Ole Evinrude founded the Evinrude company which built its first motor in 1909. Within four years the company built over 9,000 boat motors. For the next 91 years, Evinrude produced motors until filing for bankruptcy on December 21, 2000. In 2001, it was acquired by Johnson, one of its competitors, and later that same year, both companies were bought out by Bombardier Inc., which currently produces the Evinrude motor. All Evinrude boat motors are assigned a serial number by which the manufacturing date of the motor can be determined.
Remove the motor from the water if mounted on a boat.
Locate the nameplate. It will be in one of two places: on the motor housing or on the mounting bracket.
Look at the nameplate. The nameplate will contain the model number of the motor from which the date of manufacture can be determined. Write the model number down.
Look at the last three characters of the model number. If the last three characters of the model ID are letters, then the motor was built in 1980 or later.
Look at the first two of these letters, disregarding the last letter. Here is the code for the first two letters to determine the date of manufacture: I=1, N=2, T=3, R=4, O=5, D=6, U=7, C=8, E=9, S=0. For example, using this code, a model number ending in "CC A" would reveal that the motor was built in 1988, with the "A" being the model run or suffix designation.
Look at the label again. If the model number does not have letters as the last three characters, the following chart provides the production date. The production year is followed by the corresponding model number.
1929: 305, 306
1931-1933: 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 606, 607, 608
1932: 618, 619, 620, 621, 624, 625, 626, 627
1951-1952: 2001, 2002
1952: 2003, 2004
1953-1954: 25012, 25013
1954: 25014, 25015, 25916, 25917
1955: 25018, 25019, 25920, 25921
1969: 25902, 25903
1970: 25002, 25003
1971: 25102, 25103
1972: 25202, 25203, 25252, 25253
1973: 25302, 25303, 25352, 25353
1974: 25403, 25403, 25452, 25453
1975: 25502, 25503, 25552, 25553
1976: 25603, 25603, 25652, 25653
1977: 25702, 25703, 25752, 25753
1978: 25802, 25803, 25852, 25853
1979: 25904, 25905, 25592, 25593
References
Writer Bio
Paul McCormick began writing professionally in 2009 and is currently a freelance writer. He has two books published: "Dementia: The Journey of Caring for our Father at Home" and "Dill Pickle Love." The latter book is already being taught in seminars in Colorado. McCormick received his Bachelor of Arts from Grand Canyon College.
