PAGE 4 - A GREAT STORY ABOUT MICK RUPP IN 1971

PAGE 3 - A GREAT STORY ABOUT MICK RUPP IN 1971

PAGE 2 - A GREAT STORY ABOUT MICK RUPP IN 1971

PAGE 1 - A GREAT STORY ABOUT MICK RUPP IN 1971

PAGE 7 - RESURRECTING RUPP

While working Montana, I received several calls from Mr. Joe Hrudka’s Attorney in which they were checking the progress of the stock sales and in the final call he required a $20,000 deposit to continue to hold the deal for me. The Fox Corporation, the party at Janesville, Wisconsin who already had the tooling, who made an offer for the parts inventory was putting pressure on.  The $20,000 would have given me a list of all the existing dealers throughout The United States.  I could not meet this demand.   In hindsight, I should have gone east instead of west.  I could have sold obsolete Rupp parts to Rupp Dealers from Rupp's inventory and issued them a stock certificate for the purchase price to bypassed The Securities and Exchange Commissions and also I could have worked individuals who offered to help.  I also should have dealt with Kohler about possible engines for the new Rupp instead of Kawasaki because there I may have gotten financial support because they had lost Mercury as an engine supplier and it was possible to have them as a partner.  One other thing, I should have searched out Mick Rupp for advice on any help he could have given me.  And should have left the new location open.

In 1980 all the assets and tooling of Rupp was sold by Joe Hrudka to The Fox Corporation at Janesville, Wisconsin

After giving up my pursuit of acquiring Rupp, I continued with my mail order snowmobile parts business and went on to expand Superior Sport Sales and later set up a store as SnoCat Shack and Sport Shack at Black Hawk, South Dakota where I served snowmobile owners of all makes with new and used parts and accessories.

PAGE 6 - RESURRECTING RUPP

Here is where the difficulty started. Legally, before any stocks could be sold,  I needed a clearance from The Federal  Securities and Exchange Commission and from every State’s Securities Commission which I was to sell these stocks in.  In most cases I was suppose to get legal representation from each state, which would then work up the clearance papers from there states Securities Commission. After many trips to Federal Securities and Exchange Commission at Denver, Colorado, I received a tentative clearance from The Federal Government as long as I could show clearances which I could present to them from each state. In communicating with many northern states, I acquired a pile of complicated forms and applications which in the most part were to be completed by attorneys and be submitted along with the required bonds.  The only state that was more lenient was The State of Montana in which I could do the paperwork by myself.  Here snowmobiles and the Rupp line was fairly week, however I traveled to Montana to search out Rupp Dealers and Rupp Owners. I discovered that any investors were reluctant to invest any money until I had sold more stock.  I found one investor who was interested in purchasing a large number of shares with the idea that he would become an officer within the corporation  He even traveled to Rapid City to look over the proposed facilities, but after returning he had a change of heart.

PAGE 5 - RESURRECTING RUPP

After leaving Cleveland, Ohio we stopped at Grand Rapids, Michigan where we spoke to a representative of Kawasaki motors about the possibility of using The Kawasaki engine in The New Rupp snowmobiles and also stopped at Chicago, Illinois where we visited with a representative of Yokohoma Rubber company about using their tracks on The Rupp snowmobile.  We then travelled to Janesville Wisconsin to look over the tooling and then on to Rapid City, South Dakota where I negotiated a lease and the cost of remodeling to suit the needs of a manufacturing plant. This was a vacant manufacturing building and grounds that was to house the new company. While in Rapid City, I also visited with a few stock brokers about selling The Superior Sport Sales shares and stock certificates.

Superior Sport Sales was incorporated under the laws of The State of Colorado and interested officers were elected as required.  It was decided to sell 1,400,000 shares of stock at $1.00 per share . I had that many stock certificates printed and also had a supply of prospectus circulars printed.  It outlined the history of the company, the type of business, the description of the securities offered,  the use of monies collected, the officers of the corporation,  marketing of shares and other requirements as dictated by The Securities and Exchange Commission. It was also decided that if we failed and was unable to acquire Rupp that Superior Sport Sales was to be expanded into an aftermarket parts house for all snowmobiles and the parts to be branded with our label which was to be SnoCat Shack.

PAGE 4 - RESURRECTING RUPP

We met with Joe Hrudka and a  purchase price of $600,000.00 was established with him, “however I think this could have been negotiated down from there”,  for the parts and existing tooling which he indicated was about ten cents on the dollar, however the tooling was already transferred to a firm in Janesville, Wisconsin but was still available.  During our visit with Mr Hrudka, I made it clear to him that I did not have this kind of money and the funds would have to come from investors.  He advised me during our visit that he thought Rupp could be brought back to existence and he further stated that he thought that if we would put all our emphasis on quality instead of volume and hand build the snowmobiles, they could become The Cadillac of snowmobiles.  While at his home,  Mr Hrudka also gave us a tour of his mansion and a museum of restored 1957 Chevrolet convertibles and hard tops.  He also spoke of his gasket factory where they manufacture all kinds of gaskets for various industries.

PAGE 3 - RESERRECTING RUPP

A customer from Rapid City, South Dakota and I traveled to Cleveland, Ohio to meet with Mr Joe Hrudka, “H & H Snowmobiles”, The owner of the remains of Rupp Industries.  Within our trip we stopped at Lincoln, Nebraska and visited The Kawasaki Snowmobile Manufacturing Plant to acquire ideas on the operation of producing snowmobiles and the use of tooling.

At Cleveland, Ohio we spent two days looking over the operations of H & H Snowmobiles including evaluating the parts and accessories inventory, sales records and analyzing methods of transportation to Rapid City, South Dakota which was estimated at about 20 semi loads.

According to the records of H&H Snowmobiles, the approximate quantity of snowmobiles sold by Rupp Industries during their lifetime is as follows, however some of these figures are not the same as revealed by Mick Rupp and other sources obtained throughout this writing.

1965……………………..500                     1972..........................40,000

1966……………………1,000                    1973..........................30,000

1967……………………3,500                    1974..........................25,000

1968…………………..12,000                   1975..........................20,000

1969…………………..20,000                   1976..........................30,000

1970…………………..28,000                   1977............................5,000

1971…………………..31,000                   1978............................1,500

PAGE 2 - RESURRECTING RUPP

In 1979,  In my passion for Rupp, I started to communicate with my Rupp customers about ways of how to possibly resurrect and bring back The Rupp Snowmobile.  Within these communications, there was a lot of interest within dealers and owners. I even had offers of money and help mostly from Rupp enthusiasts within the northern Central and Eastern portion of the United States.

In late 1979, I decided that I should attempt to bring Rupp back into existence. I was 42 years old and recently left a Dodge Dealership as Sales Manager.  It was decided that The New Company should be further north, so with the communication of various Rupp customers, it was decided that Rapid City, South Dakota should be the location of the new company because of the snow conditions and the many riding trails of The Black Hills of South Dakota. No corporation income tax in The State of South Dakota was also taken in consideration within this location, furthermore in The Rapid City outskirts there was a large vacant building and facilities, which was once a mobile home manufacturing plant which would have been adequate for a Rupp Manufacturing plant.