Today, in this series finale, we’ll take a brief look at the Montgomery Ward Outboard Motors and Boats in the 1949 Fishing Catalog. In Part 1 we looked primarily at the fishing lures offered by the retail giant. Part 2 scanned the rods and reels offered, with special mention of the Montgomery Ward Sport King brand. In this, Part 3, we’re going to wrap up by taking a quick walk-through of the outboard motors and boats Montgomery Ward (MW) sold.
There is more to this catalog than the above-mentioned categories. The publication is actually labeled as the company’s Fishing and Camping Catalog, but the emphasis is really on fishing, with the camping products being a complement to fishing. So, while there are tents, sleeping bags, camp stoves, knives and more, we won’t be looking at those. We also won’t be looking at other fishing gear like landing nets, inboard engines, rain gear, waders, etc.
Just as Sport King was the Montgomery Ward brand of fishing lures, rods and reels, so too the company had their own brand of outboard motors and boats: Sea King. And just as they did with Sport King, they had several other companies manufacture Sea King motors and boats throughout the company history. Montgomery Ward sold Sea King outboard motors from 1931 or 1933 (there is some confusion as to the exact date) to 1986. Prior to the introduction of Sea King, they used the names Hiawatha and Neptune to designate their brand. Hiawatha was the MW brand manufactured by the Spinaway Boat Motor Company beginning sometime in the 1900s until 1916, at which time production switched to the Caille Perfection Motors Company in Detroit. The Hiawatha name continued until, I believe, around 1933. Caille also produced the MW Neptune line, which was introduced in 1926.
At the time of this catalog, 1949, Sea King motors were being made by Gale Outboard Motors. Gale Products was part of the Outboard Motor Corporation (OMC), which was the company that made Johnson, Evinrude and several other outboard motor brands. The story behind the formation of OMC is fascinating and somewhat convoluted, and is something we’ll tackle at a later date. Gale had production facilities in Illinois, Wisconsin and Ontario. In any event, Gale was the primary manufacturer of Montgomery Ward’s Sea King line from 1941 to the early 1960s (1963?). Other companies produced Sea King before and after Gale’s production.
Gale Products has an interesting history as well. They started out making refrigerators for companies like Mayflower and Speed Queen. After they switched to outboard motor production they achieved even greater success, making over a million outboard motors. In 1947, two years prior to this catalog, Gale sold well over a quarter-million motors, more than all other outboard motor companies combined.
In the 1949 Montgomery Ward Fishing Catalog the Sea King entries begin with the 1.5 hp and 3.0 hp Standard models. These cost $62.50 and $83.50 respectively ($2 more if you lived in Denver, Fort Worth, Portland or Oakland). That would be $826 and $1,103 in today’s money. But you could also put a fraction of that total down and pay in monthly installments. For the 3hp motor you could put $17 down and pay $7 a month. These small engines were designed for canoes and rowboats.
Next we have the Sea King Deluxe Twin Outboard Motors, in 5 hp and 12 hp. These motors were, of course, better suited for larger boats, the 12 hp motor especially. You could achieve speeds of up to 14 mph and 22 mph, respectively. For these deluxe motors you paid $126.50 for the 5 hp and 199.50 for the 12 hp (and a few dollars more if you lived in the aforementioned cities). On the installment plan you could get a motor for 20% down and $10 or $13 a month. Multiply those figures by 1221% to adjust for inflation in today’s economy.
Color me nutty, but I prefer the rounded, vintage look of these old motors to today’s angular designs. And there’s something to be said for moving easily and more slowly from fishing spot to fishing spot, with a motor you could handily carry from your car trunk to the boat.
Next up, the Montgomery Ward boats and canoes. The first page in this section presents wood and fiberglass composite boats crafted by the Penn Yan Boat Company. Penn Yan was a company founded in 1921 in Penn Yan, New York, The boat building company began with solely wood boat construction but switched to fiberglass boat building in the early 1960s. The boats in the MW catalog ran in the neighborhood of around $200 to $300, which would be somewhere between $2,500 and $4,000 today. Of course you could also purchase on the installment plan.
These boats were beautiful. If you really want to get the flavor of them, just do an online image search for Penn Yan wooden boats. Here’s one image I pulled, just to give you a little taste of what these boats looked like.
Next we have the Montgomery Ward Sea King line of boats. As you probably know by now, MW had several boat building companies manufacture their Sea King line during the company’s history. These included Chris Craft, and later Fort Dodge, Speed Queen, Super Craft, and Wizard. I’m guessing that the Sea King boats in 1949 were manufactured by Chris Craft.
The final pages of MW boats include a few affordable boats made from wood, aluminum, steel, and rubber. Boy, has boating technology advanced by leaps and bounds since this catalog was issued.
Then we have a couple pages of boating accessories such as oar locks, anchors, lights, pumps, and attachable seats. And then a page spotlighting an item I thought was pretty interesting, a car top boat carrier for one-man operation. It looks like a pretty handy device, and the car looks cool too!
We end with a page of life vests and boat cushions. The bulky life vests in 1949 are a far cry from today’s streamlined life vests. The boat cushions are wonderful, with several showing decorative designs. I bet if some company offered boat cushions with depictions of leaping bass or musky, like the one pictured here, they’d sell them easily. I know I’d outfit every boat of mine with several.
We hope you enjoyed paging through this Montgomery Ward Outboard Motors and Boats section of their 1949 Fishing Catalog. If you want to view parts 1 and 2, just click here: Montgomery Ward Fishing Catalog 1949 (Part 1) and here: Montgomery Ward 1949 Part 2.
