[kd8tzc]

The first snow blower that I ever used was my Dad's 1978 Craftsman Single Stage 3HP 18". I think it cost Dad about $200 back in the day. I remember it was red and white and had the safety on the handlebar that was a pain. I remember "borrowing" this from Dad when we would have snow days and my best friend and I would go house to house and blow out peoples driveways. I remember one clown who stiffed us, and there was a guy across the street who was plowing out the drive. He saw what the guy did and decided to help us teach this guy a lesson. He offered to clear the neighbors snow out of their driveways and into his driveway. When he got home with his "fancy" Olds 98 Diesel, he was none to happy.

The first snow blower I had was a Toro single stage paddle drive snow blower. I forget the model, but it was good enough when I first got married. We live in the snow belt of NE Ohio so many times this was no match for the snow we got, but 80% of the time it worked just fine... just had to work a little harder with it.

Next blower I got was a Gold Series Yard Machine by MTD E660G . It is 28" and has a 10HP Tecumseh SnowKing engine that works like a champ! It has the electric start, but I never use it as it is just too easy to just prime and pull. I got this in the mid 2000's when we moved to our new house and it has tackled everything we have been able to throw at it. Only problem (if this is a problem) is it is 28" so it makes it hard to park my car in the garage in the winter when it is along side it. I have to kick the one end of my car out on an angle so I can easily get the blower out. I'm looking to sell this and if anyone has any idea what it might be worth, shoot me a personal message. It runs great but has some rust. I hope to get some pictures later today.

Today, I just had my Ariens Platinum 24 SHO. I hope this will be the last blower I buy and hopefully someday will be able to hand it down to one of my grandkids. Now I can't wait for it to snow so I can try it out.

 

[dr bob]

Mine was a "Toro Power Handle" in the mid 1960's, with a snowblower and two mower attachments. The engine and all the controls were assembled on a handle that you swapped with the different decks depending on season. It was a few horsepower and maybe 20" wide at most. Did the job at the time, teenager in north Jersey. Moved to SoCal at 16 to get the free state education deal, no need for snowblower there. Bought a home at Mammoth Lakes and shared a big Ariens with the neighbor. He had it already when I purchased the home, but it no longer worked. Got it fixed plus added some storage that wasn't out in his yard, and we got at least a dozen more years out of it before I sold the place and moved north out of California for good. The Husqvarna is doing well for us so far in the shadow of Mt Bachelor. No more than a dusting so far this season, everything is ready.

 

[SnapperInMA]

Mine was a "Toro Power Handle" in the mid 1960's, with a snowblower and two mower attachments. The engine and all the controls were assembled on a handle that you swapped with the different decks depending on season. It was a few horsepower and maybe 20" wide at most. Did the job at the time, teenager in north Jersey. Moved to SoCal at 16 to get the free state education deal, no need for snowblower there. Bought a home at Mammoth Lakes and shared a big Ariens with the neighbor. He had it already when I purchased the home, but it no longer worked. Got it fixed plus added some storage that wasn't out in his yard, and we got at least a dozen more years out of it before I sold the place and moved north out of California for good. The Husqvarna is doing well for us so far in the shadow of Mt Bachelor. No more than a dusting so far this season, everything is ready.

The first snow thrower I used was a Toro Power Handle that my father owned when I was growing up in the 60s. I remember he replaced the mower attachment one time and the power handle once. The first power handle had a B&S engine and the second a Tecumseh.
The first snow thrower I bought was a 1996 Snapper 8265. I used that for 22 years and it was a great unit. I now own a 2 year old Ariens Deluxe 28 SHO that I inherited. I used it last year and the auto steer make it much easier to maneuver than the snapper.

 

[Coby7]

My first Snowblower was a Yamaha YS524 purchased in 1982 replaced by my YT624 in 2015.

 

[Oneacer]

My first blower is what my father bought, a Yard-Man 7101, circa 1970, which I still have and it runs great. ... Since then I have completely restored a 10M4 Ariens with a new B&S, and also refurbished a 10M6D with a Predator 212. I have also repaired and refurbished many others through out the years, and sold many of them.

 

[badbmwbrad]

My first snowblower was also what my father bought; an Ariens. His was a ~1969 Ariens 10,000 series equipped with a wheel differential lock-out and 7 HP Tecumseh Snow King. It's now at my house.

Mine was a 1989 Ariens ST-824 with a wheel differential lock-out and 8 HP Tecumseh Snow King. Both Sno-Thro machines are still running strong.

 

[Spring1898]

First I bought was a Toro S-620. Or rather took from my grandfather's basement where it had been sitting for who knows how many years.
New carb kit, plug, fuel lines, and carb adjustment, and it was my go to power-shovel for years. Also because my parents wouldn't let me use the 2 stage...
Ran until someone ran it over. Need to get another one of those. Faster than shovling for light dustings and lighter than the CCR series.

 

[Honda1132]

Still using the first one I bought, a Honda HS 1132, which I bought used in the spring of 2007. Growing up, we had a 10 HP MTD that was purchased in 1984 and lasted into the 2000s. My dad replaced it with a 10 HP Yardworks from Canadian Tire about 2007ish.

The old MTD replaced a 1970s vintage Plymouth 5HP snowblower that gave out in a spring storm in 1984.

 

[Mr. JT Monk]

The first snow blower I bought was in 1977. It was a small 18" (?) Lawn Boy built by Gilson and had a 4HP engine on it I believe . I am not sure it really was a 1977 model since I bought it in a small independent hardware store and they often sold warehouse stock or liquidated stock from shops that went out of business.
It actually was a good performing machine just not very wide, but for 4HP it cleared well.
I owned that little blower for 10 years and passed it on to a family member. They kept it outside and I think it only lasted them 5 years or so. I would have looked at it to repair, but wasn't going to drive150 miles to do it. It was badly rusted and had some other damage from the gravel/rock driveway they used it on.

 

[59ctd]

My first snowblower was a 1978 Ariens 932006 24" with 5hp. I inherited it from my grandfather and he got it new as a gift in 78. I did not pay for it but spent quite a bit of $ doing upkeep like bearings/bushings over the years. Bucket split on it this year so I have a brand new Lawn Boy 24" to use now. I will likely try to fix the Ariens somehow but since it is not primary there is no hurry to get it done quickly.

 

[jkp]

Late in 2003 I bought a Toro 726TE- 2stroke, 2 stage . R-Tek motor still going strong .

 

[Darkwoods]

Technically my first blower was a 1998 Mastercraft Special Edition 10hp x 29". My girlfriend bought it sight unseen for $325.00 when I was away, and the owner dropped it off at her place, with no chute control mechanism on the machine at all, and the chute was bolted in place. I sold it a couple of weeks ago for double what we paid, but I also put over 300 into it for parts.

My Pops has been using the same Honda single stage for at least 25 years and it has never broken down.

 

[RC20]

I have only bought 2 blowers though I have operated a bunch more.

First was a used Toro 524. Third owner (I knew the other two). 25 years and it went to the 4th owner (small driveway, poor thing was falling apart)

Best wet snow blower there was, once you got it moving it ran like a pump.

 

[Julien Morrissette]

Living in Quebec we normally get a few meters of snow every winter but my parents didn't have money for a snowblower so we always shoveled until i bought a ariens st824 for 40$

then i bought two spare engines for 60$ and changed the engine. I mainly needed the carburetor cover but the new engine didn't match color so i changed the whole engine

then i repainted it last winter

Now looking to repower it with a 12hp just for fun

 

[Elfiero]

My first snowblower I bought was a 1981 Toro 724. Before that I used whatever brand of shovel my dad bought. That Toro was a tough old bird, I kept it for many years. It was "in the family" for a total of about 20 years. Then I learned the value of a rider, which was great until we moved back to a house with a small yard and driveway. Now, I have a Toro snow commander for the light stuff, and a simplicity 860 for the bigger stuff.

 

[LenD]

Circa 2020 I bought at auction a ~1979 MasterCraft 4-20 for $20. It ran beautifully till I got my Ariens replacement Nov 2020. ONLY reason for replacement was the EOD just got too much for me--had to take 3" swipes at it as this little motor just couldn't handle it and I got tired of start-push-stall / start-push-stall. The choke usually froze between "blows" and that was a treat to thaw. Got so I left it at partial choke after finishing a blow so it would "choke" at next start up.

Mine looks exactly like this stock photo I found today (also for sale at auction)

 

[PhilThefarmer]

So, the first snowblower I ever used was a craftsman 24 inch,( this is when I really started to want a snowblower) with turning assist, the first snowblower we had at home was a 27 inch brute, no kidding, it was the name of the brand, brute, then we and still have a yardwork 30 inch powerd by a briggs&stratton 13,50 torqu 305 cc, the first snowblower I have personnaly owned and still do is a 1974 ariens deluxe 24 inch 8 hp beast that was giving to me by my uncle, it had a leaky fuel valve and a broken shear pin,it is a real beast, it was snowblowing about 26 inch of wet snow on a like, it was just unstoppable until it caught fire, cause: leaky exhaust valve, is being fixed right now, first snowblower I bought was a 1979 toro 1132 with a confirmed scrap engine

 

[Darby]

My 1st snow blower was a 5hp silver grey crastman POS hand me down from in-laws. Believe me, I paid dearly for it ! Machine and I had a hate-hate relationship. If only I knew in '87 what I know now.

 

[tabora]

My 1st snow blower was a 5hp silver grey crastman POS hand me down from in-laws. Believe me, I paid dearly for it ! Machine and I had a hate-hate relationship. If only I knew in '87 what I know now.

But it probably beat shoveling... Just like my first Craftsman in 1980.

 

[Darby]

But it probably beat shoveling... Just like my first one in 1980.

What century does That hail from?