While I'm not a AI guy, this seems to be an interesting video between American (OMC, Mercury) vs Japanese outboards (Honda and Suzi).
I'm surprised they didn't talk about Johnson 4 strokes being re-badged Suzi's while the Evinrude's were running FICHT's, Those FICHT's were a disaster but the Evinrude E-tec's especially the Gen II's were decent motors. No mention of the HPDI Yamaha's either.
You never really saw a Honda or Suzi running the APBA outboard boat racing circuit. Lots of 3.6L or 4.0L OMC outboards in 275hp / 300hp in the mid to late 80's and setting records that have never been beat even by Mercury 2.5 or 3.0L motors and records that still stand today for top speed by OMC.
Obviously we all want reliability vs pure raw speed, but its interesting to see the designs / history of how these outboard manufactures evolved over the years.
This one is interesting in it shows Johnson being rebadged Suzi 4 strokes while Evinrude went after FICHT / E-tec fuel injected 2 strokes.
I always thought about OMC being like Chevy / Pontiac. You build the pretty much the cars like a Chevy Camaro / Pontiac Trans Am or Pontiac firebird which takes away your market share between the 2 brands. Mercury did kind of the same thing between their Mercury and Mariner outboards, but they were identical in designs.
I have always been a OMC guy. Owned a 18hp Evinrude, a 10hp Johnson, 175hp Evinrude, twin 150hp Johnson outboards, (2) 70hp Johnson's (still have 1 of them today on our duck boat) , a 55hp Johnson, a 8hp Evinrude, and a 250hp Johnson outboard. All 2 stroke carb motors. Never had 1 issue with any of them. With that said, my old Bennington had my 1st ever Mercury outboard, a 150hp Optimax Pro XS, which was flawless for the 13 years I owned it.
The only reason I never looked at Japanese motors like Honda or Suzuki, is in my neck of the woods we didn't have the dealer support network to purchase or service them.
Just a fun history walking down memory lane of 0utboard designs and the evolution of them.
I'm surprised they didn't talk about Johnson 4 strokes being re-badged Suzi's while the Evinrude's were running FICHT's, Those FICHT's were a disaster but the Evinrude E-tec's especially the Gen II's were decent motors. No mention of the HPDI Yamaha's either.
You never really saw a Honda or Suzi running the APBA outboard boat racing circuit. Lots of 3.6L or 4.0L OMC outboards in 275hp / 300hp in the mid to late 80's and setting records that have never been beat even by Mercury 2.5 or 3.0L motors and records that still stand today for top speed by OMC.
Obviously we all want reliability vs pure raw speed, but its interesting to see the designs / history of how these outboard manufactures evolved over the years.
This one is interesting in it shows Johnson being rebadged Suzi 4 strokes while Evinrude went after FICHT / E-tec fuel injected 2 strokes.
I always thought about OMC being like Chevy / Pontiac. You build the pretty much the cars like a Chevy Camaro / Pontiac Trans Am or Pontiac firebird which takes away your market share between the 2 brands. Mercury did kind of the same thing between their Mercury and Mariner outboards, but they were identical in designs.
I have always been a OMC guy. Owned a 18hp Evinrude, a 10hp Johnson, 175hp Evinrude, twin 150hp Johnson outboards, (2) 70hp Johnson's (still have 1 of them today on our duck boat) , a 55hp Johnson, a 8hp Evinrude, and a 250hp Johnson outboard. All 2 stroke carb motors. Never had 1 issue with any of them. With that said, my old Bennington had my 1st ever Mercury outboard, a 150hp Optimax Pro XS, which was flawless for the 13 years I owned it.
The only reason I never looked at Japanese motors like Honda or Suzuki, is in my neck of the woods we didn't have the dealer support network to purchase or service them.
Just a fun history walking down memory lane of 0utboard designs and the evolution of them.
