There have been many interesting designs painted on canoes over the years but the ones with a different color or design on each side always seem to attract the most attention.
These were commonly know as 'photographer canoes' because they often wanted to easily match the color of the canoe to the scene they were capturing. The Old Town Molitor with serial number 173995 from 1965 is one example.
This had the design number four on the starboard side as shown on the catalog cover from 1965.
The design number 46 was on the port side as shown on the postcard below.
There is a tale about a photographer who had a canoe like this on his car when rushing to a big city boat show many years ago. He was lost, driving too fast, and running yellow lights when a policeman stopped him. The photographer quickly launched in a big apology and explanation of his troubles. The policeman said he wasn't going to ticket him but would like to know why he had such a strangely painted canoe.
Another example has serial number 167442.
This first left the factory with an ordinary design number four in 1958.
The back side of the record shows that it returned in 1961 and was painted red on one side and yellow on the other.
The links below have more about these canoes and one other. Please add pictures here if you know of any more.
Benson
These were commonly know as 'photographer canoes' because they often wanted to easily match the color of the canoe to the scene they were capturing. The Old Town Molitor with serial number 173995 from 1965 is one example.
This had the design number four on the starboard side as shown on the catalog cover from 1965.
The design number 46 was on the port side as shown on the postcard below.
There is a tale about a photographer who had a canoe like this on his car when rushing to a big city boat show many years ago. He was lost, driving too fast, and running yellow lights when a policeman stopped him. The photographer quickly launched in a big apology and explanation of his troubles. The policeman said he wasn't going to ticket him but would like to know why he had such a strangely painted canoe.
Another example has serial number 167442.
This first left the factory with an ordinary design number four in 1958.
The back side of the record shows that it returned in 1961 and was painted red on one side and yellow on the other.
The links below have more about these canoes and one other. Please add pictures here if you know of any more.
Benson
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