User Tag List
Thanks: 0
Results 121 to 135 of 477
Thread: Mercury Dealership Treasures
-
08-15-2007, 09:49 PM #121
1976...Time for a new modern facility. Same location, just added some property for expansion. Now we had a showroom with room for a dozen boats, indoor shop for four boats and open shop for four more boats plus wash rack. Full parts and accessories department, and an office for Dad.
And, get this restrooms! The old white store that we used from '59 to '75 had no indoor plumbing! We just used "the bushes" or woods about fifty yards behind the shop. If you had serious business to do you went home, and returned.
The gravel part of the parking lot where the two blue cars are parked is where the old store had been. This photo is from '78 or '79 as I see some Hydrostream Vikings out front.
-
08-15-2007, 09:52 PM #122
Another view with a blue Hydrostream by the sign post.
-
08-15-2007, 09:58 PM #123
Grand Opening Ad
-
08-16-2007, 10:03 AM #124
Once again awesome thread
This stuff is great.
You guys sure had a pretty full line up in the late 70's, great looking shop22' Activator w/ 250xs Merc Opti, back home again
-
08-16-2007, 10:37 AM #125
me too
ditto on this thread. GREAT pics and history. i said it before, and every new post by you (warrior) just makes me want to thank you again .
AIRWALK
gettin' old ain't for sissies
-
08-16-2007, 10:49 AM #1265000 RPM
- Join Date
- Sep 2004
- Location
- Palm Beach Gardens Florida
- Posts
- 209
- Thanks (Given)
- 0
- Thanks (Received)
- 0
- Likes (Given)
- 0
- Likes (Received)
- 3
- Mentioned
- 0 Post(s)
- Tagged
- 0 Thread(s)
Went fishing for a few days (350lb blue marlin & 66lb yellowfin tuna),,,,but this thread like fine wine gets better everyday
-
08-16-2007, 06:44 PM #127
Barron - It's like I told you! Just let it all hang out and folks will truly appreciate and enjoy it. You are doing a superb job. Best Regards - Steve Sirois
-
08-16-2007, 08:59 PM #128
Thank you everyone that has sent compliments and comments on this material. The generous showing of your appreciation is more than I could have ever hoped for. The Scream and Fly site truly has opened the world to my little treasures. Sharing these special moments of time during our years in the marine business is my pleasure, and I would like it to be a tribute to my father Edwin L Cooley 1926-2003
Thanks, Barron
-
08-16-2007, 09:43 PM #129
I started going to some boat races as a spectator in 1973, and fell in love the the small Allisoncrafts. I thought they were the coolest looking boats, and I still do today. I knew boats, and the quality of Allison's fiberglass work was the best I had ever seen. The styling seems to past all tests of time. And their performance was superior to anything on the market. We were dealers for Glastron and Carlson, and Challenger, and had rigged some to run in the upper 60 MPH range. When Dad and I went to the Jacksonville Marine Trade show in 1975 and he signed up with Hydrostream, I was shocked, surprised and pleased. Dad followed Nascar and attended the Daytona 500 every year from 1959 (the first one) until 2003, but he tried to keep me out of the boat racing business, so I couldn't believe he ordered a load of Hydrostreams. We sold many loads of them in the late 70's and early 80's when Vipers and V-kings ruled. We were now running in the mid eighty mile per hour range. When he signed with Allison in 1979 I thought I was in heaven. I had a RS 16 that went through a 1500, a T-1, 1750 and a 200. Grey and burgandy. Beautiful boat, and even though we never sold many Allisons, they always will have a special place in my heart.
Last edited by warrior74z; 08-17-2007 at 06:12 PM.
-
08-16-2007, 10:06 PM #130
The timing of Mercury's release of the new Chopper prop could not have been better. New Hydrostream Viper on the floor, 1500XS still in the box and a 14x24 Chopper sittin' on my desk...
-
08-17-2007, 06:27 PM #131
1983...Allison Specifications
-
08-17-2007, 09:04 PM #132
1970...Aerial view of the old store. It was four miles out, as the old newspaper ads read. Look at the next post and scroll back to this one and see how much it changed.
-
08-17-2007, 09:08 PM #133
2005...Aerial from about the same view. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot. In 1994 Dad sold the land to a Ford dealership. He was an avid Ford supporter on the Nascar circuit, so it was appropriate. Now Wal Mart is 1/4 mile away and K Mart is across the street.
Last edited by warrior74z; 08-17-2007 at 09:16 PM.
-
08-18-2007, 09:42 AM #1347000 RPM
- Join Date
- Nov 2002
- Location
- MCHENRY, IL/LOTO
- Posts
- 2,445
- Thanks (Given)
- 0
- Thanks (Received)
- 2
- Likes (Given)
- 0
- Likes (Received)
- 23
- Mentioned
- 0 Post(s)
- Tagged
- 0 Thread(s)
AWESOME THREAD!!!! This reminds me of working for Jim Umbarger of Hustler boats in McHenry Il in high school. Jim Jr and I would go upstairs during lunch and look at all the old pictures of when Sr used to work with Paul allison and the Switzer bros.. And then later when Sr built his own race and pleasure boats. When we were little, Jim sr used to have a few Chysler stackers in his showroom that he used to race with. I believe he was sponsered by Chrysler for a while. Later, Dave
2018 South Bay 3.0+ Tritoon W/Merc 400R
2019 Wright Perfomance 36, twin Merc 400R's
-
08-18-2007, 08:53 PM #135
1969...One day I came home from school and when I got to work, I saw two of the wierdest looking contraptions I had ever seen. They were solid yellow and looked like a cross between a boat, and a motorcycle. There was no propeller, just a nozzle out the back. I took the seat off, and there was a air cooled engine that looked like it came from motorcycle. Well of course we had to try them out after closing time. One of them had about twenty five horsepower. I had to stand and lean forward just to get it to plane. Once it did plane out, it was a blast. I remember just following the contour of the shoreline about ten feet from land, for miles. It would run planed out in about a foot of water. We used these things all summer in an attempt to sell some. But they just didn't catch on with the public. Dad decided not to order any more. Just another flop of an idea...
It was about fifteen years later before they caught on...the infamous...SEA DOOLast edited by warrior74z; 08-18-2007 at 09:41 PM.