The Johnson and Evinrude brands were won by bid in February 2001 by Bombardier Recreational Products[3] and the boat division by Genmar Holdings of Minnesota.

Based in Waukegan, Illinois the company had become famous for its brand-name Johnson and Evinrude outboard motors, as well as its Chris-Craft and Grumman powerboats.

Other products under the brand names of Four Winns, Seaswirl, Trade Winds, Sunbird, Stratos, and Hydra-Sports include fiberglass runabouts, cruisers, performance boats, and craft for offshore fishing.

Unfortunately, during the late 1980s and early 1990s, Outboard Marine had a difficult time keeping up with the competition, notably archrival Brunswick Corporation, currently the world's largest manufacturer of powerboats.

[citation needed] Motorized transport was just becoming an everyday part of life in 1907, when Ole Evinrude first mass-produced a practical outboard engine for boats.

Friction between the partners forced Evinrude to sell his share to his backer in 1914 and depart, after signing a guarantee restricting him from the outboard motor industry for five years.

Johnson gained market share, snatching the lead four years later with an updated model weighing a trim 100 pounds, costing a thrifty $190, and able to drive a boat at a zippy 16 miles per hour.

A too-costly advertising campaign, as well as an ill-timed offering of matched motors and hulls, drained all cash reserves by 1930, when control of the company passed to its bankers.

It also brought Outboard established overseas markets in China, Burma, Iran, and Albania, to broaden Evinrude's array of dealers in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

In addition to Briggs, there was Joseph G. Rayniak, director of manufacturing research, whose career dated back to the Johnson brothers' 2 horsepower Light Twin, unveiled in 1922.

These longtime staff members were all on hand with the return of peacetime, when the company converted its facilities back to the production of Johnson and Evinrude outboard motors.

The first, in 1952, was RPM Manufacturing Company of Missouri, whose specialty was a rotary power mower that Outboard planned to sell under its familiar Lawn-Boy tradename.

Outboard coped with the huge volume of existing orders by completing entire units in one factory, rather than using the more time-consuming method of piecemeal assembly in several locations.

Costing 114,000 shares at 30¢ par, the new acquisition added three-wheel mail carriers, golf carts, and motor scooters to the OMC product line.

The first mass-produced die-cast aluminum engine, it was a four-cylinder, 50 horsepower outboard, completely manufactured by OMC, its V-blocks came from Johnson, its steel parts from Evinrude, while the Gale division contributed its carburetors and ignition systems.

Ensuring its industry leadership by constant innovation and improvement to existing products, OMC allocated more than $7 million annually to research and development.

Alert to novel trends, OMC entered the snowmobile industry with enthusiasm, introducing the Evinrude Skeeter and the Johnson Skee-Horse in 1964, each sure to thrill riders with speeds of more than 30 miles per hour.

Though this was the United States's first introduction to the revolutionary rotary engine, OMC's hopes of success were dashed by heavy competition from other snowmobile brands, as well as by two winters of sparse snow.

Intended as a first step towards larger outboard motor markets in Asia, the move was also encouraged by a Hong Kong government program designed to attract specific, technologically advanced industries.

It began in 1976, when OMC was cited by both the U.S. and Illinois environmental protection agencies for polluting a drainage ditch and Waukegan harbor with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

The company filed suit against both agencies after lengthy negotiations, charging that the federal government had dragged its feet in spending funds authorized for pollution-control use.

Chief among these were the Japanese firm Yamaha, eating into OMC's European market, and Brunswick Corporation, makers of premium-priced Mercury outboards.

With his newly united company behind him, Strang cleared this hurdle by slashing prices by 25 percent and also by making sure that all products offered by competitors were available in the OMC lineup.

It was not easy to maintain the company's competitive edge against the Japanese at this time, but Strang slashed budgets, reducing his work force by one-third, to save an annual pretax amount of $47 million.

Power steering, variable-ratio oiling—delivering exact mixtures of gasoline and oil to the engine—and saltwater protection were new features appreciated by powerboat buyers.

This issue was finally laid to rest in April 1989, when the U.S. Department of Justice ordered OMC to fund a trust to remove the pollutants from Lake Michigan.

Although Chapman decided to purchase 15 boatmakers to assure OMC of captive customers for their outboard engines, the company did not develop a comprehensive or well-designed strategy to manage its growing operations efficiently.

In the middle of the worst downturn in the industry's history, Chapman reduced staff, closed factories, and eliminated whole product lines, such as Chris-Craft engines and boat models—all to no avail.

OMC has requested that the Bankruptcy Court allow the company to continue compensation and benefit plans for its remaining employees, maintain customer sales, support and service activities, and make post-petition payments due to suppliers in the ordinary course of business.

OMC said it has received a commitment from its bank group to provide debtor-in-possession financing totaling $35 million, which is expected to be sufficient to permit the company to operate while it implements its restructuring plan.