Hot Singles ! - Pictures

When i was a Mercury dealer i sold a 1100 merc to a customer who demanded i take the motor back as it sounded like a "bag of nails". His name was Colly Coulson and he made a real song and dance about this to the main Merc distributer SWMF in Poole. The year was 66 and it was stitched on the back of a 16' LEVI. It took about 6 weeks to get the factory to agree to swop the motor during which time he had wiped the floor clean of all competition. winning 4 nationals and 2 internationals. I told him we had a new engine for his "bag of nails", but wild horses could not get him to change it.
Why the hell i am telling you all this , i am not rightly sure but even DOGS have their day. !!!!

The 125 super BP had a block that looked like the 135 and a front half that looked like the 125. You had it backwards Rick. The transfer port covers were the same visually on the outside as the 135. The front half still had the steel lower starter bracket like the 125.

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

I "thought" the Super BP 125 visually had the front case that looked like a 135 HP block and the rear case looked like a 125 HP.
Maybe I am a little dumb...what story did you fall for ??

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The other way around.....when you took the wraparound cowl off the first thing you notice is the fuel pumps are in a different location than the 1250.....more towards the rear. The starter mount was unchanged. When it came out as the 1350 it had the clamshell type starter mount.

When we ran the SBP at Havasu in 1968, we were told not to remove the wraparound in public. Not obeying that law was punishable by sure and sudden death! Stickle was running one of them on an 18' Molinari and somewhere past the 2 hour mark on saturday he was leading the entire field.....twins, triples and Wings were all trying to catch that single.:cool: Apparently he just couldn't stand the success and blew the rig over.....what a shame. :nonod:

To work on it we had to leave the pits. Tom and I went to a garbage dump to get it clean and set to run on sunday. During the race sunday, one of the four had a problem (Art Kennedy I think). He came to the pits and we pulled the cowl.....Man, Mercury dealers and race fans were all over us the rest of the race wanting to know exactly what it was that they saw. They all had noticed the fuel pumps weren't where they were supposed to be and were very excited about a new engine, that was performing very well, heading their way in the near future.

The story.....Olegator is wondering if Stickle pulled a fast one by telling him that he didn't know how to put the powerhead back together (making Olegator do the work). I don't think he did, back then Tom was a butcher in Dayton and probably didn't know how to reassemble it.....but, he sure could cut a mean steak!

The first shot is the Super BP, fuel pumps towards rear, 1250 style starter mount. Second shot is the clamshell 1350 style starter mount.

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Originally Posted by willabee

i'm sure you will be pleased to hear that i also had forgotten about the name "1250 super bp"! I think it was when i was trying to make the "big engine list" and i had listed 1969 as the 1350. About twenty guys jumped all over that saying it was the 1250 sbp. My only excuse was that "1350" was the term the engineers used when we received the first four to run at havasu in 1968 and i used that term from then on. When the 1250 sbp was named, we continued to called them 1350's.

I have heard others make the same comments about the 1000 bp vs. The 1250 bp that you and olegator just made. My experience was just the opposite. I ran bunches of tests, usually on checkmates, and used the same boats for both engines. Maybe it was the different gear ratios and the prop selection we had available that made the difference.....or, maybe there were just some real dog 1250's out there!

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hey willa !!!!! I sold thousands of mercury engines and never even had one ------"real dog" in the 20 years i was a dealer, but maybe the same quality control was not in force in r&d racing ??? Just pride huh!!!!

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Originally Posted by jackie wilson

When i was a Mercury dealer i sold a 1100 merc to a customer who demanded i take the motor back as it sounded like a "bag of nails". His name was Colly Coulson and he made a real song and dance about this to the main Merc distributer SWMF in Poole. The year was 66 and it was stitched on the back of a 16' LEVI. It took about 6 weeks to get the factory to agree to swop the motor during which time he had wiped the floor clean of all competition. winning 4 nationals and 2 internationals. I told him we had a new engine for his "bag of nails", but wild horses could not get him to change it.
Why the hell i am telling you all this , i am not rightly sure but even DOGS have their day. !!!!

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So once the customer got past the "bag of Nails" sound he realized he had a winner.

Did Mercury sell a lot of outboards in Europe in the 60's and 70's ?? What other brands sold in Europe back then ??

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Originally Posted by willabee

The other way around.....when you took the wraparound cowl off the first thing you notice is the fuel pumps are in a different location than the 1250.....more towards the rear. The starter mount was unchanged. When it came out as the 1350 it had the clamshell type starter mount.

When we ran the SBP at Havasu in 1968, we were told not to remove the wraparound in public. Not obeying that law was punishable by sure and sudden death! Stickle was running one of them on an 18' Molinari and somewhere past the 2 hour mark on saturday he was leading the entire field.....twins, triples and Wings were all trying to catch that single.:cool: Apparently he just couldn't stand the success and blew the rig over.....what a shame. :nonod:

To work on it we had to leave the pits. Tom and I went to a garbage dump to get it clean and set to run on sunday. During the race sunday, one of the four had a problem (Art Kennedy I think). He came to the pits and we pulled the cowl.....Man, Mercury dealers and race fans were all over us the rest of the race wanting to know exactly what it was that they saw. They all had noticed the fuel pumps weren't where they were supposed to be and were very excited about a new engine, that was performing very well, heading their way in the near future.

The story.....Olegator is wondering if Stickle pulled a fast one by telling him that he didn't know how to put the powerhead back together (making Olegator do the work). I don't think he did, back then Tom was a butcher in Dayton and probably didn't know how to reassemble it.....but, he sure could cut a mean steak!

The first shot is the Super BP, fuel pumps towards rear, 1250 style starter mount. Second shot is the clamshell 1350 style starter mount.

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Had a 50~50 chance of getting it right. Did the Super BP's/1350 race motors have major porting work done to them ?? What "interally" made a BP from stocker ??

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

So once the customer got past the "bag of Nails" sound he realized he had a winner.

Did Mercury sell a lot of outboards in Europe in the 60's and 70's ?? What other brands sold in Europe back then ??

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In the 70's it was mainly Mercury, Evinrude and Johnson. Bundy and Bermuda's
were in decline as were Scott McCullogh and Gale. Then the Jap invasion started and from being a "SOLE" mercury dealer i had to take the Yamaha and Suzuki agency.or die.
The sales of the Jap motors were frightening, 2------10 hp motors were selling 10--to 1 against the US motors. The Mariner/ Mercury deal was smart but only a stop gap. By the time Honda joined the fray the dominance of American motors was over.
When SWMF went tits up, Mercury lost it's best european outlet.
The best year i ever had was 78 with 450 units only 150 were Mercury but they were all over 50hp with many 100+ hp.

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Originally Posted by jackie wilson

In the 70's it was mainly Mercury, Evinrude and Johnson. Bundy and Bermuda's
were in decline as were Scott McCullogh and Gale. Then the Jap invasion started and from being a "SOLE" mercury dealer i had to take the Yamaha and Suzuki agency.or die.
The sales of the Jap motors were frightening, 2------10 hp motors were selling 10--to 1 against the US motors. The Mariner/ Mercury deal was smart but only a stop gap. By the time Honda joined the fray the dominance of American motors was over.
When SWMF went tits up, Mercury lost it's best european outlet.
The best year i ever had was 78 with 450 units only 150 were Mercury but they were all over 50hp with many 100+ hp.

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Didn't seem like the brand X-motors hit the US in any numbers until the 80's. When I was in Belieze recently all they pretty much ran were Yamahas. Asked a local about it and he said they held up better and had better warranties.....ouch.

Selling 450 units a year that is moving product...

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

Didn't seem like the brand X-motors hit the US in any numbers until the 80's. When I was in Belieze recently all they pretty much ran were Yamahas. Asked a local about it and he said they held up better and had better warranties.....ouch.

Selling 450 units a year that is moving product...

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Reliability and warranty were key features in the Merc sales program, absolutely miniscule. Price in the lower range was the selling point of the Japs. It started with a 2hp Yami & £99-99p. This was cheaper than the British seagull by some 20%. And the damn things ran for ever on nothing more than a whiff of 2 stroke oil. The back up and warranty and trips to Japan if you could sell 10 engines by Tuesday midday were just copying the way Americans USED to sell product. Yamaha did make a big selling point of their long distance runs ie; London to Amsterdam non stop, and of course they took on the 50hp merc in the E class [the most affordable class in racing] whilst Mercury stood back with a so what attitude.
Took them a few years to get into the big Horsepower market, but when they did , they went for the jugular. Deals were done with the heavy users, Fisherman, lifeboats,police, and local water authorities. Mercury and OMC thought they were invincible and had these markets wrapped in steel. Boy ,were they ever wrong.
Even to this day, i walk down to the harbour in my village [Bouzigues] and watch all the oyster boats come in to refuel, all have 250+ hp on the transom, some twin engines. I see HONDA------SUZUKI------YAMAHA. Not one American engine anywhere. I ask them why don't you use Mercury or Evinrude?? they just look at me and say--QUI ???? that's WHO??? How the mighty are fallen.

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Originally Posted by jackie wilson

they took on the 50hp merc in the E class [the most affordable class in racing] whilst Mercury stood back with a so what attitude.

they were invincible and had these markets wrapped in steel. Boy ,were they ever wrong.

How the mighty are fallen.

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Amen to all that.....thanks for the insight. Neither OMC or Mercury are what they used to be back in the day, it's a shame. I worked for a aircraft turbine engine company. Through a lot of ignorance/arrogance they lost customers...one was Boeing which was a wake up call.

Here is a Hot Single from the 70's to re-live your past that could be gotten for the right price. Did Mercury dealers give them away ??

Ebay link- http://cgi.ebay.com/MERCURY-MARINE-b...3A1%7C294%3A50

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

Here is a Hot Single from the 70's to re-live your past that could be gotten for the right price. Did Mercury dealers give them away ??

Ebay link- http://cgi.ebay.com/MERCURY-MARINE-b...3A1%7C294%3A50

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The fact it is for sale in OSHBERG must have raised a smile in a few old folk i know. Butler in particular. Maybe someone came across a lock up stuffed with these little gems. Oshkosh was always a strange place, with weird and mysterious happenings going on, specially at "Judy's". Is "The Left Field" still there? Was run by a couple of retired 'Packers'.

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

Amen to all that.....thanks for the insight. Neither OMC or Mercury are what they used to be back in the day, it's a shame. I worked for a aircraft turbine engine company. Through a lot of ignorance/arrogance they lost customers...one was Boeing which was a wake up call.

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It wasn't just the USA that sat back on their laurels and buried their heads. The minute the first Honda moped was imported the British motor cycle industry was doomed. They should have bought a ticket to Tokyo and seen how the world was progressing. Same thing in the automobile industry, Dusseldorf and Stuttgart were making progress and developing while in England we could sell all the stuff we could make and thought it would go on forever!!!!! We didn't cry "FOUL" or UNFAIR for 3 years by which time all the companies had died of old age and stagnation. Same thing in aircraft and electronics.
'WE COULDA BEEN A CONTENDER'.

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Originally Posted by OLEGATOR

I always thought Gagen/Peacock had some kind of sponsorship from them as they used to give them away by the box at the races. As I recall, it was a snack food simular to Cracker Jacks.

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Wasn't Bill Sirois involved with Zonkercraft as well?

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Originally Posted by Old fiberglass

Here is a Hot Single from the 70's to re-live your past that could be gotten for the right price. Did Mercury dealers give them away ??

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I don't know if dealers gave them away, but they were for sale. The problem with that promo was that the model was supposed to be a copy of Sirois' 1970 winning twin. They made the model available in 1972 and it was a single.....talk about " a day late and a dollar short", they missed the mark on that one! :nonod: