The other side of the early OPC

[hydroc888]

These are a few of the pictures of the other side of early OPC that you never hear about. Hydros were OPC R class [ 44cu to whatever the Merc 800 was ]. The fun to run stuff was the stock v bottom boats with the 110 mercs. Avengers ,Tahitis , etc.

[Mark75H]

The 800's and 850's were 76ci. As I understand it, R stands for Restricted. The others were S, T, U and X. Single, Twin, Unlimited displacement and eXperimental.

[Ron Hill]

I remember helpijng Lee Sutter win the R Nationals in Dayton, Ohio, 1976. Seem he had a "D" Marchetti, with a 44 and a "D" Quickie. I recall "R" being under 44 cubic inches, but I'm not sure... WE WEREN'T into RESTRICTION in the early days of OPC, at least, not out WEST.....and "R" was a West Coast Class....

Pete DeLackner or Ron Baker, Sr. would recall.....I'll look in an old Havasu program, too.

Cool old pictures....remember some of those boats well!!!

[Ted March]

is hangin pretty!!!

[Tomtall]

Blew it up larger to show better.I love the bubble helmet shield.To cool.Flashback.:cool:

[John Schubert T*A*R*T]

Not sure of the year but Ted May drove a T*A*R*T 2 seater/ side by side Molinari tunnel with a 89 cube OMC GP (?) not sure of the engine but it was "R" class and won. Not too many boats. I won "S", Hering thought he did, but I sure did and Geoff Briggs won "U" class.

[Ron Hill]

UJ, we called it USED JUNK, was 89 inches and less, wasn't...and four carbs...

I don't know where to find out, but "R" was big in Region 11, and maybe those 44's became Formula E's...

[Joe J]

Sam:

The 800 is a 66 inch motor, not 76". Otherwise it could not be a legal "F" engine.

Also, it was 2/3 of the 100 CI Merc blocks.

Joe

[hydroc888]

is hangin pretty!!!

I am pretty sure that is the same boat that belonged to Jorden Silva. There were 3 of them in the bay area all ran out of Steve Marciels shop , Steves Marine. 2 black and white ones and a red and white one. Ken Kusnick had the red one [ I think ] Hugh Landis had the other black one [ please correct me if I am wrong on this ] .
I traded Jorden my R hydro less motor for his Allison less motor at the end of the season . Put a old 950 Merc on it and used it for running the river when things got to frustrating at home. Ended up selling it to a guy that sunk it many times. You couldnt slow down to fast or over the transom the water would come. He never could figure out that part.
He finally sold it to a gal and the boat disappeared for a long time. I was driving around Bethel Island [ where i lived ] and there was the boat laying rightside up behind a boat shop .
The person that owner it donated it to the B.I. Chamber of Commerce and they set it up on blocks in front of there building , filled it with dirt and planted flowers in it. As far as I know it is still there on the main street going in .

[Joe J]

Jack,

I was over in Bether Island last weekend and the boat is still there. Teri's mom has a house about 1/2 way down Stone road.

Joe

[Mark75H]

Joe, you are referring to 4 cylinder 80's & 85's ..... I was referring to 6 cylinder 80 & 85's.

The 6 cylinder 80's & 85's were 76 ci

[Ted March]

They were 76. Spent a lot of time with them.
thanks