OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

[WEH]

I remember during the 1950s and 1960s Johnson and Evinrude outboards were about all I saw. I also remember that many people were very opinionated regard the relative merits of Johnson over Evinrude or Evinrude over Johnson, even though we all knew (sort of) that they were the same under the paint.<br /><br />My question, out of curiosity, is why did OMC market and sell both Johnson and Evinrude outboards, if they are indeed the same? It seems they were in competition with themselves, which, in today's business thinking, is not good practice.<br /><br />Just curious. We all know that Johnson has it all over Evinrude.

 

[dkondelik]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

LESS FILLING!<br /><br />Seriously,Good Question!<br />There are a few here with the,...EXPERIENCE,..who may be able to shed some "Light" (couldn't resist) on this subject.<br /><br />I Think that I recall the OMC Johny/Rude history going waaaayyy Back. <br /><br />I'm gonna ride along and see what comes up.<br /><br />TASTES GREAT

 

[DJ]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

crappie cruncher,<br /><br />Both brands were marketed as not really competing with each other as much as complimenting each other. It didn't quite double sales, but came close to it.<br /><br />In the early days, they weren't identical. OMC consisted of many brands yet the Johnson and Evinrude brands survived as being the most popular. Vertical intigration within the company brought the two closer to each other as time went on.<br /><br />Actually, it was marketing genious. As you mentioned, both brands had very strong followings.<br /><br />Getting some owners of one brand or the other to admit they were basically the same would bring forth very strong emotions.<br /><br />In the later days, Johnson was seen as the performance engine and Evinrude was seen as more of a pleasure/fishing boat engine.<br /><br />Bombardier has made the Evinrude line the technology leader while marketing the Johnson line as technically advanced, yet more of a "value" line.<br /><br />Similar types of marketing have been tried and have been succesful by others too:<br /><br />Mercury/Mariner<br />Tohatsu/Nissan<br /><br />In the auto industry:<br /><br />Ford/Mercury<br />Chrysler/Plymouth/Dodge<br />Chevrolet/GMC<br /><br />Many of those brands still have strong emotional ties and many consumers do not see them as related.

 

[WEH]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

Thanks for the reply.<br /><br />I thought it must have something to do with brand loyalty.

 

[ledgefinder]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

When was the last pre-Ficht time they were actually different? I know they sometimes marketed a motor under just one of the names (e.g., some SPLs were just Johnson, right?), but when did they last market directly competing designs - has to be in the 1940s, right?

 

[Capt Ken]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

Wouldn't this be the same as Chevrolet and GMC trucks. Same truck, different emblem.

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

> e.g., some SPLs were just Johnson, right?<br />Actually, Evinrude had their own SPL line...<br /><br />> When was the last pre-Ficht time they were actually different?<br />I'm going to go out on a limb here and take a stab at it... I believe the last time Johnson and Evinrude had a distinctly different motor in the same line was 1955 when Johnson offered a 5.5 and Evinrude offered a 7.5. The motors shared the same lower unit, but the powerheads were quite different. In 1956 they both produced both models...<br /><br />I can't think of any motors further up the time line that weren't offered in both guises until you get to the value/premium split under Bomber.<br /><br />- Scott

 

[Dhadley]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

There was a time when Evinrude had an 18 and the same motor in white was a 20. The 25's were the same in both colors. Late 60's and early 70's maybe?<br /><br />Now when I was very young I was told that as the motors came off the assembly line at OMC they were all test run. The ones that started went to the blue paint booth. The ones that didnt start or had to be fiddled with were painted Johnson white. <br /><br />That should get things going! Lol!

 

[Chinewalker]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

Hi DHadley,<br /> Yep, in the mid-late 1960s Johnson and Evinrude offered the same motor, rated differently. I've had plenty of the 18s and 20s apart and I can't tell any difference. I think it was purely a marketing ploy, but to what end I can only guess.<br /> I'll add another 1955 difference to my previous list... Johnson offered the 10hp, while Evinrude had the 15hp, again with both models being offered by both brands in 1956. I still think that was the last year they offered mechanically different lines...<br />- Scott

 

[seahorse5]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

The difference between the Johnson 20 and the Evinrude 18 was the reed stop, which kept the 18 from "breathing" as well as the 20.

 

[Navigator]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

The dual brand thing happens alot these day for many different reasons. For one, it allows a lesser quality brand to be isolated from a high quality brand...<br />For example, You dont see Ford rebadging their Jaguar line with the Blue Oval, or Toyota rebadging their Lexus line with Toyota emblems.<br /><br />Different creates distinction, although the two products may be identical.<br /><br />Another example: (and I'll use cars)<br /> Honda Passport = Isuzu Rodeo<br /> Pontiac Vibe = Toyota Matrix<br /> Chevy Prism = Toyota Corolla<br /> Chevy Tahoe = GMC Yukon<br /> <br />It also used to boost the image of a poor brand<br />Classic example:<br /> FORCE...by Mercury Marine<br /> <br />But one of the best reasons for the differentiation is strictly business. The financial loss on one brand can be kept off of the balance sheet of another brand. Example, Mercury Marine could have hypothetically done all of their R&D expenditures under one brand say Mariner, then licensed the technology to the other brand Mercury. Mercury gets the technology without the expense of developing it. Balance sheets look good, investors are happy. Mariner brand takes the hit on the large expenses so the company writes it off as a loss.<br />Mariner Loss becomes a single entry on Mercury Marines Financial statements, while the Glowing Mercury sales make up the rest.<br /> This is a common occurance and is one of the primary reasons many companinies have competing products.<br /><br />Nav

 

[rons boat]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

Once upon a time there were many companies manufacturing motors and competeing for the outboard motor business and today most of those are gone. There were so many competitors that after Johnson and Evenrude had combined they decided to sell their motors under many different names to capture a greater share of the market. Some of those names besides Evinrude and Johnson were: Gale, Bucaneer, and many more. Every chain store sold their own brand of motor including Mongomery Wards, Sears, Oklahoma Tire and Supply, Western Auto, and lots more. West Bend, Scott, Atwater, Neptune, Mercury, OMC, clinton, chrysler, and a host of others were in the business of building motors for all those business names. I guess my age has been deduced by now, but I sometimes wonder what happened to all those old motors with only one American Company still in business. OMC which was formed from Evinrude and Johnson survived only untill the late 90s. Many years before their demsise, they flurshed as seperate marketing groups as most of us fought over which one was better. Most of the time they were exactly the same with different paint. One dealer sold one marketing brand and the competitor across the street sold the other. The salesman lied on how his was better than the other guys even though they came out of the same factory in Milwakee. In the 90s they departed marketing stratagy to move one brand into the anti-polution business first. The US was so far behind in developement that foreign companies had to be employed to produce more and more of OMC and Mercurys line. No body then and now wanted you to know that Susuki, Yamaha, Tohatsu, and others are making more and more of those 'American Built Motors". Engineering left the building and motors were thrown together without regard to pride and accomplishment Nobody noticed too much that we had lost our world class technology and parts were just thrown together. I am sure some cared when all the talent was lost but somehow we now find our selves without our manufacturing ability to compete in the world market. It reminds me of 1957 when we couldn't get a rocket off the ground without it blowing up. Somehow we got it together and got to the moon. Bear has a link below which will cover some of the many outboards from the 40's and 50's. You will be amazed.

 

[Bear]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

Ron Davis, have you seen this? <br />The following table is a list of American Brand outboard motor manufactures (click)

 

[steelespike]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

The first merging of the Johnson Evinrude technology was introduced in the fall of 1950.<br /> As the 25 Evinrude Big Twin and Johnson Sea Horse 25.They proved to be rugged dependable<br /> Performers and the basic powerhead served for many years.<br /> Some other less obvious Shared technology.<br /> Chevy Nova/Prizim and the Toyota corolla,<br />Chevy S10 and the Izuzu pickup,Ford Ranger and<br />Mazda pickup,And back a few years the Chevette and Pontiac T 1000. The Whole Midsize GMC <br /> Frontwheel drive platform introduced in the 1970s<br />and on and on.

 

[rons boat]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

Bear, thanks for the link. Do you remember when Homelite built the 4 cycle, I think it was 58 or 59. Boy were they ever a head of their time. I am pretty sure they were red and VERY heavy.

 

[Cberry]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

Homelite Motors... On E-Bay last week there<br />was a pair of Homelites, 45hp 4 strokes<br />offered for sale. Now there'd be a challenge<br />to keep them running. They were red.

 

[enn]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

Homelite made 4 stroke OB from 1961 to 1965 i belive and from 1965-1972 the same engine was sold under the BearCat name.<br />They where withe/blue at least the ones that are on my stock you can visit this page http://hometown.aol.com/homelite55/index.html <br />for more information on the Homelite Bearcat OBs

 

[steelespike]

Re: OMC; Why both Johnson and Evinrude?

The Homelite 55 was based on the Crosley engine block from the Crosley car of the late 40s and early 50s.Had an overhead cam (from the original design), Developed 55 hp from 59.4 cubic inches<br /> and a relatively consertive 9 to 1 compression ratio.The very early car engine blocks were <br />made of stamped steel brazed together they<br />tended to rust out if you didnt watch the coolent very carefully.