The Old Town canoe with serial number 180883 is a 16 foot long Otca model with a keel. It was built between May and October, 1968. The original exterior paint color was red. It shipped on January 3rd, 1969 to Sheffield Lake, Ohio. It appears that there was a problem with the paint because it was returned on June 2nd, 1969, refinished on July 2nd, 1969, and resold to Peninsula, Ohio on September 24th, 1969 as shown on the back side of the card. Scans of both sides of this build record can be found by following the links behind the thumbnail images attached below.
These scans were created with substantial grants from the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association (WCHA) and others. Additional information about 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.
The list price of this canoe was $375 in 1969. More information about the changes in the list prices of wooden canoes over time can be found at
http://www.wcha.org/catalogs/old-town/guide/ in the Historic Canoe Catalog Reference Guide and at
http://www.dragonflycanoe.com/cdrom.htm on the Complete Old Town Canoe Company Catalog Collection CD.
It is also possible that you could have another number or manufacturer if this description doesn't match your canoe. I hope that your restoration goes well. Feel free to reply here if you have any other questions.
Benson
