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Not outboard related but Benders and McCullochs were ‘The Motors’ to have for karts back in the day and a few years ago I found a West Bend one at a junk store which had lots of old motors out back. I don’t remember any name on it but I think it had a number for the model instead and it was a very hard to find model. When I took it apart for inspection, everything inside was totally worn out and it couldn’t be repaired. Unfortunately, it ended up in the recycle bin.
Local legend engine builder Grant King built karts called Kingo-Karts and I was fortunate to have one in the mid sixties. It was powered by a Homelite motor and would do close to 35 MPH timed at our local speedway, which was lightning fast for a young teen.
I had a custom-built kart late 50s-early 60s with a Mac10 engine and direct drive. To start it, you had to pick up the back end, run, drop down the back end and jump in! I think that kart would get close to 60mph. I’m lucky I didn’t kill myself. Back then I thought I was invincible as most teenagers do. Ahh – the memories.