There was always a lot of competition between the two brands. Style and advertising helped. In the beginning it was Bess Evinrude who stressed the rounded edges and smooth looks. The aircraft industry also was an influence. Raymond Loewy was consulted on the design of the 1948 Sportwin – Irgie’s fishing outboard of the future. Johnson went with a rugged mechanical look. After the merger of 1929 "Irgie" Irgins went with the idea of making Evinrude the Rolls Royce of outboards. His complicated devices were meant the make the motors easier to operate. He rented space on the University of Pennsylvania’s computer to design the complicated fuel induction system on the ’48 Sportwin – The first example of CAD in the outboard industry. These innovations also made them more expensive to build. Irgie’s Zephyr outsold Johnson’s TD, but Johnson made more money because there twins were cheaper to build. When dad was in engineering he tried to make the engines fast, dependable and easy to service. Conflicts with with Irgy influenced him to go into sales. Jim Webb was delighted. Dad’s animosity toward Harry Johnson made him determined that Evinrude would outsell Johnson. While stressing that Evinrude was a cut above the ordinary outboard he also stressed service. Every Evinrude dealer he put in was committed to a package of tools and parts. This ensured that no matter where you went you could always get a misbehaving Evinrude fixed. When Johnson was brought into the fold, the advantage of volume production made it senseble to share parts. The old-timers objected, but the bean counters won out. Eventually the motors were the same except for cover and color. Like models were priced the same, and differed only by the cost of shipping. . . 😀
