Welcome and congratulations, the Old Town canoe with serial number 126983 is an 18 foot long, AA (or top) grade, Guide model with open mahogany gunwales, thirty inch mahogany decks, mahogany thwarts, mahogany seats, a keel, mast seat, mast step, and a rudder. It was built between March and May, 1939. The original exterior paint design is shown at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/designs/design37.gif and was known as the design number 37. It shipped on May 22nd, 1939 to Elkhart, Indiana. A scan of this build record can be found below.
This scan and several hundred thousand more 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/catalogs/old-town/records/ if you want more details. I hope that you will donate, join or renew your membership to the WCHA so that services like this can continue. See
https://www.woodencanoe.org/about to learn more about the WCHA and
https://www.woodencanoe.org/shop to donate or join.
It is possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match the canoe. The 1939 catalog at
https://www.woodencanoe.org/_files/ugd/537308_fb6215b64e36479789648880b9150989.pdf has more details on page nine. This model is frequently described in the catalogs saying "This canoe is for the use of guides and sportsmen." Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson
