These an incredibly detailed Viking Toy Outboard Motors were custom made in 2008 from parts from a K&O Evinrude, Johnson, Buccaneer or Gale battery operated boat motors professionally modeled after my 1958 Viking motor restoration.
The final days of 2008, declared the “Year of the Viking” by the Maple Leaf Chapter of the AOMCI produced one more big surprise in the form of a new spectacular piece for my collection. For Christmas I received from my wife an incredibly detailed Viking Toy Outboard Motor in a custom glass case.
Inspired by the article “Viking a brief history of the brand” which appeared in the January 2008 edition of the Antique Outboarder and pictures on this website toy motor collectors Bob McDonald, Ron Wenzel, Ron Hofmann, Joe Cain, and Denny Cole decided they too had to have a Viking for themselves.
In his introductory email Bob claimed to be an “avid toy outboard motor collector, mostly the 1950s K&O motors.” And claimed one of the things he likes to do is take a junker K&O motor and paint it to look like a motor that K&O didn't make. After a barrage of emails back and forth the team was supplied with all I could provide in the way of pictures and artwork.
While they had originally planed to simply repaint a few Gale Buccaneers, the rarity and high cost of these particular KO models prohibited this. Further, the 1958 Vikings have a different cowl decoration than the KO Gales that were produced. Instead they had a very strong custom resin cowl made by Ron Hofmann, a professional machinist. They had Joe Cain do the artwork for the decals and Denny Cole printed them on a special style printer for these small decals. Ron Wenzel, with the help of master model maker Eric Peterson, striped down the paint from the lower units of real K&O OMC outboard motors supplied by the collectors and went on to repaint the junky lower units the correct colors, apply the decals and then reassemble them with new wires and parts as necessary.
This seems like a lot of effort and it shows in the final product. According to the advertizing on eBay, where the last few were auctioned off in early January of 2009:
“What separates this motor from the K&O motors is the details. The Viking has a rope starter handle on the front of the cowl just like the real motor. It also has the shifting lever on the side of the engine just like the real motor and the choke knob on the front of the cowl to really make this motor the most realistic looking K&O size toy outboard motor ever made! Look also at the decals and how real looking and more extensive they are, including the choke knob, slow speed and high speed knob decals!
The real Viking outboard was made by the Outboard Marine Corporation, OMC, the makers of Evinrude, Johnson, Buccaneer, Elto and Gale products outboard motors for the Eatons corporation in Canada and sold through their catalogs. The colors on the motor are stunning with the gold and white cowl and white lower unit. The motor comes with a custom made box that uses the wonderful K&O reproduction boxes. It also comes with a color instruction sheet fashioned from the K&O instruction sheets.”
A limited edition of only 20 motors was produced, most of which were sold privately; and their creators claim there won't be anymore made.
Site map:
Eatons's Viking Outboard motors
Viking history |Richard's wood boats
My motors | My first outboard | Original condition Viking motors
KO model Vikings | Viking Model-Year Guide
Examples of Viking Outboard Models | Viking manuals
Last updated October 28th, 2015
