quote 49Hiawatha:
Curious. Read all the online Oliver reviews with mixed results. What are the best mechanical reasons for owning an Oliver and which one and why?
Your question is like asking who makes the best truck, best apple pie or the best girl to marry – much depends on your personal taste. The Olivers are nice outboards, they were "fully jeweled" and the Bendix mags (when in good shape) deliver a nice hot spark and can troll all day without loading up. However, mechanically they are reed valve, cross-flow motors, basically identical to their competition save styling and color differences. Making a case for them mechanically is like "picking fly specks out of pepper…."
I wrote an article for our chapter’s newsletter comparing all of the "private label" 5hp to 6hp motors available in 1958, some of my findings on the Oliver-made Wizard would be the "fly specks" applicable to your question, others more "comfort and convenience" issues. Here are a few highlights:
The Wiz-iver 5 1/2 at 11.9 mph handily out performed the 5hp Gale (9.8mph) and 5hp Scott (10 mph) competition and was better than 1mph faster than the West Bend made Elgin 5 1/2. (Testing was on my 12′ Duranautic). I included the 5hp Kiekhaefer Wizard from the previous year in the testing, it was the fastest of all (13.2mph) but didn’t have F/N/R so the smaller gear case was a big advantage.
Other strong points for the Wiz-iver were quiet operation: 92 db as compared to the ear splitting 100 db for the Scott-Firestone, 99 for the Kiekhaefer and 94 for the West Bend Elgin. ( The Gale was quietest of all at a virtual whisper of 88 db) The Wiz-iver also offered decent serviceability for regular maintenance, far superior to the Kiekhaefer Wiz from the year before and better than the Gale.
Negatives for the Wiz-iver were the temperamental Bendix mag, relatively scarce parts availability and the top weight of the motors tested at 57lbs. (The catalog indicated 50lbs, either a mistake or gilding of the truth by the marketing folks!). They also have an oversize gear case and carrier bearing that Oliver must have sourced from a combine, I think you could pump 30hp through it with no issues!
Adding in their rarity as a factor, my personal feeling was the Wiz-iver is an excellent motor for the antique outboard enthusiast to own. And the Oliver tractor people don’t drive up the costs on the Wiz-ivers – however, since they were essentially a one-year offering, they don’t tend to be too common.
Hope this helps!
.
