"Name That Outboard"

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

I remember the Martin motors from the mid 50's when I first got interested in boat racing, but there were not any in the area I first started (Arkansas). I remember some articles in "Boat Sport", maybe even tests, and I seem to remember they used poppet valves for the intake like a 4 stroke automobile engine, and then of course the regular type ports that are visible in the photos for the exhaust. The location of the holes for cooling water in the upper portion of the lower unit would indicate you could not run the motor very high, or you would lose cooling water, unless there are some more water inlets on the bottom of the torpedo that are not visible in the photo.

What is the purpose of what looks to be a needle valve of some sort just below the cylinder head on the left hand side of the rear view of the engine photo? Can't really see where the copper tube goes from there. Is that an adjustment for more or less cooling water to the block and heads in some way?

We always heard the Martin would give the Merc's of that vintage a hard way to go, but there were never any around to confirm that information in our area. Also not much stock racing period, as most was NOA Division 1 or IV. Can't remember now which was which, but remember that one was "alky" and one was stock, and most of the racing in our area was what is now Mod and alky. Maybe it was division III and IV, just don't remember.

Thanks for the photos. Brings back some nice memories of a fun time in my life.

[Mini Max]

This Martin 200 was an example of a no serial number factory race motor also.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

That motor looks like it just came off the assembly line!! Have you run it on the boat it is hanging on, and if so what kind of speed? Also have you had a Merc on the same boat and how did it compare. We always heard that the Martin was at least as good and maybe even superior to the Merc of the time, but politics might have had some impact on whether the motor was given a fair shot in the approval process. I don't remember anything about that aspect of the situation. If you have info about that it would be very interesting and add to the history of the time about the Martin motor.

[Mark75H]

The Korean War was the big problem. When aluminum was taken back off the restricted list, ACCOUNTANTS at Presto screwed George Martin. I would not be surprised if there was not some payoff from big Carl.

As far as speed ... that's why Merc came out with the 20H ... the racing 200's were equal or better than the KG7H.

Don't confuse the fishing 200 with a nose cone with the racing 200's like this one ... not the same beast


A motor without a serial number could not have been raced at APBA or NOA races while Martin was in business ... but could probably race at the local races near the Martin plant where many of the famous Martin wins took place. This changed a few years later to allow Mark30H clones to be raced in Stock.

[G-10 Brian]

Sam, I don't think there were any fishing 200's. They were all Hi Speed with 1/1 gears in the lower units. They came with round nose cones, a standard length tower housing and a small two blade aluminum prop. The pointed nose cone and short tower adapter and drive shaft were factory add ons. This engine was made to compete with the KG-7Q and KG-7H and the 15 Champion Hot Rod. Do you know of anyone who actually owns a Martin 200 with a fishing lower unit? Gear shift, 3 blade prop etc.

[Mark75H]

Round nose 15:16 non shift motors were fishing Martin 200's ... see, you've already fallen into the trap George set

At the time the 200's were made, there weren't many FGS motors ... the 200 did not stand out as it does today. Just because it is not have full gearshift does not make it a race motor.

The short tower & driveshaft could be retrofitted to a fishing 200, but they came std on the race motors from the factory.

The race motors have a different model number from the fishing motors

[G-10 Brian]

So what exactly was George's "Trap"? 1/1 gears and a small aluminum two blade prop must have been a poor performer on a fishing boat!

[Mark75H]

All you have to do is prop it down ... no performance problem at all. Boats were nowhere near the size of today, practically no one would have put a Martin on a barge.


He made you think his fishing motor was faster than it really was

[G-10 Brian]

Did the factory offer different props? Can you think of any other 20hp fishing motors that had 1/1 gears? Was Martin working on a full gearshift lower unit for the 200 when the company went out of business? If I remember I'll ask George's son-in-law next time I talk to him.

Very interesting thread on the forgotton motors, keep the pictures coming!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mark75H]

I think the Champion fishing motors had pretty high ratios, pretty close to the Martin 15:16 ratio

Merc fishing motors mostly used 16:21 which was later successfully used on the 20H in racing

I believe Martin was working on a FGS version .... he saw the writing on the wall that FGS would become standard a few years down the road.

Again, lack of shift and ratio alone do not make a motor a race motor. The pitch of the aluminum prop supplied on the 200's is completely appropriate for fishing. Ask the next time you see him.