As readers of my column know, I look for cool old stuff while touring the countryside in my travel trailer. While camping near the Suwannee River in Mayo, Florida, my wife and I spent an afternoon scavenging the aisles of an antiques mall in Lake City (a nearby town literally in the middle of nowhere). That’s where I stumbled upon a 1937 Evinrude Elto Pal outboard motor.
With a price tag of $150, I thought the tiny .9-hp motor would be an awesome addition to my collection of industrial art, especially if placed beneath the rusting tail of a 1930s-era airplane that was hanging in my den. My wife, on the other hand, told me to walk away from the piece of junk (as she called it), so I did.
That night, while researching the Evinrude Elto Pal’s history, I learned that when it was
