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

.........just wish they had thought about the fact that water would
seep through any bolt holes in the floorboard and saturate the
foam . ;)

On May 13, 2009, at 1:28 PM, Lee Shuster wrote:

> 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 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
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: omc-boats-bounces@... [mailto:omc-boats-bounces@...
> ] 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
>
> 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'
>
> Windows Live™: Keep your life in sync. Check it out.
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Received on Thursday, 14 May 2009