Mercury Dealership Treasures

[Mark75H]

I have found in a few cases such as this, that the boat bottom is soft and concaves as more power is applied. Old hulls such as these seemed to be minimal on stringer strength, even when new. Just my thoughts, not that they are necessarily correct.

I noticed the same thing on my brother's Whirlwind years ago.

[2us70]

We used to call that a power hook.

[Mark Poole ModVP]

We used to call that Dangerous!

[warrior74z]

I have found in a few cases such as this, that the boat bottom is soft and concaves as more power is applied. Old hulls such as these seemed to be minimal on stringer strength, even when new. Just my thoughts, not that they are necessarily correct.

To explain further, as more power is applied, the bottom becomes less straight or concave, and the more power that is applied the worse it becomes. This condition causes a tremendous amount of drag, thus there is no increase in speed, and in some cases, more speed is obtained with less throttle.

[warrior74z]

1976...Hydrostream Viper with 1500XS. Same rig as in post 119 and 120, but this is in the showroom before it was sold. Notice engine is flat on the transom and has no power trim. It would run eighty plus. This was very impressive for 99 cubic inches on a four passenger pleasure boat. This rig was special. All red metal flake, with the coolest of all consumer inline sixes the 1500XS. In all my years in the business, if I could have one rig back today in new showroom condition, it would be this Viper.

[warrior74z]

1960...Look at the article about the outboard turbine. Anyone out there remember hearing about this?

[smirnoff]

Hmmm......in 1976 I bought a new Hydrostream 17' Vector (identical red metalflake) with a horsepower maximum of 150HP, if my memory is correct, the Viper horsepower rating maxed-out at 140HP? Up in Michigan, no insurance company would write a policy if you went over the HP limit.

Back in the 70's when big-block jet boats were popular, many jaws dropped when a Vector 150HP "tower of power" outboard (2-blade prop) beat them hands-down!!!

Checkmates, Baja's, Chrysler's & Glastron's were no match at all......played leap-frog with all those dudes!

GREAT POST - KEEP FEEDING!

[Dd24skater]

1976...Hydrostream Viper with 1500XS. Same rig as in post 119 and 120, but this is in the showroom before it was sold. Notice engine is flat on the transom and has no power trim. It would run eighty plus. This was very impressive for 99 cubic inches on a four passenger pleasure boat. This rig was special. All red metal flake, with the coolest of all consumer inline sixes the 1500XS. In all my years in the business, if I could have one rig back today in new showroom condition, it would be this Viper.

I had a 76 viper stars and stripes with a 115, would run an honest 76.....I wish I could get it back too!!!......GREAT THREAD!!!

[warrior74z]

1975...Our dealership has always been divided into two eras, the old store, which was made from my grandfather's country store, in 1959, and the new 75' by 150' modern facility, built in 1975. I always think of times during the dealership years as in one era or the other. Kind of a before and after. So the following photograph is just a slice of time, maybe a week or so that we had moved into the new facility and just before the old store was torn down, it stood silent and empty. There in the foreground, is the old reliable soldier, from which so many of my childhood memories were made. And there in the background is the new, the shiny, the place we could be proud of, with the memories yet to be made...

[warrior74z]

Skater, our very first shipment of Hydrostreams arrived about a week before we moved into the new building, and we rolled two of those stars and stripes Vipers into the showroom. The first two boats to go in there. We sold both of them rather quickly though, and one was with an 1150 which I think went out of state, and I never saw it again. The other one was rigged with the customer's own engine, a chrysler 85...for crying out loud...

[warrior74z]

1960...Competitors ad. Many of you are too young to remember, but at one time Scott was the speed king on many lakes.

[mk30h]

I love this post!
My dad and unlce were Mercury dealers in Toronto Canada during the fifties and early 60's. I too have great memories of their shop and showroom, maybe a little bigger than your original shop but not much. Thier location was in one of the oldest buildings in TO, built in the 1840 an old hotel. Located on the busiest street in Toronto - Younge St. Dad was one of the first Merc dealers in Canada. They recieved the first Mk75 in Canada in 1956 and ran it on a little lake north of the city in October- which was captured on 8mm film have to post it one of these days.

Picture of the shop with a sidewalk display.

[warrior74z]

Thanks for the photo Mk30H. I love the old dealerships that had character! If you or anyone else has more photos that fit this era, please post them.
Barron

[warrior74z]

1979...Hydrostream in foreground. Carlson in background. See through the window, that building across the street? It was the Johnson dealer. They built it new about a year after Dad opened the old store, 1961. It was an impressive facility about 75' by 100' with a full basement. Of all the places they could have built, they chose right across the street from us. We battled sales with them for about twelve years when they closed up. And we were still operating out of that little country store with no showroom and no bathroom...

[warrior74z]

Greg, you might like this. Look in the above post at the 1976 20 HP Merc just above the bass boat front fishing seat. Well, I still have that engine and it has never been on a boat or been in a lake. It has been on a stand inside and only started on the hose and fogged in ocasionally. It is a '76 Model 200. As in 200 years of the United States, with the red white and blue trim. Next time I'm out at the shop I'll get some current photos. Oh, and still not for sale...