Vintage Outboard and Marine Supply was founded by Doug Brooke of Spokane, Washington in 1997. After nearly thirty years of collecting, restoring, repairing, and racing outboard motors, Doug's hobby became a full time business.
His father, Phil Brooke, Jr., is an early member of the Antique Outboard Club and a past president. Influenced by his father's interest in the hobby, Doug at fourteen began his own collection. It was soon focused on fast motors of the early 1950's. His love of racing drew him naturally to Mercs and a few Champions and Scotts. Over a period of twenty years, he filled out his collection with most of the Mercury models manufactured prior to 1960. After completing college in 1981, Doug spent the next fifteen years employed in the financial services industry. During this period, he still found time to do some collecting, and also restored many of the motors in his collection. Doug says, "Working on my collection was a great way to spend time in the evening or on the weekend. It enabled me to forget about the stress from the office, it is also the best way to learn the finer points and nuances of a particular brand and model."
Being a "corporate dropout", Doug is well qualified to deal with the many and varied aspects of a growing business. He knows the importance of excellent customer service. He says, "I decided that I was going to do what I really loved; run my own company with customer service being the number one priority. One thing I have learned is that enthusiasm about your product or service is contagious. I really think I can convince a lot of people how neat these old motors are and that preservation and restoration are worthwhile. Now days, even the general public can relate to words like these. America is slowly changing from being a throw away society, although, it still has a long way to go."
Doug's wife, Roberta, runs the accounting side of the business, the computers, and is web master for what is becoming a global business thanks to the Internet. Vintage Outboard has customers as far away as Australia, England and Greece, and we enjoy a close relationship with many friends in Canada.
