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

right on..... dan

----- Original Message -----
From: "jd" <jdood@...>
To: "Evinrude & Johnson Boats of the 1960's and 70's"
<omc-boats@...>
Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 9:54 PM
Subject: 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