By Garland Pollard
WARSAW, Virginia – On display in the window of this Northern Neck town at The Daily coffee shop is a snazzy Martin “40″ outboard motor. Once, there were many American outboard brands. While Evinrude, Johnson and Mercury survive, Martin did not.
Martin Motors was from Eau Claire, Wisconsin. This motor was made when the brand was part of the National Pressure Cooker Company. Apparently Martins were made from 1946 to the early 1950s, and had “poppet” valves.
Can someone please explain poppet valves?
The brand survives today; Larson Outboard apparently owns the blueprints and supplies parts for the old ones.
Over the years there have been dozens of motor brands sold in the U.S., including Chrysler Marine, Perkins, Rootes, Oliver, Flambeau, Champion, Sea Flyer, Elgin, Scott-Atwater, Lauson, Neptune, Reily, West Bend and Hiawatha. My cousin Mark is a big fan of British Seagull engines.
Any memories of vintage outboards? And what brands were noted for styling, technological innovation, durability and economy?
3 responses so far ↓
1 Mike Bingham // Aug 10, 2011 at 4:41 pm
Poppet valves are the trumpet-bell-shaped valves used in most 4-cycle engines, usually in or near the cylinder head . What made the Martin engines unique is that they are a 2-cycle engine that uses a single poppet valve in the crankcase at the bottom of the crankshaft stroke. Most 2-cycle engines use reed valves to admit the air/fuel mixture into the crankcase. This design requires a lot of quick fluctuation in crankcase pressure, thus 2-cycle engines run more smoothly at higher RPM’s than do 4-cycle. George Martin’s poppet-valved 2-cycle design would idle more smoothly and at lower engine speeds than his competitor’s engines. Lower engine speeds meant quieter boats, and they were hugely popular with freshwater sport anglers.
George Martin was very much the Preston Tucker of the outboard boat engine business, and American Business just won’t have any of that.
2 Jo // Aug 12, 2011 at 10:42 am
Yes, a lot of memories of vintage outboards:
http://www.youtube.com/user/152vo
3 Garland Pollard // Aug 13, 2011 at 10:50 am
Mike..thanks for the comments. And isn’t it sad that the Preston Tucker’s don’t reap the rewards, even though they are remembered well after their time.
Jo –thanks for video. Love the idea of racing vintage boats.
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