Blazer Fan Dan wrote:
Earlier, I referenced a 1962 Johnson, being on a boat my family owns. I
don't know the exact year of the boat. Some people think it's a 57
Glasspar Avalon, whilst others think it's a 58. The confusion stems
from the fact it was bought when my father was 12 years old, but the
first motor on it was a 1958 50 horse Johnson.

And some of the registration papers have different years. Is there a
simple way to find out what year the boat is?

You're probably as close as you're ever going to get, unless there was
a radical syling change between the 57's and 58's. There was no
standardized HIN system back in the 50's.......but you might see if
there is a "57" or "58" somewhere in the serial number. A dash(-)57
would be particularly likely to make it a '57.

You mention "registrations". Has anybody got the actual title to the
boat?
That would establish the year for legal purposes. But not all states
issued titles for boats back in the 50's, and there are still some
states that don't issue titles to this day.

It probably wouldn't have been unusual to put a new 1958 outboard on a
"leftover" 1957 boat. That may be what happened, or the boat could be a
58.