is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

[phatmanmike]

the title says it all!

 

[DJ]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

None whatsoever.<br /><br />Ford sold Mercury Marine some engines in the mid to late seventies and some parts in the eighties.<br /><br />Other than that, the ONLY relationship is that the name is the same (Mercury) for one of their two totally different product lines.

 

[DHPMARINE]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

I agree otherwise mercruiser would not have GM engines.<br />DHP

 

[phatmanmike]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

thanks, i admitt i used to hate mercury years ago just on the ASSumption that they were made by ford<br /><br />dum-bass

 

[outboardguy]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

Mercury is actually a subsidiary of Brunswick(You know, bowling balls and pool tables)Go figure!

 

[quantumleap]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

With the recent aquisition of Crestliner, Lowe and Lund (I think those are the right brands?) from Genmar, Brunswick is now has the most boat brands under it's name and the highest volume of sales. Brunswick is HUGE! I don't think you'll see Crestliners factory rigged with Yammies anymore! The more brands you buy, the more Mercs you sell.

 

[ehenry]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

If I remember right GM contracted Mercury Marine to forge some aluminum blocks for several special edition Vets. I believe I watched a special on the Speed channel about it. I could wrong and may have been dreaming it too!!!

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

Hi EFHenry,<br /> You're right - Mercury was contracted to do the aluminum blocks on the high tech 350 LT(?) series of Vette (and later Firechickens). GM liked Merc's casting ability in aluminum...<br />- Scott

 

[jimmbo]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

Mercury was founded by a man named Carl Kiekhaefer in 1939. In Sept 1961 he sold it to Brunswick Corp but continued in a management role for several years before leaving. He passed away Oct 5 1983.

 

[achris]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

Carl purchased a machine shop with the view to building farm machinery. With the business came several outboards. To generate cash flow he modified them to work a bit better and sold them. They were so well regarded that people started asking him to build more, but he was only interested in farm machinery. That changed with the start of WWII. The US navy managed to aquire one of his outboards and thought they were pretty good too. Under law enacted for the war, the navy were able to 'force' him to build more. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

[jimmbo]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

Actually he never built outboards for the war effort, OMC pretty much had that to them selves. Kiekhaefer made motors for chain saws and later engines for drone aircraft. Several times during WWII the company almost went into receivership because Kiekhaefer was having trouble getting Aluminium which was in high demand. He was really upset that OMC didn't seem to have trouble getting it though.

 

[achris]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

I stand corrected.....

 

[outboardguy]

Re: is mercury marine any relation to ford motor co?

There was one of kiekhaefer's WWII chainsaws at the Hayward Ca Merc School. Too bad it burned down last year.Lost a great piece of history.