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Like Henry Ford used to say, you can have your Ford in any color you want as long as it is Black.

I just noticed that Mercury is now offering others colors besides Black.
https://www.mercurymarine.com/en/us/e...25-350-hp/

I haven't been following the outboard changes lately so this just caught my eye.
4 colors to choose from.

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I've seen dozens of white Verados, usually behind large center console offshore fishing machines. Mostly I'm seeing triple engines with a few twins in white. Only one quad, so far. This is in the Orange Beach, Alabama area.

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3 different shades of White.

1. Pearl Fusion White
2. Cold Fusion White
3. Warm Fusion White

and of course, Phantom Black

I assume these may be moving on to the smaller motors also but not so far that I can tell.
300 and 350hp only at this time.

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Yes, the white Mercury Verados I've seen were all 300/350 HP. Seeing 1400 HP on the back of a center console boat was shocking.

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I bet the price tag was shocking too!!

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Waiting on my new Mercury 150 Four Stroke to show up! Hard for me to picture my boat with a white motor, but it might have been nice. Funny when I talk to boater friends about the new motor, the men want to know right away what I ordered, the the women ask "is it pretty!?" :0

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When I was a kid (early 1980's), working on the gas dock in Vermilion, Ohio, we had a very wealthy customer who bought a very expensive large center-console boat, imported up here from Florida. He had our marina outfit it with twin monster Johnsons. He had us remove all the Johnson logo/paint or tape, the boat's identifying marks, and paint it in his chosen colors. Quote was "they don't pay me to advertise their product". Ever since then, I thought each of us should get exactly what we want ... and I HATE the big black motor on the back of my beautiful white Whaler. At repower, 10 or 15 years from now, I'm picking WHITE. Of course, I don't have to pick Mercury ... and they should remember that if they are thinking of dropping or not extending the color options.

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I guess it all depends on what you like. In my case, I have bought two used Whalers, both with "white" engines on them, and I could hardly wait to switch over to the "black" engines. No comparison in appearance in my estimation. I don't like the color white on outboards. It is a real mismatch with Whaler Desert Tan.

Where I boat in the winter months, SE Florida between Palm Beach and Miami, re-painted brand new high HP engines are all the raqe, and have been for about 10 years. There are shops that specialize in this work. You see every color, on both the large Mercury Verados and Yamahas. Many of these high end boaters think the outboard engines should match the boat color, which now days are mostly shades of white. White Yamahas are popular, so I guess those buyers don't like the Yamaha metallic gray.

Suzuki, who first copied Mercury black, is now offering high HP white engines, and of course, Evinrude has been offering dark blue and graphite engines for years to compete with Mercury black, especially in the bass boat market. So now I guess it makes sense that Mercury offers the 300HP and 350 HP Verados in white, at an upcharge of $1400., but which is probably less than the aftermarket paint shops charge.

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This isn't Mercuy's first time at color options. For 1957-1959 they offered the engines in at least 6 color options, including Sarasota Blue, Sandlewood Tan, Aztec copper, Tangerine, Charcoal, Emerald Green and even a Plum version, before settling on white until 1963. So the story goes, it was Carl Kiekhaefer's wife that felt that the inline 6 cylinder Merc dressed in all white and chrome looked to large and intimidating and convinced Carl to paint the engines black beginning in 1964 to down play the size of the engine and remained black ever since. In those days, it was all about styling and color that followed the automotive design trends. Fiberglass boats had fins and wild colors and the engines were to match the style so you something else towing down the road with your giant Chrysler station wagon and a boat and motor to match! Those boat and engine combinations are highly collectible now, especially if it still has the original Tee-Nee trailer with coil springs and baby moon hubcaps!

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I would like to correct a few of the statements above. The first black Mercurys came out in 1962, with the introduction of the worlds first 100HP engine, the Merc 1000.

The idea for black came from the mother of one of the chief engineers working for Mercury, Charlie Strang, who later became CEO of OMC. Strang is also responsible for the invention of the in-line 6, who evidently had the idea to cobb together two of Mercury's inline 4 blocks, reduced to three cylinders, unknown to Carl K. After they had a prototype done, they showed it to Carl, who loved the way it ran, and he said "build it". Strang told his mother about the new engine, and mentioned how huge it was (for the time!) and she said "that's easy - paint it black. Large women always dress in black"

Now days the "huge" Tower of Power of the 60's weighs less than a little three cylinder Evinrude E-tec 90, and the Yamaha and "Seven" V-8's make the Verado in-line 6 look small!

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Good job Finnegan!

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So are you telling us that no other new motor today weighs more then that Tower of Power?
Only the E-Tec 90 and Yamaha weigh more?

Would be nice to list the factual weights so we all can see.

Tower of Power 90 =
E-Tec 90 =
Yamaha 4 stroke 90 =
Mercury 4 stroke 90 =
other new motors ? =

Then we would all know the facts and exactly what those facts are.

Anyone?
Please be specific.
Thanks

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I recently witnessed a 1985 90hp in line six with power trim that weighed 306# with a stainless propeller hanging on a scale. The rest can be verified through the OEM websites.

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Joe - sorry for the confusion. My point was that even a 115HP engine that was considered oversized for it's time, and needed to be painted black, is today lighter than even the lightest modern 75, the E-tec at 320#, which has a small profile. All 75 and up HP engines of today are quite large if you ask me, and too heavy besides.

The advertized weight of a 1984-1988 Merc in-line 6 "Tower" was 303#. So the above information by Fitz is correct.

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That's exactly my point fitz.
Why make every member here look up something that the original poster doesn't even want to include in their statement. If they don't want to take the time show us the information, why should we assume their statement is correct without facts?
Over 36,000 members looking up the weight of all the different motors.

I would suggest everyone in the future making a statement, to give us all the info so no one has to look it up.
Makes it easy to compare.

All 90hp motors today weigh more than the older motors including the Tower of Power.
Even the new Mercury weighs in at 359 pounds for their 90hp 4 stroke.
And the E-Tec weighs less then all the newer motors including the new Mercury 90hp as shown below.

Tower of Power 90 = 306 lbs. (according to fitz)
E-Tec 90 = 320 lbs.
Honda 90 = 359 lbs.
Mercury 4 stroke 90 = 359 lbs.
Yamaha 4 stroke 90 = 366 lbs.

I used to take care of Current Engine Weights for easy comparison but no one seemed that interested so I no longer keep them up to date.
Here is one:
http://www.whalercentral.com/articles...ticle_id=5

Again, give us all the info like shown above and try to be upfront with everything.
Hope this helps.

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Finnegan,

Just trying to keep everyone honestly informed and trying to make it easier for everyone.

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Some great photos of the boats mentioned above (1950's with fins, etc) and Tower-of-Power Mercs.

http://www.seabuddyonboats.com/motors-and-power/sunnyland-acbs-boat-show-on-lake-dora-in-tavares-florida-sixth-report/