Patina vs. restoration

[Randy in Tampa]

With me a depends on the degree of deterioration in the rareness of the motor, if it’s in decent shape or extremely rare I like to leave it original and just clean it but if it is worn or crusty I like to restore them at that point I might polish them to a bling it’s only original ones but if it looks like crap restore it 🧐

Rotary valve Johnson’s Rule!

[lindy46]

I enjoy taking an old motor and making it look and run like new.

[David Bartlett]

I have gone both ways. My thoughts are that a nice original should be left alone, whether you intend to run it or not. The only motors I have cosmetically restored are a few that looked like they had been dragged behind the truck, rather than carried in it. I had nothing to lose. They look great now, but they are no longer original. But hey, they’re mine!

I would rather have a nice original motor any day, even if it has some Patina!

David Bartlett
Pine Tree Boating Club Chapter

"I don't fully understand everything I know!"

[Yellowstone]

I like the look of both. I saw a Jay Leno’s garage once where a guest on the show talked about patina and there was a name for the trend I can’t recall, becoming all the rage in classic cars. Essentially guys or gals liked the looks of the patina. And they weren’t afraid to drive them down a gravel road, etc.

All of my motors so far I’ve kept the original patina. I was wondering, do you guys who like the original patina use anything to protect it? I see one company sells “Patina Preserver” which unlike a clear coat, doesn’t affect the look of the paint. I guess it has to be reapplied every 12 months to protect from the elements.

[fisherman6]

I appreciate both a nice cosmetic restoration and original patina. I do typically lean toward leaving the original finish, but giving it a good cleaning and a polish if the finish will take it. If they are really bad, then I am not against restoring the finish. If they are bad and a common motor I have even gotten a little creative with the new finish for example, the motor in my Avatar. it is a 1959 Evinrude Sportwin Golden Jubilee that was really rough when I bought it. It needed extensive mechanical work as well as some help in the looks department. It got mechanically rebuilt using a mish-mash of compatible Johnson and Evinrude parts from 1957-1959 to get it back on the water. I still have a fuel leak I haven’t successfully tracked down yet, but it is a runner again. I decided that it needed a paint job that reflected what it was made of. Once I get the fuel leak fixed and get it on the lake I will make a video of it running on the boat and give a bit more detail to the story of the motor. That one is something out of the ordinary for me. I usually leave them be and really like a nice original survivor. I do have a few that I plan to try my hand at cosmetic restoration on as well.

As others have said, it depends a lot on the motor and the condition. If they are nice I leave them alone. If they are rare, I leave them alone. I don’t have any real rare, highly valuable motors, but unless it was really rough, I’d let it be other than a little cleaning up on the outside. The mechanics of getting them back to good running condition then running them is my main interest.

-Ben

OldJohnnyRude on YouTube

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