Originally posted by Jack Shanks: The 1973 and 1974 are much the same. The '73's at least started out with gold lettering but I see a lot with white lettering and few with gold so I wonder if the switch wasn't made sometime early in the '73 model year as opposed to the 1974 model. In the 1973 and 74 Bear catalog the same picture of a gold lettered Super Kodiak was used. I have three with white lettering but not one with gold.