Welcome to the WCHA forums--
OldTown 142350 is an 18 foot Guide model canoe that was finished June-August of 1945. It has red Western cedar planking, ash decks, ash thwarts, ash seats, half-ribs, and a keel. Originally it was painted guide special green. It was shipped to Beaumont, Texas, on September 18, 1945.
Rolf made a good call when he compared it to a 1945 canoe, because that's what it is! This record seems to match the canoe, from what I can tell. The plank seats are possibly original because cane wasn't available until about 1947, and you can see the plank seats in this canoe have the diamond head bolts. War-era canoes commonly have slatted seats, but perhaps for the Guide they were plank, such as this one.
If you use the "search" function, there are old discussions regarding the war era Old Towns and how to go about restoring them. Some are in fine shape, as yours appears to be. Some need a bit more attention because they weren't put together with brass.
The scan 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 will join or renew your membership to 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 join.
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
