Johnson 1954 CD-11 5.5

[Bob Wight]

Gary,
Having done several complete mechanical/cosmetic restoration jobs (including a 1954 CD-11) I can pretty well assure you that when selling such a motor, you won’t be able to recover your full investment. Good quality parts, paint, decals and miscellaneous supplies alone can easily add up to several hundred dollars. And that doesn’t include whatever you believe your labor time is worth. I have done a couple complete restoration jobs that I turned around and sold, and on average, I probably lost about $200 on each one.

Anyway, I do these complete restorations just because I enjoy putting them back to original condition. I get my paint and decals from North York Marine, excellent quality products. http://www.nymarine.ca

Here’s before and after pics on my CD-11.

Bob

1937 Champion D2C Deluxe Lite Twin
1954 Johnson CD-11
1955 Johnson QD-16
1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18
1958 Johnson QD-19
1958 Johnson FD-12
1959 Johnson QD-20

“Every 20 minute job is only a broken bolt away from a 3-day project.”
"Every time you remove a broken or seized bolt an angel gets his wings."

[seakaye12]

Outboard paint colors are such a challenge! I think we all “remember” a certain look for the motors we are most familiar with…..and rarely do restored motors seem to look exactly right. They can look flawless in every way…..but the color is not what we remember it to be. Sometimes I think the issue can be with the level of gloss. I myself don’t remember motors being quite so shiny as many restored motors end up looking.

Painted engines however have such an advantage for the rebuilder over the earlier models that had only polished metal. People who can restore dented metal without the aid of bondo have a skill that I sure don’t possess…..

[JOHN HOLBIK]

The color of the 54 55 Johnsons never seems right to me it always seems like it needs some lime colour in it it is hard to explain almost like its too green. T^here are some wonderfull 56 57 58 bronze paint jobs it is hard to say if they are 100 percent correct because that colour fades fast I do not think I have ever saw two red motors that looked the same .

[Bob Wight]

Some colors appear very different in different lighting conditions and I’ve always thought the 1952-54 Sea Horse Green is one of those. Here’s mine again in bright sun.

Bob

1937 Champion D2C Deluxe Lite Twin
1954 Johnson CD-11
1955 Johnson QD-16
1957 Evinrude Fastwin 18
1958 Johnson QD-19
1958 Johnson FD-12
1959 Johnson QD-20

“Every 20 minute job is only a broken bolt away from a 3-day project.”
"Every time you remove a broken or seized bolt an angel gets his wings."

[lindy46]

Gary Pasquale wrote:

I am not looking at making a living at this by no means, I just want to have fun restoring, and selling, I just don’t want to lose my shirt ….trying to figure a semi smart way of doing this in my near future retirement. Any advice at all would be immensely appreciated.

It’s a labor of love. If you enjoy working on them, go ahead and enjoy a new hobby. But don’t expect to get your money out of refurbishing old motors. You’ll never get your money back on the time you spend. I can make more money repairing motors for others than in refurbishing and selling them. If they’re real basket cases, you can usually make money parting them out if you buy them right.

[reivertom]

I have a ’55 with the thumb screws also. I guess it was an early run. In Kentucky you can get 3 to 400 if they look decent and run good. A lot depends on the time of year.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by reivertom.

[Tubs]

As far as hobbies go there are a relatively small
number of people interested in old outboards
and for the most part they are looking for motors
that need repair or nice originals to preserve the
history. Repair could just be enough to use it
again to a complete restoration as you describe.
Even if you ask for half of what you would have
in the type of restoration you describe most would
still buy a project. If done properly it usually
makes more sense financially to buy a done motor
but that is not what this hobby is about. There
are those that will buy a restored motor but that
number is small ( unless your almost giving it away)
and the number of them that would pay what you
would have invested leaves you with a minuscule
market. Complete the motor you have and offer it
for sale at what you feel is a fair price. One motor
shouldn’t break you. That will give you the best
sense on the market.
Tubs

A "Boathouse Repair" is one that done without having tools or the skills to do it properly.

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