Wonderful 1943 16' Octa on Ebay

[garypete]

There's an unrestored original Old Town 16' Octa (serial no. 138392) being auctioned on Ebay. Ebay item number is 170417519850. From the serial number, Old Town research staff provided the Build Record and 1943 catalog page which the owner will be adding to the auction description.

With that information in the auction description, and with the great pictures the owner has provided, this classic ought to get bid up high enough so no wood-butchering redneck would buy it and cut it in half for two bookcases.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

actually, it's 1944...

Attached is the build record for this canoe. I sent it to the seller and he changed his listing to include the length of the canoe and to date it according to when the hull was finished (custom is to use the ship-date). Wish he'd given WCHA a little credit, as some sellers do.

Somebody else may have sent him the information too... but my guess is that the info the seller got came from a WCHA member and not directly from Old Town. I don't think they send scans of catalog pages, but I could be wrong about that.

Was this the second listing of this canoe on eekBay? I had to hunt-up the build record in my trash...

If a WCHA member gets this canoe and is traveling through the Upper Peninsula of MI, please stop by. We can even put you up for the night.

Kathy

 

[msturd]

Kathy, OT does send the catalog picture when you inquire about build slip. I got one when I wrote to them about an OTCA I have. Also wanted to compliment you on an article well written, ie Belle Isle.

 

[Kathryn Klos]

Thanks for the compliment on the Belle Isle article, Michael.

I'm glad Old Town is including a picture... shows a true interest in the history of OT canoes... wonder if they use Benson and Dan's CD. The picture may help clarify cases where the canoe is actually not an Old Town but has a serial number with 5-6 digits.

Got a call the other day from someone who found a long-decked Morris with torpedo ends in an antique shop, labeled as an Old Town guide. A picture from OT might have helped that seller understand he had a different species of canoe on his hands.

Kathy

 

[msturd]

Don't know about the CD but they do refer you to the WCHA when you ask about design numbers. I found all this out before I knew about WCHA

 

[Benson Gray]

I'm glad Old Town is including a picture... shows a true interest in the history of OT canoes... wonder if they use Benson and Dan's CD.

The Old Town Canoe Company was given a copy of the build record CDs after the scanning was completed and these scans are what they usually provide when someone asks for a copy of a build record.

Benson

 

[garypete]

Kathy,
I was the one that got the information from Old Town. I sent them the serial number of the canoe on Ebay, and they sent both the Build Record and a scanned version of the 1943 catalog page featuring the Octa. I included those files in an email to the canoe owner in Michigan, urging him to add those to his Ebay description. I wanted to get the bidding high enough so no redneck woodbutcher would buy the canoe and turn it into two lucrative bookcases.

Turns out he didn't have time go put the files on his Ebay description, but he did qualify the winning bidder by telephone as a serious canoeist who was going to restore and use the canoe.