Hot Singles ! - Pictures

[Bob V]

Chrysler outboards
Bill and Stephen Malone Twin engine catamaran Bobby soles single engine Schultz OK OK people that’s all I can think of in South Florida I’m sure there’s more but I was pretty young man then i and had a lot more my faculties People please step up there are more names out there from around the country let’s get a list of Chrysler outboard people on screaming and fly.

In the 1970's the west coast drag racing scene was enriched by the legendary Gary Ferguson and his trademark feather on his helmet.

[Rotary John]

Johnie Sanders drove for Merc also; the twin V-6s on a single lower unit.

[Amberjack1234]

Flying feather

In the 1970's the west coast drag racing scene was enriched by the legendary Gary Ferguson and his trademark feather on his helmet.

Thank you Bob V And again if my faculties were Fully functioning I would have remembered him from Havasu where I personally got to watch him perform I think it was the triple rig and 69 or it may have been a twin but who could forget.

[jackiewilson]

[QUOTE=Rotary John;3370752]Johnie Sanders drove for Merc also; the twin V-6s on a single lower unit.[/QUOT
Wrong Johnno —- johnny sanders drove for the Hauunsteins—-the motor was the brain child of Fred and Jim—— never did travel far. Think it was Rick Frosts TRIMITE that was used for the effort . Arse fell out of the boat if i remember right.

[Amberjack1234]

[QUOTE=jackiewilson;3370860]

Johnie Sanders drove for Merc also; the twin V-6s on a single lower unit.[/QUOT
Wrong Johnno —- johnny sanders drove for the Hauunsteins—-the motor was the brain child of Fred and Jim—— never did travel far. Think it was Rick Frosts TRIMITE that was used for the effort . Arse fell out of the boat if i remember right.

It was probably a wonderful experiment and kept the engineers and theorists in their happy space. Just like the rotary engines. In the end it all comes down to consistency of the marathon races back in the day. In theory The V fours should never have been able to run in line 6 Mercs Tower of power. The design was superior. It’s just like an overhead cam four stroke versus a pushrod engine. I’m not an engineer or a terrorist maybe I am a terrorist But it’s all good conversation. Just like the Chevys cannot run with the Chrysler hemi. That’s why I got banned from NASCAR

[Rotary John]

[QUOTE=jackiewilson;3370860]

Johnie Sanders drove for Merc also; the twin V-6s on a single lower unit.[/QUOT
Wrong Johnno —- johnny sanders drove for the Hauunsteins—-the motor was the brain child of Fred and Jim—— never did travel far. Think it was Rick Frosts TRIMITE that was used for the effort . Arse fell out of the boat if i remember right.

Hey buckarue; It had a Merc engine; if fact 2; a Merc lower unit and a Merc shroud. That makes it a Merc in my book. It sure as hell wasn't a Johnson. And by the way, Fred worked for Merc at the time.

[Lake X Kid]

Jeez, you could listed the 3 or 4 that campaigned Chryslers......

During the Factory Wars of the 1960’s &’70s, how deep were the money pockets, who was David and who was Goliath?

When Carl Kiekhaefer was at the helm, I think Mercury was a David, and OMC & Chrysler were the Goliaths. Goliaths — whose corporations net worth were greater than Mercury in the 1960s. Chrysler especially, being one of the “Big 3” automotive companies in the U.S.

Granted Brunswick took eventual ownership of Mercury Marine, but I do not think they allocated any Brunswick profits into funding the Mercury race team. Therefore, I surmise, Mercury was punching above their financial weight-class. Mercury then was a formidable David, with a back and forth winning race record against rival OMC.

The deepest pockets of the parent companies, Chrysler Motor Company, it seems to me, did the least investment and support by the Three Outboard Brands’ parent companies.

[Lake X Kid]

Composite boats are probably more durable, than the old wooden boats surviving numerous turning force G's.

“Enter a corner at 135 mph, turning 90 degrees generating a 6 Gs force, and exiting at 90 mph.”

[Rotary John]

Wasn't Chrysler (Force) taken over by Merc at some point in that time frame?

[moparbarn]

Yes, but long after Chrysler had sold it. The Force company that Mercury got no longer had any connection to Chrysler. It was owned by US Marine/Bayliner.

[bernie]

Yes, but long after Chrysler had sold it. The Force company that Mercury got no longer had any connection to Chrysler. It was owned by US Marine/Bayliner.

Mercury got "forced" into bailing out Force, seems to me they lost thier ignition supplier, I think Prestolite, so first thing we had to do was adapt Merc ignition. Then we gave them Merc gearcases, Merc trim, and on and on. Brunswick owned Bayliner/Force, Mercury, and the others. Mercury had also planned to strip down several Merc models to compete with the Force engines before the merger, no flywheels covers, cheaper trim systems, carb air boxes, etc. Even had them named, they were to be Mercury Sport models. A certain president of Force got wind of this and went crying to Brunswick honchos and the whole thing got scrapped and Merc ended up with Force - and with that company's president and a bunch of his cronies.

[Rotary John]

Was Rick Davis involved in that" Or was it the fellow that was president of Homelite? I can't remember his name, but he stole Rick from Homelite and I thought was made head of Force.

[Amberjack1234]

Forced into it

Was Rick Davis involved in that" Or was it the fellow that was president of Homelite? I can't remember his name, but he stole Rick from Homelite and I thought was made head of Force.

God you guys are knowledgeable on history.This is great history I’m glad I grew up in the golden age of Outboard boat racing. Now you gotta bring a boatload of money just to go boating. Homelite was ahead of its time and we return to that time with all the four strokesI think they only had a 55 hp engine but a buddy of mine down in the Keys had two of themOn his dive boat think it was a 21 or 22 foot six pack vote this was probably in 1962 or three. They were dependable and didn’t burn any gas or gas back then was only $.25 a gallon. Used to run the boat out of Mayo’s Fish camp on Largo sound out to the reefs in Pennekamp Park. Seems like they may chainsaws or something too

[Rotary John]

There were 2 models 55 & 75. They were initially made by Fisher Price. They were used primarily on displacement hulls for their fuel economy. Remember when gas was $.25/gal wages were $3.00/hr. also. Fuel economy was just as important then as now. They weren't very high performance, and the 2-strokes took over the recreational market. Homelite stopped producing them after only a couple of years.

[Amberjack1234]

Thank you

There were 2 models 55 & 75. They were initially made by Fisher Price. They were used primarily on displacement hulls for their fuel economy. Remember when gas was $.25/gal wages were $3.00/hr. also. Fuel economy was just as important then as now. They weren't very high performance, and the 2-strokes took over the recreational market. Homelite stopped producing them after only a couple of years.

You mean Fisher-Price the company that makes all sorts of toys now? I’m pretty sure that they were overhead cam engine fairly sophisticated but I could be mistaken on that maybe they were just playing pushrod stuff. I remember going to the boat show with my dad the old Miami boat show was held in Coconut Grove at that time and looking at one of these huge engines compared to the two cylinder 30 hp Johnson that he had on his 16 foot wooden Glenn craft. Later had Eddie Glenn build him a 19 footer with a six cylinderEddie Glenn build him a 19 footer with a six cylinder 100 hp Ford falcon engine with an Eaton Stern drive. This was in the early 60s the same time Jim Wynn’s Was promoting the first Volvo out drives Which I believe will be better units. Do you think I went back to the old days Would be better in some ways I can’t really figure out if prices went up or the money gotta devalued