This old Polaris had a rough life, battle scars, missing parts, neglect... Even though it had one ski in the grave, it escaped the great scrapyard in the sky and was destined to hit the trails once again!
The SP (special?) was the polaris factory race sled during that year, allegedly you had to spring order and/or actually intend to race that season to get one? It has some unique features compared to a normal 440 XCR, different front suspension, dial adjust front skid shock (already removed on mine), different brakes, unique CDI, triple port exhaust in cylinder, 2 piece exhaust, different shocks, clear tank, and probably more I'm forgetting. Not sure how many were produced, but had to be a half decent number, although you don't seem to see many around now days.
Years ago when I acquired this project, I knew it was a sort of special sled, but at the time they weren't really valuable or collectible. Got it for a cheap price, but most of the valuable and expensive parts were long gone. What then? Well, throw it under a pine tree and wait... Over time I did some research on what parts I needed, kept an eye out for stuff, and occasionally scored parts cheap off ebay when they showed up. This was a project that would get brought up occasionally in conversation, and it was the classic "I'll get to it some day..." Well, that day has arrived!!