What does "seahorse" mean?

[demmer]

I bought a boat with a 1976 Johnson 70hp "seahorse". What does "seahorse" mean. Is this motor made for salt water? Motor purrs like a kitten.

 

[JB]

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Re: What does

Howdy, demmer.

Welcome to iboats.

"Seahorse" has been a trademark of Johnson outboards since. . . .um.. .so long ago that even I don't remember. Probably sometime in the 1920s or 1930s.

What does it mean? Well, I can think of 2 possibilities.

Seahorse is the name of a family of saltwater fish that vaguely resemble horses with no legs.

But more likely:

The horse has been a symbol of power for hundreds of years, so I think it means horsepower on the water.

 

[tashasdaddy]

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the horse use to be the transportation on land, and the seahorse in mythology, was the transportation on water.

 

[Frank Acampora]

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Yup! OMC had a clever marketing play on words.

 

[Texasmark]

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I had a '75 70 hp Rude and it too purred like a kitten. I like the sound of the 3 cyls when they are powering through the mid rpm's (like when the boat is just getting on plane). The exhaust tubes really sound neat. Now I have a 3 cyl Merc 90 and I listen to it.

Mark

 

[seahorse5]

Re: What does

Re: What does

I bought a boat with a 1976 Johnson 70hp "seahorse". What does "seahorse" mean. Is this motor made for salt water? Motor purrs like a kitten.

Johnson first started using the SEAHORSE logo for the 1929 motors. It was an idea thought up by one of their advertising people and it was chosen over other names, one of which was OCEAN OX.

The logo, instead of looking like a regular seahorse in an aquarium, resembled Pegasus the mythilogical flying horse emerging from the waves. Similar to the old odl Mobil gas logo of the flying red horse. Over the years the logo changed to keep up with the times.

 

[Scaaty]

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Still the best "motto" thought of..

 

[Texasmark]

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And then there's Pegasus of Greek Mythology.

Mark

 

[lark2004]

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something like this was the old logo (n.b. this is the 50th aniversiry logo...hence the years etc... )
before that they had a dragon type logo that stretched across the back of the fuel tank.