Mysterious to me Elgin

[kerry]

Went to a sale today, picked up an Elgin for $20. Not stuck, compression feels OK, haven’t checked with gauge cuz its 90 plus and humid out and I consider 60 to be T shirt weather… Anyway, its a typical 40’s green twin, likely a 7.5hp. Has a button on the recoil that must be pushed in to engage the recoil (Wasn’t aware of this feature?) and no I.D. tag I can see. The base of the crankcase on the starboard side has numbers 721 and 5483 stamped on a flat, but they do not reference to any Elgin numbers. Can’t find any other numbers besides casting numbers. Am I looking in the wrong place? Help!

If you have too many, AND not enough, you're a collector.

[Buccaneer]

I have a push button starter on a 3-1/2 hp Elgin,
but presume they put them on other models.
On mine, the model number was on front, on the decal.
Not sure if it showed up elsewhere.

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Prepare to be boarded!

[fisherman6]

I have a 5 horse with that pushbutton engage starter too.
-Ben

OldJohnnyRude on YouTube

[kerry]

Great…my decals are pretty much worn to about 10% or so. I can only make out parts of two numbers.

If you have too many, AND not enough, you're a collector.

[fisherman6]

I will go out and check the numbers on my 5hp in a little while and post them. Maybe that will help
-Ben

OldJohnnyRude on YouTube

[kerry]

quote Fisherman6:

I will go out and check the numbers on my 5hp in a little while and post them. Maybe that will help
-Ben

I would be interested to see if your crankcase base numbers match, or are close to mine.

If you have too many, AND not enough, you're a collector.

[frankr]

1948 six horspower. Model 571.58721

[kerry]

Frank, I know better than doubt you. That being said, how the "L" do you know for sure?

If you have too many, AND not enough, you're a collector.

[frankr]

Elgins of the day only stamped the last 3 digits (721) of the model number on the crankcase. From that, I went to http://www.discount-marine-parts.com and looked for a model ending in 721.

[Buccaneer]

Thanks Frank, I learned something new too, and your system
"checks out" for my 3.5 hp as well.

Prepare to be boarded!

[Author]

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