Racing to the Finish Line

The next decade included major developments in engineering and design, combined with big wins in international racing and sponsorships in worldwide racing competitions. Their high profile included a new factories, an affiliation with Yamaha and Disney providing engines for all the water attractions and rides at the park, significant racing sponsorships and international wins using Mercury Marine engines.

1970 – The Merc 1150 and Merc 1350 are introduced, both are 6-cylinder engines rated at 135HP.

1971 – The MerCruiser 888 introduced the Jet Propeller with a V8 and power trim. The first Jet Drive was also introduced as the MerCruiser Jet 400 V8 with a 375HP rating.

1972 – MerCruiser launched Blue Water Inboards with superior performance and dependability for sports enthusiasts and commercial fishermen. Also in 1972, Brunswick bough a small interest in Yamaha with the idea of providing designs from Mercury for engines to be built by Yamaha for exclusive distribution by Brunswick under the brand name Mariner.

The marketing idea was based on increasing Mercury’s profile as a high-performance brand and capturing a new market with the new Mariner brand, to be presented as steady and reliable. The Merc Mariner arrived with a big splash setting international records and proving itself. The Mercury brand continued showcasing engineering and high performance improvements by refining and improving fuel efficiency and simplifying controls with ergonomic design modifications. EFI or Electronic Fuel Injection was introduced and changed the face of the industry.

1976 – The Merc 1750 V6 Black Max 175HP was the first in a line of 150 – 200HP engines introducingthe racing technology of “Power Porting” to compress vaporized fuel for even better performance.

1982 – The Black Max was revamped to a 60° V6 Loop-charged engine, and was upgraded to 300HP

1983 - The Federal Trade Commission made the unfortunate decision to block the joint venture with Yamaha nine years after the successful launch of the Mariner brand, and the details of the original agreement came back to haunt Brunswick. The FTC felt that Mercury Marine was monopolizing the market, and the separation of the Mercury and Mariner brands would bring down prices. In the original agreement, Yamaha was prohibited to sell the Mariner brand under its own name. When the FTC ordered Brunswick to sell its shares back to Yamaha, the door was opened and a new competitor rapidly emerged on the market. In fact, the dealers had been conditioned to think of Yamaha as a prestige product so after the FTC decision, Mariner prices increased as it continued to be sold in direct competition with Mercury.

This period of time also included the reconciliation of Carl Kiekhaefer and Mercury Marine at the hands of the 1977 President, Jack Reichert before Kiekhaefer’s death in 1983.