1958 Johnson Superseahorse garage find recovery

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Love it!! That had me wearing a big grin! You, sir, have done your homework well. By the way, I have my '58 Super Quiet sitting about 50' from me as I type. Also have a standard '58 Johnson 35hp in the warehouse coming up for sale.
And by the way......"TAKE THAT" Catfisher!!! We were both wrong! Mbullen, you are going to fit in very well around here!
Well I wouldn't argue with him one bit on any of it. Just knew it was early '60s before I saw any black Mercurys showing up. Saw some bronze and green 10s but the larger ones I saw in the later 50's were always white to my recollection. Funny I remember that stuff pretty well, yet I can't remember what I eat for breakfast yesterday. LOL
 
All of this discussion of old Mercurys got me thinking and remembering.
Does anyone recall the old odd "Direct Reverse Mercury"?
To go in reverse, the engine actually stopped and and the timing shifted for the engine to run backward?
Somewhere in my cloudy memory, I remember seeing one.
 
Otherwise known as the "Dockbuster"! Mark 78 I believe.
That engine had to be in perfect tune to do what the manufacturer wanted it to and we all know how well most customers take care of their "kickers".
When shifted, the engine shuts off and when the gear selector in the control box is placed in reverse a switch is closed and the starter on the engine turns in reverse rotation and the engine starts up backwards. This also means that the mag had to be rotated at the same time to pick up timing correctly. Lots of stuff had to happen perfectly every time!
A friend of mind has one on an old restored Thompson and that engine runs perfectly.....most of the time.
 
I've run across 2-cycle golf carts that did that. Start one way for forward, the other way for reverse. It was puzzling, at first. TexasJim
 

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