Cowling Colors

[kerry14]

I read somewhere that if Mercury is written in Red it is a 70's model if its in blue it a 80's model and if its in black and white its a 60's model is that true?

 

[achris]

Re: Cowling Colors

Not quite...

Up to 1966 they were white
1966 to ~1968 black with silver wording
~1969 to ~1972 Red band
~1973 to ~1977 Blue band
~1976 to ~1978 "hockey stick" (blue bands in the shape of a hockey stick)
~1978 to ~1979 "Blue speckles"
~1980 to ~1984 "Brown bands"

After that it was more of the stylized decals of what we see today....

All those years are approximate... If someone else has more accurate years, I'll like to hear them too.

Chris............

 

[kingsnakejr]

Re: Cowling Colors

Chris,
Thought you might want to know. My 1985 18xd has a brown band also. I know it's an '85 because original throttle cable and starter motor are stamped 1985.
ks

 

[achris]

Re: Cowling Colors

Thinking about it after I posted that, I think the brown band went all the way to 1987... As I said, those years are approximate.

 

[8075mercury]

Re: Cowling Colors

Here is my limited data based on 25/20hp and under. I do not know if larger hp were different?

65 and under, ??? no data
1966 and 67 silver stripe
1968, 69, 70 & 1971 Red stripe
1972, 73, 74, 75 were blue stripe (75 had "200" for the 20hp on upper cowl, cool, eh?)
1976 and 1977 were hockey sticks
1978 was blue strips but different than 72-75
1979 was the black to black specs to blue
1980 to 1983 were blue stripes
1984 and 1985 were brown stripes (duck hunters!)
1986- ?? was silver with thin red

Have fun!

 

[NelsonQ]

Re: Cowling Colors

Here is a '65 Mercury for reference.

It's a 50HP

 

[kerry14]

Re: Cowling Colors

Thanks everyone for the info.

 

[achris]

Re: Cowling Colors

Here is a '65 Mercury for reference.

It's a 50HP

Those covers are more likely about '75, not '65....