Once he caught the Bombardier bug it was a snowball effect, one turned into two and three and now Marc Chrétien, a dentist by profession, has a collection.
It all started one winter when Chrétien was looking to get some snowmobiles to go up to the hunt camp and a friend of his recommended the Bombardier. After looking for some time he found Gilles Samson, one of the biggest collectors in Quebec with almost 30 of the Bombardiers himself.
He purchased his first snowmobile in 1992, an R-12 navy blue steel body for about $5,000, nowadays they sell for about $20,000 to $75,000 thousand, he pointed out.
After seeing Samson and his collection, Chrétien set out to . . .
find one of each model.
He currently has 10 models, the oldest one a 1937 B-7 model. For most of his collection, it was word of mouth pointed out Chrétien, “It’s a very small family, everybody knows everybody. And somebody goes well, ‘I see one over here, or this old gentleman has one in the barn you should go see him.’”
When asked which one was his favourite, he was hesitant to answer, “It’s hard to say every machine has its own personality,” he said. But added they all serve different purposes, ones for every day, ones to bash and ones to take to meetings.
Depending on the vehicle sometimes it doesn’t need much work, but he usually does some tune-ups and oil changes, “I do some of my own work, some stuff that gets too complicated. I have a friend that’s a mechanic in Campbell’s Bay and he kind of gives me a hand or gives me some advice. I try, but sometimes I get myself in trouble because it’s not my profession,” he said with a laugh.
He usually starts his repair work around November with his partner Liliane Lacroix, and finishes around the beginning of January in time for snowmobile season, he said.
Lacroix goes with him on all his meets and has been very involved and loves being involved, “Lily knows as much or even more than me,” he said.
When it comes to repairing it certainly has been easier in the most recent years. “Now parts are easy to get because we have some guys that are reproducing the parts so it’s not as complicated as 15 years ago, it was a nightmare because you had to buy three machines to make one,” he said.
As a kid Chrétien loved snowmobiling and he remembers his father’s first Ski-Doo from 1963. Back in the day, the manufacturer of the Ski-Doo made them yellow, he explained and so the original colour of the Bombardier is yellow. In french, his friends tell him they don’t see him riding anything else because he has “yellow blood.”
Although it started off as a hobby continuing the collection and his love was also part of teaching his family about Quebec culture, “It’s our heritage,” he said. “We are showing people our heritage, how Quebec was developed in the 40s in the 50s. Because back then the roads were not plowed and so that’s how you got around.”
Seeing a new generation of young folks interested in Bombardiers, Chrétien said, “it’s kind of nice to see that because not everybody gets into it.”
He has been collecting for almost 45 years, he jokingly said “It’s a disease, It’s like somebody that’s addicted there’s no end to it.” For him, he loves the process of finding one and loves being out in nature with it and taking the time to fix them.
After a hard day at work, Chrétien added that working on his Bombardiers is the best way to disconnect and relax.
Over time Chrétien mentioned he found a community of other bomby enthusiasts and they would have meets in different places and exchanged notes and met other collectors. His first meet was in 2004 in Saint-Raymond de Portneuf. There are about 40 to 50 people that come out to these meets, he said.
“It’s a big social event,” he said and with COVID, he pointed out that he hadn’t seen his friends for over two years. “It was pretty special this year because we all got a little bit older, a little bit less hair, a little bit more gray hair,” he said while sheepishly laughing at himself. But like always they were excited to see the machines and if someone so much as mentions they put in a new motor, they would all be huddled with the back door open and marveling at it, he added.
He hopes to keep the tradition going and one day passes it along to one of his kids or grandkids, it’s sort of like your grandma’s recipe, explained Chrétien. “When she’s gone, and she didn’t tell you, the recipe is gone. So that’s the same thing. We got to keep the heritage going there.”
To finish his collection, Chrétien is eager to find the last one which is an R-18 1979 model with square windows.
by Zainab Al-Medhar
Campbell’s Bay March 9, 2022
