Re: [OMC-Boats] OMC Deluxe 'Mystique'

Good journalists never reveal their sources. Let's just say old "Deep Throat" knows all and leave it at that.

(You should probably get a copy of the book Evinrude-Johnson and The Legend of OMC<http://www.writestuffbooks.com/catalog/item.asp?catno=OMC003&secid=1&sec=Nautical+%2D+Aviation+Industries> by Jeffrey L. Rodengen which has a few pages of interest.)

I'm just barely old enough to remember the recreational boating scene of the fifties and sixties. My first "real" (summer) job was at our local Evinrude dealer from 1965 to 1968, with the job of rigging and prepping new boats for customers. Evinrude boats were something really fresh and new in their approach.

OMC dominated the post WW II market with their outboards. Much like GM did in the automotive field. Few others had the resources and vision to build turn-key, integrated package (Motor, trailer, ready-rigged) boats. Scott-Atwater (McCulloch) tried around 1961-63, but mainly you had to be able to afford a "luxury" wood inboard runabout like a Chris-Craft or other lesser-known make. Essentially, these were never considered worthy competitors in any sense of the word. You were also at the mercy of dealers to put your so-called "turn-key" package together. Dealers would shave corners to save a dime and put flimsy light-weight trailers or not include essential safety items. Few boats got comprehensive instruments, mooring covers, bimini tops, etc.

In the recession of 1958 (nothing like today's) OMC introduced their big V-4 outboard, originally at 50 hp but by 1960 it was at 75 hp. Mercury (Carl Kiekhafer) upped the power ante with the mighty "Black Tower of Power" 100 hp six in 1962. But OMC was a cash-rich company looking for ways to expand. They bought up other companies (Cushman and Lawn-Boy spring to mind) where it made sense and expanded into areas where they could use their core expertise. The sterndrive was re-introduced in 1959-60 on a small scale by Volvo-Penta and MerCruiser soon followed. OMC literally designed the Deluxe 17 to accommodate either outboard power (in single or dual configs) but I think they saw the opportunity to really showcase their new 480 sterndrive.

The justification was pretty simple actually, but hard to understand from today's perspective. OMC wanted to be the first to bring high manufacturing and design standards to build boats that were as easy and safe to operate as the automobiles of the day. The company was completely behind the project and agreed to build the type of "complete" people-friendly boat they envisioned the upper average middle class family want want and afford. Eventually other boat companies began introducing sterndrive variants. Larson called their "Comboards." OMC realized the future

If you think the performance was mediocre go back in time. I'd beg to differ and call it outstanding (Duals would top 40+ mph) when most (outboard) family runabouts would top out in the 32 to 37 mph range. To package 176 hp in a family runabout back then was hot. (And the single engine or outboard performance wasn't shabby either). This is especially amazing when you consider the attention paid to stability, comfort, usable room, safety and rugged quality construction. You don't need to take my word, read the introductory brochures and boat tests that Phil and I have posted: http://www.ultimate.com/omc-boats/gallery/lee.shuster/1964guide/3a.jpg

So I can see why, in today's "throw-away" society these boats seem out of place and difficult to restore. But these guys were not out on a limb. In fact, even when they decided to leave the boat business they had established themselves as the leader in sterndrives which they maintained for about another decade.

lee shuster

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From: omc-boats-bounces@... [mailto:omc-boats-bounces@...ultimate.com] On Behalf Of Kim Foster
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 10:26 PM
To: omc-boats@...
Subject: Re: [OMC-Boats] OMC Deluxe 'Mystique'

Lee - Once, again, great info! So how did you sleuth this out? This is, again, clear evidence that no amount of engineering or production money was questioned on the Deluxe's...even the trailers... Ultimately there had to be someone - or some force - within OMC that was authorizing these tremendous costs just to produce a rather mediocre performing (from a speed standpoint) runabout. Was there a meglomaniac project manager, board member, company officer driving this? Was there an underlying competition going on with another manufacturer? Do you know any specifics - or have you formulated an opinion - on just what the justification for all of this was?

Jake

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From: lee.k.shuster@...
To: omc-boats@...
Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 17:05:03 -0600
Subject: [OMC-Boats] OMC Myth Busted -- The Deluxe 17 and Sweet 16 Windshield Origin

Okay guys -- after years of hearing this OMC "urban legend" or myth about the Deluxe 17 windshield design originating in Detroit I decided to do some additional research. Here are my findings:

The unique OMC 17 Deluxe - Sweet 16 windshield was made expressly for OMC by Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company. The unique industrial design work was by Myron Stevens, OMC in-house designer, who joined OMC from Brooks Stevens Associates in Milwaukee (no family relation to Brooks). You will recall Brooks Stevens did Evinrude's product styling and logo designs for many years. See: http://hhscott.com/evinrude/brooks_stevens.htm

The tooling for forming the Deluxe 17 - Sweet 16 windshield (USA market-only*), was designed, funded and owned by OMC and used by PPG in their Pittsburg, PA plants to produce the OMC USA-market windshields. The windshield was made of "float" plate glass ( a process relatively new in 1960), in which the molten glass is floated on a pan of molten lead and allowed to solidify there, producing a smooth surface and optically uniform thickness, just like ground and polished plate glass. This is a very touchy process in which the glass (in a plastic state, maintained by gas flame heat), is laid on a flex frame which warps the glass into its unique curved "sagged" shape and then is rapidly cooled by air jets to temper it. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_glass

The tubular stainless steel perimeter molding was installed by another company with a rubber insert all around that was bonded right to the glass to protect the edge of the windshield. This was needed so the ball sockets for the tilting pivots could be welded right to the molding before it was put on. Windshields were shipped from Pittsburg, PA eventually making their way to Waukegan, IL for final assembly.

It is important to point out that these marine-application windshields were manufactured of non-laminated tempered safety glass, which cannot be used in the U.S. for automotive windshields. Automotive laminated plate glass has been mandatory since 1927, which has a thin layer of flexible clear plastic film called polyvinyl butyral (PVB) sandwiched between two or more pieces of glass.

So, for the OMC Deluxe 17 - Sweet 16 marine windshield THERE NEVER WAS A CONNECTION WITH ANY AUTOMOTIVE WINDSHIELD, though some of the same manufacturing processes were used for both, but DEFINITELY not the same shape.

Next time you have your Deluxe 17 or Sweet 16 out, enjoy the view. Take extremely good care of that rare piece of glass; as it will be hard to come by a replacement. The re-tooling costs to reproduce this baby would definitely be astronomical!

Myth most definitely busted!!

* Canadian market, Peterbourgh-built boats used Plexiglas windshields

Lee Shuster
OMC Boats Myth Buster

Keep 'en floatin'

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Received on Wednesday, 13 May 2009