Posted on 02/07/2014 4:54:01 AM PST by TurboZamboni
In Minnesota, the coolest guy on the block is not the one with the Corvette.
It's the one with his own personal Zamboni.
Jim Leonard is that guy, with a 40-year-old personal-size machine that makes him a rock star in his hometown of Lake Elmo.
"It has been a dream of mine since I was 5 years old," Leonard said as he climbed into the driver's seat and twirled the wheel controlling the scraper blade.
The machine is one of the strangest contraptions ever built. It looks like what would happen if a snowplow and a street sweeper had a child -- then sent it to hockey camp.
Leonard was introduced to Zambonis when he was growing up in South St. Paul. "At that time, you had no choice but to play hockey," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at twincities.com ...
I have driven the Zamboni a time or two, to resurface the ice. It really is a strange machine, but it works.
Back when I was a delivery guy, I had a stop across the street from the Zamboni factory, in Paramount, CA. The first time I went there, they were testing one, by driving it down the street. It was a pretty surreal sight!
Nice Story. American ingenuity at work. Sure beats reading about our crazy President all the time.
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