What happened to the toboggan that tried to kill me as a kid?

January 23, 2007 11:58 AM

To this day my childhood friends (all in our thirties now) swear there was only one snow sled which could always be trusted to thrash the competition. The Paris Orange. Even when those fancy inflatable tubes started showing up on the hills, the Paris Orange always came through and made sure everyone knew what the score was. As we got older the Orange showed its versatility and became just the thing for hauling Keystone Lite through the snowy woods where we used to drink.

So now I have a son and it’s time to get him a sled. I’ve been searching everywhere for the cheap plastic toboggan of my youth and it’s proving more difficult to locate than I expected. Here’s what I have so far:
I think the sled I’m looking for is called the Glad-A-Boggan by Paris Co. It has a younger sibling called the Speedy Boggan and an older sibling called the Expedition Boggan. So I need to find a Glad-A-Boggan in orange, no other color will do. I’m in Massachusetts and looking for leads on where these can still be purchased. Online I’ve found some UK distributors and a few people selling the smaller version, but the orange Glad-A-Boggan eludes me. Please help before my son gets slow…

I see the Expedition Boggan for sale at REI and although it looks very similar I don’t believe that’s what I’m looking for (I remember handles).

posted by paxton to sports, hobbies, & recreation (18 comments total)

It sounds like you've done quite a bit of Googling. Perhaps visiting some area garage sales may yield some luck?
posted by dead_ at 12:10 PM on January 23, 2007

Scandinavian Ski & Sport Shop is the second result on Google for Glad-A-Boggan.
posted by tumble at 12:10 PM on January 23, 2007

These peoples seem to have it.
posted by wemayfreeze at 12:11 PM on January 23, 2007

beated again!
posted by wemayfreeze at 12:11 PM on January 23, 2007

I had run across the Scandinavian site, but it's entry page is dated 1996 so I continued the search without calling. Familiar with this shop?
posted by paxton at 12:25 PM on January 23, 2007

how about this one.
might need to call and request orange though
posted by annoyance at 12:41 PM on January 23, 2007

oh nevermind, they only seem to have purple...
i'd call the Scandinavian store and ask them, their number is on the homepage.
posted by annoyance at 12:50 PM on January 23, 2007

Froogle.com returned this result:

Click Me!
posted by JigSawMan at 1:07 PM on January 23, 2007

Google seems to be getting more complex.
posted by koeselitz at 1:13 PM on January 23, 2007

they don't have it in stock, saw that one too.
posted by annoyance at 1:14 PM on January 23, 2007

Given that REI (and everyone else, apparently) just stopped stocking them, I wonder if they stopped making them.

Either way, you can call their parent company, Saunders Brothers, and see what it is they're still manufacturing. That would be the most direct route, I imagine.
posted by koeselitz at 1:16 PM on January 23, 2007

Thanks for the Saunders link koeselitz, I didn’t make it far enough down the page to find that connection.
posted by paxton at 1:44 PM on January 23, 2007

Well it turns out Saunders sold the division to ERA Group of Montreal, but they'll sell me a box of twelve at cost. So if anyone in the Worcester, MA area is in need of a wicked fast sled I'll soon be a mini retailer of sorts.

Thanks again, koeselitz.
posted by paxton at 2:04 PM on January 23, 2007

I had one growing up as well. :) I never knew they were so well appreciated by others.
posted by yeti at 3:16 PM on January 23, 2007

"Well it turns out Saunders sold the division to ERA Group of Montreal, but they'll sell me a box of twelve at cost."

The Hive Mind stikes again!
posted by niles at 7:18 PM on January 23, 2007

I admire your passion, paxton, but I don't agree with your choice of chariot. Too hard to steer those things!
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 7:49 PM on January 23, 2007

paxton: "Well it turns out Saunders sold the division to ERA Group of Montreal, but they'll sell me a box of twelve at cost."

Wow. Awesome!
posted by koeselitz at 8:37 AM on January 24, 2007

Hey, if you haven't bought the dozen yet, and want to take a little drive west, I was just in a toy store in Longmeadow (which if you don't know, is immediately south of Springfield), and they had one, just one, orange glad-a-boggan sitting, propped up near the counter. I wouldn't have noticed it but for your post.

It's at Kiddly Winks
1-877-567-0688
801 Williams St., Longmeadow, MA 01106
posted by jessicak at 10:29 AM on January 25, 2007 [1 favorite]