Albert and John Snell
a racing and Texas legend
Joe McCauley
On Nov. 17, 2013 The Snell brothers, Albert and John, long term members of our Texas AOMCI Chapter, reached 81 years of age. I was informed of this in advance by former OMC engineer Dave Haman, a big Mark 20H fan and the designer of the OMC 15SS and 45SS racing motors.
I first met John and Albert at a Rothermel swap meet a few years ago. We discovered rapidly that we have a close mutual friend, Edgar Rose, who designed the Mark 20H conversion exhaust housing in 1958, the first tuned exhaust system in a U.S. outboard. Both Anzani and König were earlier in Europe. Edgar’s story of the development of the 20H conversion is told in the July 2013 Antique Outboarder.
Mention the Snell brothers and anyone in Texas outboard collecting or racing knows them. This is not the place for the story of the Snell brothers, which should be told, this is a birthday greeting to the twins. I did visit Albert in May 2012 just before the annual Port Neches OPC race. John arrived, and Albert showed me his part of their collection. John has the 20H conversion prototype in his part in another town. Albert has a Richardson and a DeSilva in his possession, amongst many other runabouts. The DeSilva is relatively new and sits on a box trailer sporting a Quincy Looper. That entire outfit is for sale.
About a week before his birthday Albert mailed me his very nice hand-drawn and painted version of the early 1950s Mercury logo. He did this because he knew my dad had been a dealer, with me as teenage mechanic in the late 1950s. I therefore have added a photo of my Mercury school certificate to match Albert’s gift.
I mailed Albert a 1959 Mercury poster showing me and my Mark 58A, after preventing a Scott 40 from winning the annual NOA 100 mile Ft. Loudon Marathon. I broke the skeg of my gear case in that race. Later, I received a letter from Carl Kiekhaefer and a new gear case. I’ve misplaced the letter but still have the envelope. This is a small bit of Mercury history for Albert and John on their 81st.
This article, with many more photos, will appear in the AO.