Re: Older Rudes & Jonny's So who is correct him or me!
One of the same. From 1936, Johnson was acquired by OMC and 1949, they started sharing designs. 1949 and 1950, the QD and Fastwin shared the same lower unit and same basic design in the midsection. 1951, they both colaborated and designed and built the 25hp RD/Big Twin. In 1952, they both colaborated and built the extreme opposite, 3hp JW/Lightwin. In 1953, they re-designed the midsections of the QD and Fastwin and shared the same design. In 1954-55 the design for the midsections and lower units for the Fleetwins and CD's (5 1/2hp) was a shared design. Up until 1956, Johnson had the 5, 5 1/2 and 10hp and Evinrude had the Fleetwin and Fastwin but didn't completely incorporate all the models with both companies, eventhough they both had a lot of the same design in midsections and lower units. In 1956, Johnson and Evinrude completely incorporated the engineering department and decided that all the outboards were going to have the same horsepower, but just have different colors and styling. So from 1956 on, all Johny/Rudes were one of the same, so to speak. The two companies shared all models that they had with each other and sold them under the same line, so don't let anyone bowl schitt you about which one is better, faster, or more dependable. They're all the same.
Ralph Evinrude got Evinrude Motors in 1935, after his dad (Ole') and his mother (Bess) passed away. Shortly after that, about 1936 Evinrude acquired Johnson motors from the Johnson brothers and they become one company. They also had a few smaller companies in OMC such as Lockwood and Gale, but those two faded out through the years. Lockwood was out by the 1940's and Gale was out by 1963. If I'm not mistaken, even Briggs and Stratton is a part of OMC as well, but an off company, so to speak.
So, the bottom line is, Johnson and Evinrude have a couple differences: The color and the shrouds. I noticed by 1969, they looked even more alike, in the shroud design, but just had minor differences in the color.
I also noticed that certain design ideas from each one prevailed. For example, it was actually the Johnson QD (1949)that started OMC with a full shift Lower unit, and Evinrude Fastwin that came out with it a year later. Eventhough Johnson started with the full shift, they had the troublesome front shifter. Evinrude had the first side shifter on the Fastwin model, of 1950. I believe it was also Johnson that came up with the design for the carburetors, because in the early 1950's, Evinrude was buying carburetors from Tillotson and Johnson was building their own. You won't find a Tillotson carburetor on a '54 and later Evinrude though. That could have been another motor design thing that was shared before the 1956 total share crossover.
