North American Marine Burgee Flag

North American Marine History

In 1956 and earlier, the North American or American Boats were branded as Admiral Boats. In 1956, Twin Coach Co., maker of Fageol marine engines bought the boat-builder, then known as United States Outboard Inc. At the same time, Fageol bought a boat trailer manufacturer (Luther Corp.), also located in Warsaw, and organized the boat operation under Luther Corp. Luther Corp. was a Wisconsin corporation and by far the larger manufacturer; they made chainsaws in addition to their Luther “Sport Trailer” division. Their Wisconsin location was in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. Luther Corp. was officially renamed as North American Marine, Inc. on March 6, 1959.

In 1959, North American Manufacturing Corp. was organized to produce Elgin Boats for Sears, Roebuck, and Co. This company produced boats for both North American Marine, Inc. and Sears. This company was shortly bought by Whitehouse Boat Company of Fort Worth, Texas. After the sale, boats were still produced for North American Marine and for North American Manufacturing with logos similar in design, but some had “North American Manufacturing” and a larger “American” text. On October 25, 1960, North American Marine, Inc. became “Industrial Marine, Inc.” and boats had a decal with the letters “I.M.C.” Industrial Marine survived the demise of Whitehouse and was merged into Central Standard Industries Corporation on March 22, 1965. Boats were labeled beginning about 1966 as “North American of Indiana”. We know this because of a trademark dispute that resulted in Central Standard Industries losing the right to the North American trademark (case decided Sept. 30, 1970).