ChrisCraft outboard. What year?

[jcrigan]

I recently acquired a Chris Craft Challenger outboard for a really good price. The old outboard book doesn’t have much info on the years of these motors. The only place on this one is stamped with numbers is under the powerhead starboard side rear. This is what i came up with; 449J3071. Will this be the only identifiing marks on this motor? What year?

[mr-asa]

They didn’t keep the records for the serial numbers, but there were over 20,000 of the 5.5HP made and the serial started at 1000. I would bet it’s a ’49 or ’50?

Someone else might have a better guess, though

[jcrigan]

Yes, that’s what i’m thinking. Probably a 1949 model as the first three digits are 449. Thanks for the quick responce.

[jerry-ahrens]

The CC Challenger is one of the best idling motors around in my opinion, just about the same as a smaller Martin. Very well built too. I bought one of those a few years back and after getting it running it turned me into a Chris Craft fan. I’ve since bought 2 Commander’s that I can’t wait to try out.

[jcrigan]

This one only needed spark plug wires to run. Too bad they stopped making them. I think it’s a very good design

[Author]

Posts