Today only a handful of names come to mind when most
people are asked about outboard brands made in the USA: Johnson, Evinrude and
Mercury. For the past 30 years this small group of marques has commanded
the lion's share of attention and sales, both with modern consumers and with
enthusiasts in the Antique Outboard Motor Club.
However this was not always the case – for the first
50 years of the outboard motor, many boaters purchased their outboards from
mail-order catalog houses, small retail chains, sporting goods stores and even
gas stations. Known as private label or catalog motors, many were simply
modified versions of the top-selling name brands. In the 1920s names like
Sears' Motorgo, Montgomery Ward's Hiawatha were as well known to boaters as
Evinrude, Elto and Johnson.
By the end of the Great Depression, catalog and
private brand motors accounted for a significant percentage of the outboards
sold – some sources estimate as much as 50%! And by the 1950s it seemed
that every retailer in the USA had their own private brand outboard line.
It should be no surprise that private brands were
successful for so long. A 1952 Time Magazine article provided some
illuminating information. That year, Sears operated 691 stores and was 6th
in dollar sales for all US companies boasting more than $2.7 billion in annual
sales. To put this in perspective, the 1952 Evinrude dealer directory
lists 650 dealers and OMC's annual report for the same year indicates total
gross sales for all divisions; Evinrude, Johnson, Gale and others at $42 million -
just about 2% of Sears' total!
In 1952 Sears also had 11 regional fulfillment centers
to support the 7,200,000 catalogs they sent out each season. These
catalogs or “Wishbooks” as rural folks called them, brought Sears' wares right
into people's homes all over North America. In terms of catalogs printed
and handed out, this certainly must have bested the combined total produced by
OMC, Mercury, Scott and every other outboard manufacturer for that year!
The result was that many people, (including this
writer - and doubtless a few of you reading this article), got their first taste
of boating with an Elgin (Sears), Sea King (Montgomery Ward), Wizard (Western
Auto), Firestone or some other private brand outboard. With literally
thousands of retailers and tens of thousands sold, these are now among America's
greatest Antique and Classic outboards!
The Early Years ;
Some of the early private label outboards were made by
major players in the business. The Caille Company and Lockwood-Ash were
two early manufacturers that enjoyed a lot of success selling motors to both
Sears and Montgomery Ward. Jim Webb's 1977 article on Mail Order House
Motors in the OUTBOARDER (Magazine for the members of the Antique Outboard Motor
Club) also indicated that Evinrude supplied overstocks to Sears in the mid
1920s.
Starting in the mid 1920s through the early 1930s
Caille built Sears Motorgos were popular, though they tended to be Caille's
models from the previous year that were re-badged. Today surviving
Motorgos are the pride and joy of many outboard collectors! Muncie Gear
Works also supplied Sears and Wards with motors in the 20s and 30s. In
1930 Evinrude formed a partnership with Montgomery Ward that would continue for
many years, though Wards would periodically add a model or two from other
manufacturers. And it is important to note that several well-known
outboard brands would get their start making catalog motors in the 1930s.....
Small Steps Can Lead To Great Things
Young engineer and entrepreneur Carl Kiekhaefer took
over the defunct Ceaderburg Manufacturing Company to make magnetic separators
for the dairy industry.
Leftover from the previous company occupying the building were several dozen
Thor/Sea King outboard motors, returns from an order placed by catalog giant
Montgomery Ward. To raise much needed capital, Mr. Kiekhaefer decided that
rather than scrap the outboards he would try to make them operational (by
redesigning the carburetor) and
fulfill the Ward's order. This plan worked and Mr. Kiekhaefer soon found
Ward's placing reorders for the motors – he was in the outboard business!
Today's Mercury outboard motors are the result of this modest start.
Kiekhaefer also picked up the Western Auto business for private brand Wizard
motors. This arrangement kept cash coming in for many years - it was not until
the late 1940s that outboards wearing his own Mercury nameplate eclipsed the
Wizards in quantity produced.
Great Scott ;
The Scott-Atwater metal stamping concern in
Minneapolis was best known for turning out novelty and premium items like
Cracker Jack prizes. In the mid 1930's they were talked into pulling
together a line of small outboards that could be sold through the Firestone Tire
and Auto stores. Known as Champion Outboards, they were simple, reliable and
sold well.
After WWII, Scott-Atwater and Champion separated, but
Scott continued to produce private brand Firestone motors. By the late
1940's S-A was making a tremendous number of private brand outboards, so many in
fact that at one point their marketing folks claimed S-A to be “the largest
producer of outboards in the world!” (Not sure how OMC received that
information…) They did make a tremendous variety of private label brands;
Firestone, Corsair (S-A's own off-brand) and Hiawatha (Gamble Skogmo).
After McCulloch purchased Scott Atwater in 1956, they continued to expand the
private brand business making motors for Sears under the Elgin , Ted Williams
and Gamefisher names. They also made a few private label brands for Wizard
(Western Auto) and others.
The New Champion ;
After splitting with Scott Atwater, the Champion
people built up a fine line of outboard motors. With the knowledge they
learned working with Scott Atwater and Firestone in the 1930s and early 40s,
they swiftly moved into the private brand business. Majestic and Voyager
were two private label brands that Champion offered to hardware stores and
sporting equipment retailers. And Champion provided BF Goodrich tire
stores with their Sea Flyer motors from 1952-54.
Today, Champions outboards are well regarded by
collectors and the private label versions are fairly uncommon.
Making Lemonade from Lemons ;
Sears had a long history of selling outboards through
their catalog and stores. As noted above, they purchased Lockwood Ash
motors and Caille outboards to be badged as their Motorgo. In the 1930s
their outboard brand became the Waterwich, these were supplied by Neptune, a few
leftover Johnsons but the majority from the old Kissel Automobile Company in
Hartford Wisconsin.
Kissel was forced into making outboards after their
luxury automobile business dried up in the Depression. These outboards were, for
the most part, simple no-frills affairs offered for about 30% less than similar
offerings from a major brand. Reasonably well-built, the Waterwich motors
proved to Sears that selling outboard motors could be a profitable business.
Sporting unusual styling said to be from the pen of renowned designer Raymond
Lowey, the Waterwich motors were very successful - we know this because a lot of
Kissel-made Waterwich outboards still show up today. A Waterwich single
(with reliability issues) was featured prominently in Robert McCloskey's 1952
Caldecott Honor book for children; ONE MORNING IN MAINE!
After WWII Kissel was purchased by the West Bend
Aluminum Company and took on the name of their new parent. Sears and West
Bend worked together to develop their outboard product line, one that fit the
Sears consumer's budget, lifestyle and Sears' guidelines for quality.
Certainly no mass-retailer ever had a closer relationship with an outboard
supplier than Sears and West Bend. This relationship was highly successful
and profitable for 12 years. Their agreement remained exclusive through
1959, so much so that West Bend did not market motors in the USA under their own
name until 1955. But it was the apple green Elgin motors from 1946 to 1955
that are best known today.
In 1959 Sears started a relationship with
Scott-Atwater, by then known as Scott McCulloch – this would last through the
late 1960s. In 1964 the Elgin name was dropped in the USA and replaced
with that of spokesperson Ted Williams or with the Sears or Gamefisher names.
West Bend soldiered on getting the Firestone private
brand business and also making outboards under the Wizard (Western Auto) name.
In the mid 1960s West Bend supplied motors to Sears' competition Montgomery
Wards. In 1965 West Bend ended up selling out to Chrysler who became a
major player in the world of outboards. In the 1980s, after Chrysler sold
their outboard business to US Marine/Force, Sears once again offered private
brand Gamefisher motors - many of which had been Elgins 20 years before, things
had come full circle! However, to this day, most outboard people always
think of the Kissel-made Waterwitch and West Bend-made Elgin motors when the
topic of Sears and outboards comes up.
Gale Force ;
Evinrude and Montgomery Wards started an association
in the early 1930s that would continue for many years. At first, leftover
Evinrudes would be re-badged as Sea King outboards – and with the country in the
throws of the Great Depression there were a lot of leftovers! Soon small
changes in the gas tank and trim started to really set them apart from the
Evinrude line. Evinrude also worked with Eaton's Department Stores in
Canada using the same formula for their Viking motors.
Throughout the 1930s and 1940s the department store
business became very important to OMC. After WWII Evinrude/OMC split off
their private brand business into the separate Gale Products Division
at Galesburg, Illinois. Gale had their own Buccaneer brand sold by Gale
dealers and mail order through Spiegel's, they also made outboards for
“house brands” such as Atlas Royal (Atlas Tire stores), Spiegle Department
Stores under the Brooklure name, along with the Goodyear Sea-Bee. They also made the following private brands: Sea
King (Montgomery Wards), Atlas Royal (Atlas Supply – sold at Esso and others), AMC Saber, Hiawatha
(Gambles Skogomo) and Sea Bee (Goodyear Tire Stores).
One odd thing, was that Gale-built motors also featured a fuel pump, whereas the “flagship brand” motors still used the older style pressurized fuel tanks. Otherwise this motor is very much a typical OMC Big Twin outboard and shares many parts with its Evinrude/Johnson sisters.
Gale stayed in business until 1964.
Even The Little Guys Had A Piece of The Pie ;
The Oliver Outboard Company, in business for just 5
years in the late 1950s, produced a few private brand 5 1/2hp and 15hp Wizard
outboards for Western Auto Stores. These motors are fairly uncommon today
since they were only sold in 1957 and 1958.
The Clinton Machine Company of Michigan and Iowa made a
fine line of small engines for general use in lawn mowers and machinery of all
kinds. Starting in 1954 they offered a 2.5hp and 4hp 2-stroke air-cooled
outboard under their own name and a private brand called Chief. These
little motors were sold at yard equipment dealers and elsewhere, they were
small, light and remarkably reliable. In the 1960s the large outboard
companies started to get out of the private brand field, Clinton stepped in and
began making outboards for Sears, Montgomery Wards, JC Penny, Western Auto,
Herter's and just about anyone else who was interested! While they didn't
offer the advanced engineering found on the big-name motors, they saved a lot of
folks from rowing!
The Muncie Gear Works, makers of the Neptune outboard,
was in the private brand business as long as anyone; supplying motors to Sears,
Wards and a number of other outfits. Eventually in 1951, they decided to
discontinue selling through a dealer network entirely and became only a
mail-order business. Their Mighty Mite was a staple offering in the back
ads of many magazines for decades.
All Good Things Come To an End ;
Mercury was the first to pull the plug on the private
brand business, 1957 would be the final year of their association with Western
Auto. The need for added capital from the sale of Wizards had to be
balanced with grumbling from Mercury's own dealer network that they were being
undersold - eventually Carl listened to the dealers. However Carl, in
designing the Wizards made sure that they would never outperform his top of the
line Mercuys.
McCulloch, West Bend/Chrysler, Clinton and Eska
absorbed a lot of the private label business. Unfortunately, the McCulloch
organization just seemed to loose interest in their outboard line. Real
estate deals, moving London Bridge to Arizona and oil speculation took priority
for Bob McCulloch. After almost a decade if languishing, McCulloch finally
closed their outboard plant in 1969.
Chrysler (later Force), Clinton, Eska and some
offshore companies produced the final private brand outboards in the 1980s and
90s. But in the years just before the 21st century, a changing economy for
retailers and regulatory restrictions for manufacturers spelled the end of
private brand outboard motors.
Today, as far as we are aware, there are no new
private brand outboard motors for sale in the USA. But as the marine
industry struggles with the current economy, who knows if in the future we may
see Wal Mart, Costco or Target brand outboards made by offshore companies like
China or Taiwan.
Most of this article copied from the
Antique Outboard Motor Club website
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Gamble-Skogmo
History
Gamble-Skogmo Inc. was a conglomerate
of retail chains and other businesses that was headquartered in St. Louis Park,
Minnesota. Business operated or
franchised by Gamble-Skogmo included Gambles hardware and auto supply stores,
Woman’s World and Mode O’Day clothing stores, J.M. McDonald department stores,
Leath Furniture stores, Tempo and Buckeye Mart Discount Stores, Howard’s
Brandiscount Department Stores, Rasco Variety Stores, Sarco Outlet Stores, Toy
World, Rasco-Tempo, Red Owl Grocery, Snyder Drug and the Aldens mail-order
company. In Canada, retail operations
consisted of Macleods Hardware, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Stedmans
Department Stores, based in Toronto, Ontario.