ranges. The tires are fully pneumatic and if you look closely at the photo you'll see that they have a turf tire type tread which works surprisingly well with the intense weight of this machine bearing down.

Model GIL-490A is from the 1970 /71 season. It is a Montgomery Wards branded machine. I believe it's the first release of the Gilson 3 speed UniTrol (friction drive). A design that was continued for about a decade. It's an interesting machine because in working on it I was able to notice a lot of small design changes that were latter made to improve everything from function to ease of repair. This machine came to me in exceptional condition and was up to snuff after a weekend of attention. The engine is a 7 horsepower Briggs & Strattion and the 2 stage machine clears a 26 inch swath. It's my first UniTrol with the original low profile bucket. This same bucket was used for many more years on the 5 horsepower machines but only lasted 2 years on the higher horsepower models.

Model # 55002 is from the 71/72 snow season. This is my favorite model, I fell in love with it one morning at 4:00 AM when I was testing a customers machine and it was reaching the telephone wires with a plume of white powder. 8 horsepower, a 26 inch wide cut and a 12 inch diameter impeller make this sing. Another outstanding feature is the traction transmission arrangement. It uses a cog system to select HI and LO speeds. The forward and reverse lever controls a constant mesh transmission that lets you control direction. All but the worst storms can be handled in HI range. What this provides is a machine that moves at a good clip in both directions whereas most machines always crawl in reverse. It's nice for areas that need to be done repeatedly in the same direction. This was the last model year for this configuration though many of it's robust features went on in the 28 inch 3 speed gear drive model that followed. This is a Gilson label machine.

Model 55016 was first introduced for the 72/73 snow season. It's an 8 horsepower 26 inch machine with a friction drive traction transmission. A friction drive is the style that uses a rubber wheel running on a platter to generate the different speeds. Gilson branded these as Unitrol (one control). They devised a clever linkage system that both moved the friction wheel and controlled it's engagement with one lever. Many competitors were using separate controls for these functions. These machines are not as sturdy as the gear drive models however as long as they did not get terribly abused they seem to hold up just fine. The impellers are 10 inches in diameter so they do not throw snow quite as well, nonetheless they fo a fine job. This is a Gilson labeled machine. I have a Lawnboy version (painted Lawnboy green) that I plan to restore at some point as well as a number of others just like this one.

The tag for this machine was lost along the way however it is another 8 horsepower Unitrol machine. It was built for sale by Montgomery Ward. As was often the case the pneumatic tires of the Gilson Brand machine were replaced with semi pneumatic rubber. It was common for a premium feature or two to be held back on the private brand model. This often took the form of keeping the newest features reserved for the Gilson machines for a year or two. This was my original machine built for the 72/73 snow season I got it around 1978 and restored it about 10 years latter. It's seen a lot of intown salty slush but now just deals with my gravel driveway.

Model GIL-490C is from the 1972 /73 season. This is my 8th machine to reach front line condition and it's an interesting machine relative to other models. It is 3 seasons latter than the GIL-490A shown above and while it is still a 7 HP 26 inch UniTrol some features have evolved and devolved.

This is a model #55134 from 1978. It's an evolved version of the 55016 shown above. Externally the larger diameter tires and squared chute profile can be seen along with the change from beige to black for the second color. The large tires enhance the machine in two ways. First, they give the machine a somewhat faster ground speed which makes this machine a favorite for scooting around after smaller storms. Second, the bigger tires give the back end of the machine much better ground clearance. Another hidden change is the belt tensioning idlers with sealed bearings. Earlier models used steel rollers with oil impregnated bushings that required regreasing every few years.

This is another model #55134 from 1978. While I do own multiples of a few models this is the first one to have twins in the fron line of running machines. Like all machine sof this model that I have seen it has the electric starter. The starter was a big promotional item that year and they were added to most of these machines.

This is a model 63528 snowblower attachment mounted on my 53044 tractor. The tractor is a 1978 "S" Series garden tractor with hydrostatic drive. The Engine is a B&S twin cyclinder 16 HP I/C model. This is a 36 inch blower and is very much like the Gilson single stage walk behind machines from the 1960s. There is also a higher bucket 42 inch version that is patterned about the UniTrol bucket. All of Gilson's attachments were single stage. This unit just missed the last group photo.

This is a model #55323B and it's a 1984. Not only is it the newest machine in the line-up it's also the only one from the final generation of Gilson Snowblowers and my first intermdiate model. It's has a 5 Hp Briggs & Stratton engine and clears a 24 inch path. It features 5 forward speeds and 2 reverse. The chute and bucket design are straight from the early 1970's single speed unitrol design but the traction and control functions were all redesigned for the 1980's This machine performs all operator safety interlocks mechanically and does not utilize electrical switches except for an ignition security key.