Hi Dave--
This canoe does indeed have an interesting history. Old Town 147604 is a 17' CS (common sense, or middle) grade HW model canoe that was originally finished as a sponson canoe February-April of 1947. It has spruce planking, which I don't recall seeing on a build record before. Gunwales are open spruce, and the canoe had a keel and outside stems. Originally it was painted dark green. It was shipped to Derry, NH, on July 19, 1947.
A note on the face of the card states, "sell as regular HW/ no sponsons/ recanvassed" and "returned 8-12-59 for refinishing". The reverse of the card states "taken in trade for new" and it was shipped 7/13/60 to Nellville, Arkansas, after refurbishing.
This record may provide verification (for any who harbor guilt) that it's okay to restore your Old Town without its original sponsons... even the OT factory did that. The scan of both sides of this record is attached below-- click on it to get a larger image.
This scan and several hundred thousand others were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. A description of the project to preserve these records is available at
http://www.wcha.org/ot_records/ if you want more details. I hope that you and anyone else reading this will join or renew membership in the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See
http://www.wcha.org/wcha/ to learn more about the WCHA and
http://www.wcha.org/join.php to renew.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Kathy
