Mercury Dealership Treasures

[warrior74z]

Early 70's boat show flyer. Dad would have a few thousand of these printed and we would saturate the area. Look in the upper right at the Sportmaster Sting Ray, which was a pretty sleek luxury bow rider that had lots of inovative features. The clincher is a 455 Olds jet drive, all for $4999. I think this was the year we had 26 boats in the show and Personally washed every one of them and towed most of them the 35 miles to Greenville SC. I remember those were long weeks with little sleep and no time to play (Date) which really made it tough on a 18 year old. Check out some of the other pricing...

[warrior74z]

1960...Harbin's Boat Works was about a mile north on the same highway as our dealership was. In business since 1946. Manufactured wood runabouts that were called "Harbin's Hornet". I suppose this was a take on a similar boat more well known, the "Yellow Jacket". Were they made in Texas? I remember seeing a Hornet back in the day, but even googled it with no results.
The big West Bend Tiger Shark 800 at 80 horsepower, was more than Johnson and Evinrude's 75 at the time. Engine reminds me of some of the mechanical monsters from some sci fi production.
These boats could have been molded plywood hulls that were popular and came in stacked like paper cups, the "builder" then put in the transoms, deck, and finished out the boat. Not sure about this but would be interested to know if anyone out there has ever heard of a Harbin Hornet, and has a picture of one. Somewhere in my papers I remember an ad that listed some different models, hope I find it soon.

[v6merc]

First of all. this has got to be one of the coolest threads on the planet, keep up the good work!!!

Second of all, that's a very, very cool story about this lil 20hp Merc... I never put 2 and 2 together about the stripe package of 1976 until I read this thread... NEAT NEAT NEAT STUFF!!!

[runwhatchabrung]

Just interjecting here,,,,but i sure miss the good ole days in the 70's when ya tied the sterneyes to the fence and grabbed tires and carpet and popped tha tractor in gear and eased tha boat off the trailer,,,,lol,,,,,,

been gone awhile, had to post......

[stokernick]

nah,we used to run the winch cable under the trailer and back up to the bow and winch it off the trailer!

[runwhatchabrung]

Don't forget the big guy at the dealership to stand on the tongue and hold on when it pops up,,,

[Wayne Cammidge]

We all know the atributes of Hydrostreams, but if you have never driven a Correct Craft direct drive inboard, you are missing something. That velvet drive tranny slips in to gear at 650 rpm without a sound and you are moving at a pace that would take an outboard a fast idle and a bow high attitude to keep up. And that 351 V-8 is just blub blub blubing along. It will idle as straight as an arrow for miles and miles without touching the wheel, as you sip adult beverages and relax. You could sit up on the side of the gunwale and steer with your foot, ease your speed up to about 28mph and get that V-8 rumble, that mid engine center of gravity just cushes through the waves, your babe is sitting facing the rear in the observers seat so you have a great view of her, and just sip those beverages until the sun turns to dusk and...oh yeah, they're good for skiing too...

I think we have managed something with our Mastercraft that will be hard to replicate.
We were on a dam culling geese from the boat.
We managed to turn a flock of spur wing geese and chase them up wind.
Running flat out chasing them, I took a pair with consequetive shots of the shot gun, them my mate who was driving pops out the seat, sitting on the engine cover, one foot hooked into the steering wheel, throttle pegged, leans forward grags his gun off the dash and proceeded to double the next pair.
We had some fun that day.

[/quote]

[Wayne Cammidge]

I know of at least 2 more. One has been at LakeX, (and now at X-Site) for years. I tried to buy it in the 90's. It is a passenger behind driver capsule boat. The other one is a side by side capsule, but I haven't seen it in years. I believe that Seebold built all three. These were not REALLY race tunnels per se', but rather boats commissioned by Merc for PR purposes. It may be that the two front/rear seat ones were converted from old F1 or Mod U boats, but I'd think the side by side was purpose built from the beginning.

There is definately a side by side 2 seater here in South Africa at the moment. It is a true tunnel, with cockpit cover. Did not look too close but do not think that it was capsule type. Also looked quite old.

Know a few years back there was a 2 in line race boat running around here.

[warrior74z]

We all know the atributes of Hydrostreams, but if you have never driven a Correct Craft direct drive inboard, you are missing something. That velvet drive tranny slips in to gear at 650 rpm without a sound and you are moving at a pace that would take an outboard a fast idle and a bow high attitude to keep up. And that 351 V-8 is just blub blub blubing along. It will idle as straight as an arrow for miles and miles without touching the wheel, as you sip adult beverages and relax. You could sit up on the side of the gunwale and steer with your foot, ease your speed up to about 28mph and get that V-8 rumble, that mid engine center of gravity just cushes through the waves, your babe is sitting facing the rear in the observers seat so you have a great view of her, and just sip those beverages until the sun turns to dusk and...oh yeah, they're good for skiing too...



I think we have managed something with our Mastercraft that will be hard to replicate.
We were on a dam culling geese from the boat.
We managed to turn a flock of spur wing geese and chase them up wind.
Running flat out chasing them, I took a pair with consequetive shots of the shot gun, them my mate who was driving pops out the seat, sitting on the engine cover, one foot hooked into the steering wheel, throttle pegged, leans forward grags his gun off the dash and proceeded to double the next pair.
We had some fun that day.

[/quote]

Wayne, I could not have done a better job of putting into words, my experiences in the Correct Crafts. Growing up in a Merc dealership, as a kid I always wished Dad would sell the cool inboards that I grew up watching go by the dock with that cool spray that only an old wooden inboard could make. And of course the sound of those copper pipe exhaust, on a v-8 was music to my ears, compared to the screech of an outboard. Then when we moved to lake Hartwell and in the mid 1970's a family about a quarter mile down the lake were national competitors in the AWSA. Whitney Ballentine was Jr Girls National champ, and they practiced three times a day with that cool 1974 Ski Nautique. I drooled.
Then in 1975 we recieved our first shipment of Correct Crafts and they became my favorite weekend ride. You described exactly how I would use them. Sitting on the gunnel, girlfriend in the observer seat (great view for me) sipping on an adult beverage and just blub-blubing down the lake, straight as an arrow. Some days I don't think I brought it up on plane but once or twice, Led Zepplin on the eight track, laughing at all those other idiots bouncing around and wasting gas. Oh yeah...they did do a good job pulling skiers, like you said, but we knew how to really take advantage of the Inboard's true qualities. And in glassy water sitting on that gunnel, beverage in hand and one foot on the steering wheel at about 28 mph...perfect...Thanks for the memories, Wayne!!
Barron

[Allstar]

Ok here is a triva question for ya'll.

My 8 year old son found in the garage my Zebco fishing rod. He asked why is there not a hook on the end of the line, it just has a big ball of duct tape.

[Wayne Cammidge]

That is easy.
You have owned a radio controlled boat at some stage.
Most guys cut up a tennis ball

[Allstar]

That is easy.
You have owned a radio controlled boat at some stage.
Most guys cut up a tennis ball

No, but you are correct that it would work for that.

It is something that is used by a boat dealer. That is the topic of this thread.

[SLOW-1]

It has taken me a while but I just finished reading this thread and it is GREAT!!! Thanks to all of you who are taking the time to share your memories.

[bridges]

I managed to get this sign and about 5 motor stands form a closing dealership. Working on a small museum--hopefully someday soon...

[JP Love]

Here's the 1976 Mercury 20 hp engine that I have saved all these years. It has never been outside, never been on a boat, never been in the lake or river, never been sold, or the warranty sent in. I'll do the math, that's a 32 year old new engine. The significance of this engine is in 1976 it was the bicentennial of the United States of America, that's 200 years, and of course Merc used to add a "0" to the horsepower of the engines to designate the model number. So this is a Model 200 Merc. Also the theme of that year was everything in site was red white and blue, so Merc followed suit. The decal stayed around for '77 also. I do run it on the flusher ever year or so and fog the snot out of it.

Thank's my friend for this realy cool threads and pictures. I was captivated about all the stories and memories of your father debut in business and you growing in outboards industrie race etc... You make my night J-P Love