Ambitious fraudster or rare machine

[NicoPags]

Picked up a Sight-Unseen outboard. Needed some odds and ends as a donor for my other 7.5HP. Offered a lower than asking no questions asked take it and go price. The seller has had ownership for many many years, I suspect the owner before the one I purchase may have been up to no good.

its a Mercury 7.5HP, year and serial continue to elude me. I stripped what I needed for my other 7.5 and its running strong, now I'm left with this mystery 7.5 but assuming its around that 1985 era considering parts compatibility.

The cowl has Mercruiser graphics. Inclined to say this is custom and not a Mercruiser O/B I myself am not sure if there was ever a Mercruiser branded O/B

On the powerhead, there appears to be a factory stamped "Pistol" symbol. Im not familiar with this, is this something mercury did for any reason? Or did a previous owner have a set of punches and just want to see what happens.

The tiller handle is missing from this one, in comparison to the 7.5 beside it the mounts on the pan are quite different. Did Mercury have a time period where the tiller handles did not use a Push/Pull cable?

Thanks for your time and discussion, this helps me in determining the Era of this thing and I'm thinking its between 75-81 so far based on diagrams etc.

 

[tpenfield]

Mercruiser is Mercury's branding for their sterndrive (I/O) engines. It is a fair assumption that a PO had those stickers lying round and used them on the OB cowl. The older Mercury OB's used a gear on the end of the twist-grip shaft rather than cables.

 

[NicoPags]

Beaut

Mercruiser is Mercury's branding for their sterndrive (I/O) engines. It is a fair assumption that a PO had those stickers lying round and used them on the OB cowl. The older Mercury OB's used a gear on the end of the twist-grip shaft rather than cables.

Beauty thanks for the reply. We share the assumption on that Mercruiser graphic. Appreciate the tip on the tiller handle as well, much appreciated

 

[racerone]

The " COMET " decal makes it the 7.5 model.

 

[QBhoy]

Looks like a 7.5 alpha one surely

 

[Scott Danforth]

Drive decals are cheap ( ~$5). Cowl decals are about $90

 

[matt167]

Also there are companies that are willing to format decals to fit other cowls.. I have an 86-88 or somewhere in there ( faded serial ) Johnson 20. I was going to have a company format the decal from a newer Johnson that had a similar cowl

 

[NicoPags]

Looks like a 7.5 alpha one surely

trust me I felt like a moron searching "7.5HP Mercruiser?" LOL

 

[NicoPags]

The overhead shot of the powerhead. What's with the Pistol stamp?

 

[Mohawkmtrs]

...maybe it was once owned by Pete Maravich.