Vintage or Antique?

[mini-motors]

Where is the defining line drawn on these motors? Or the boats? The state where I live (Virginia, and probably most states) says it’s 25 years old for cars, and I know the rule of thumb for furniture and the like is 80.

Just curious. I thought you guys would know. Or, like most forums, have an opinion. 😀

[mr-asa]

A general rule of thumb I go by is pre/during-WWII is antique, post is vintage.
I don’t think anyone is really going to get upset if you use then interchangeably, though. I search for both terms on craigslist 😆

[Goman]

From the by laws of this club

Antique: Outboard motors manufactured in 1950 or before shall be recognized as antique.

Classic: Outboard motors manufactured after 1950 and which are at least thirty (30) years old in this current year (real time) shall be recognized as classic.

[Anonymous]

I’ve always found it odd that pre-war alternates (Merc twins) and early post-war Martins are "Antique", but 1950 POs & Speeditwins are "Classic"!!

[joecb]

Phil, a 1950 PO or Speeditwin is an antique by the club by-laws. A 1951 motor would be a classic.

Joe

[reivertom]

quote Phil B:

I’ve always found it odd that pre-war alternates (Merc twins) and early post-war Martins are “Antique”, but 1950 POs & Speeditwins are “Classic”!!

That’s not the way I read it. If it is made in 1950 or before it is an antique.

[Anonymous]

Ah, OK, so maybe that’s the reason for choice of 1950 as the break point? 😉

[frankr]

I thought (maybe wrongly) that the dividing line was 1949 and older for antiques because that was when alternate firing twins and "modern" conveniences like gear shifts started showing up. In any case, there has been much debate over the subject. Some people don’t like the 1970’s motors with Electronic ignition etc. being included. But hey, they are "old" by a whole generation’s thinking.

In Florida, a boat is an Antique if 30 years old. Free state registration, but the county tax collector gets a fee for the annual sticker.

[brian]

I have a 1974 Mariner that came to me from an owner who couldn’t get it worked on because of many obsolete parts. I cleaned the points and it fired up. I don’t go looking for motors of this age, but at 41 it is close to the age of a 1958 Evinrude I picked up in 1998.

[20mercman]

I have always gone by the official club designation as 1950 and older being "Antique". There is often very little difference between a 1949 and a 1951 in some brands and huge differences in others. They had to pick a date, so 1950 it is. It really only matters at meets where there is judging for class of motors. One problem is that you can have a 49 QD or a KF-7 judged along side a row boat motor or late 20’s iron. Those are really apples to oranges. If the meet is big enough, they can have ranges in the various classes to make it a more representative class of the motors in it. As for motors of the 70’s, I have quite a few of them. I run a matched set of 1971’s on my 18" Lund as my main fishing boat. My 20hp Mercury motor collection runs from 1963 -75. I love these beautiful powerful motors! I only have one motor newer than 1975, which was my very first motor. I won it at a raffle. (1984 Duck’s Unlimited 7.5hp Mercury)

Steve

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