NOA OPC 1958, part 3

[Smokin' Joe]

My dad crossing the finish line, Knoxville Boat Club, 1958. Mark 78/AristoCraft Torpedo. Second photo is after the NOA Nationals, he won unlimited class in the 100 mile marathon on Old Hickory Lake (Nashville). The boat would run 47-48 mph, and you can see that my dad did not trim out. Understanding elementary physics very well, he assumed that 'level' was fastest (he didn't think about lifting the tail via dynamic pressure). He never trimmed anything out, the boat probably would have sat on its tail and run 50 mph!

The 60-70 c.i. Class required a 14' boat, the Torpedo was an inch too short. In Feb. 1958 we talked with Claude Turner at the Chicago Boat Show. that spring Claude built my dad a 14' 2" Torpedo but (while allowing home made wooden Allisons) NOA disqualified it as 'not production'. Politics mattered .... .

Third photo is Fall, 1959, when the 1960 Merc 800 first came out. Beside it is my dad's 1978 Mark 78. Both motors were the ones we set the NOA records with. In the window is a 1957 poster showing a Mark 10 (first through-hub exhaust model) beside the last produced Mark 25, and below are the Mark 30H and Mark 55H models along with the Mark 75. wish I had that poster today. I think the 70 hp Mercury weighed about 160 lb, less than an E-tec 40, half the weight of an E-tec 75, and I won't mention the weights of today's 4-stroke 'Briggs & Stratton' type 'outboards'. I could in any case lift the motor on and off the boat and carry it in and out of the shop alone, standing it on the gearcae every few steps.

Pictures 4 and 5 are of my well-thumbed, greasy paged Mercury Service manual that I used from 1957-1961. I still have the manual plus a few special tools.