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Elgin
Of all the outboard pages represented at the Oddjob Motors website, this one is second only to the Johnson Collection in the number of hits we receive! (There must be a lot of old Elgin's out there) Please note; for further information, I help AOMCI Elgin Special Interest Group Leader Jim M. with a website that is devoted to Elgin's. Visit it at the following link: Elginoutboards.org The Elgin outboard brand was retailed through Sears & Roebuck from 1946 through the early 1960's. The earlier Waterwitch and subsequent Ted Williams and Gamefisher brands Sears offered never had the market share or impact of the Elgin name. Two companies provided outboards to Sears bearing the Elgin name; the lion's share came from West Bend who had purchased the old Kissel Car plant (the same folk's who had made the pre-war Waterwich motors after their automobile business dried up in the depression). In 1959 Sears started transitioning the Elgin name to outboards made by Scott-McCulloch. The little 2hp West Bend made motors remained on sale the longest being offered through 1961. When new, Elgin's were a budget offering retailing for about 20%-25% less than one of the major brands of the same horsepower. The apple green Elgin's of '46-'57 are one of the most common old outboards around and are mostly ignored by serious outboard enthusiasts. In truth, they are not bad little motors and can almost always be made to run. Parts for Elgin outboards can be difficult to find today. For the West Bend made Elgin's there is some crossover with Chrysler and later Force outboards since they are from the same lineage. Additionally, the McCulloch made Elgin's share parts with Scott and other "badge engineered" outboards like Firestone. Often the best bet if you need a part for an old Elgin is simply to acquire a parts engine. Consumables like water pump impellers and ignition coils are common failure items and tough to find. (see Tech Tip #1 for help on Elgin's equipped with certain Wico magnetos)
Coming soon - 1958 Elgin 35hp!!
The old outboard bug first nipped me at an early age. When I was 9 my dad and I found a 1958 2 hp Elgin that had been squirreled away at my Grandparents since the late 1950's. My grandfather, (a diehard Sears man), bought the outboard in the late 50's when he no longer felt comfortable rowing his 14' skiff the 2 miles down the Connecticut River from his house to the boatyard where he kept his sailboat. Not long after buying the Elgin he discovered that with the wind and/or tide against him it did not produce enough power to make any headway (and things only got worse when he had another person, groceries, etc... in the boat!) Anyway, his solution was to buy a used '53 7.5 hp Evinrude that I also ended up inheriting later, but that is another story…. We found the Elgin tucked in the corner of the basement while putting storm windows away the spring after my grandfather died. In lieu of the $2.00 I was to get for working all day on the G.D. storm windows and screens (the old wooden hanging ones), I begged my grandmother for the motor. She agreed right away but it took some persuasion to convince my dad. (He only liked sailboats and saw outboards as noisy, evil and smelly). When we got it home I commenced to try and clean the 1950's gas out of the tank and carb. Since it was my first engine I was totally clueless and have subsequently come to know and hate the smell of varnished gas. (At age 9 I thought it smelled great, like maple syrup being made!) The Eisenhower era fuel had dried out to the point of being sandy grains and had totally clogged the jet and float chamber. It was only with the kind help of our corner garage's mechanic that I was able to get it working - he spent about 45 minutes helping me and never charged me a dime. He even took the time to explain how the carb and magneto worked and also explained that most outboards were water-cooled but the Elgin had the addition of air cooling "like lawnmowers." His
parting words to me were "always have a good set of oars when
using that motor", (he was an OMC man). I must have used "that
motor" for most of the summer before the local marine patrol
brought it to my attention that my 10' boat needed to be registered
and the operator needed to be 15! (It didn't stop me, I was just
very careful for the next few years!) Anyway, by the end of the
summer I wanted another, (bigger), outboard I had found so I sold
the boat and Elgin for $35 to a kid "up the street".
Bendix | British Seagull | Champion | Chris Craft | Elgin | Elto | Evinrude | Flambeau | Johnson | Lauson | Lockwood Ash Mac10 Wankel | Martin | Mercury | Misc.Motors | Oliver | Pluvier | Scott-Atwater | Tomos | Volvo | Whirlwind(Soviet) | Wizard
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