The Old Town canoe with serial number 175513 is a 17 foot long Otca model with narrow two and 3/4 inch planking, mahogany decks, a keel, and the stern seat was moved two inches forward of the usual location. It was built between December, 1965 and February, 1966. The original exterior paint color was red. It was shipped on June 27th, 1966 to North Belgrade, Maine.
The Old Town canoe with serial number 175573 is a 16 foot long fiberglass FG model so that is probably not the one that you are looking for.
The Old Town canoe with serial number 140098 is a 20 foot long Guide's model with Western red cedar planking, open spruce gunwales, ash decks, ash trim, and a keel. It was built in June, 1944. The original exterior paint color was G. S. (Guide's Special) green. It was shipped on June 22nd, 1944 to Sherman Station, Maine.
The Old Town canoe with serial number 142513 is a 16 foot long, AA grade, Yankee model with Western red cedar planking, open ash gunwales, ash decks, ash trim, half ribs, a keel and outside stems. It was built between July and September, 1945. The original exterior paint color was bright red. It was shipped on October 12th, 1945 to Lake George, New York.
Scans of these build records can be found by following the links at the attached thumbnail images below.
These scans 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 join or contribute 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.html to join.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if these descriptions don't match your canoes. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson