1988 Arctic Cat Wildcat pilot build

These are often called 1987 Wildcats, or 1987.5 Wildcats. It is believed that 100 of these very first Wildcat 650's were ran down the assembly line in early 1987 , this one bears vin number 8800099 and engine number A65-100124. This one was shipped new to an Arctic Cat dealer in Wisconsin, Wausau Harley Davidson. We purchased this in 2005 from a collector whom had acquired it from former Wausau Harley Davidson dealer Gordon Rhode a year or two earlier. These first 100 pilot-build Wildcats had many differences from the more common 1988 Wildcat 650 production models that began production on October 9th 1987. These early-builds have a different seat/console profile, smaller vents at rear of hood, lack of vents atop the headlight area, different fuel pump mounts, different coolant filler caps, different water pump covers, and a few other differences too. All of the 1988 Wildcats were groundbreaking machines...first year of a large displacement twin cylinder liquid engine, first to have a  gear-driven water pump, the radiator was gone and replaced by massive tunnel mounted heat exchangers and the new sleek styling really made this an iconic snowmobile back then...and most believe that it still is today.