In about 1962, OMC came out with a manual shift 60hp V-4 which was
basically a hopped-up 50hp to fill out the lineup between the 40hp twin
and the 75 V-4. It was available with 2 gearcases, the fat heavy duty
one from the original 50 or the sleek bullet nose one from the 75.
Electric shifting was not offered on it. They did not have alternators
(only generators) until 1967, the last of the 60 hp models. In 1968 is
was bumped to a 65hp.
Bill Grannis
service manager
==================================
I found this pretty interesting because in 1962, my brother and I each
bought 17 foot boats. Mine a '58 Thompson and his a '58 Lyman. Mine
came with a '58 50 HP Evinrude and his had a '60 75 HP Johnson. We
boated together a lot and found that the old Evinrude would get 2 or 3
skiers up with no problem, but the Johnson struggled a bit. However,
once up on plane, it was no contest, the Johnson ran away from the
Evinrude.
There was about a 15 to 20 % difference in fuel consumption, too. The
Johnson was much better on that.
The Evin. had the fat gear case and the Johnson had the sleek type.
I had to replace the clutch dog in the Evin. and it was a piece of cake,
not so with the Johnson, we finally took it to a dealer that had the
proper tools for the job. I sold the Thompson years ago, but the last
I heard, my nephew was still using the Lyman and the Johnson was still
running OK.

I think the 60 HP OMC motor that was mentioned was sold as a Gale.
Another part of OMC.

Happy boating, Norm