I will get some pics of my dad's boat. He has had it for 30+ years. We water skied behind it almost everyday during the late 70s thru the 80s(in the summer of course). We put it in storage several years ago and we all have the fever to get it back out. It was build by a guy in Carter lake Iowa. He had sold several Howards and another brand. They pulled a mold from the Howard copy and then starting building boats. I remember all the boats having the flake paint jobs. Most were white with the flake color accenting and differentiating them. My dad's was orginally white a "peacock". He owned several during these years but always kept this boat...it holds LOTS of memories. I am certain if it could talk we would all be introuble. Cavitation plates are great for girls losing tops....low octane fuel bad for what ended up being 12.5:1 compression... things like that. Dad's is a taller hull and was built for skiing. It has a 427 BBC with a transmission. The transmission is rare from what I have found. The last time it was painted it was painted yellow with brown trim and candy flames. It will seat 5 easily and a couple more if they sit on the trans tunnel. It is gonna look cool as hell pulled behind his '51 Chevy station wagon.
great thread, brings back lot of memories , worked for Denny Nish a lot of years, most of the stuff we did was for Irv Brendell, Jim Cole, DiMarco and Howard boats. Did a bunch of the drag n ski race boats, Ive restored a few of the vintage interiors in the last few years
Killer thread fellas! I've always wanted an old flatbottom, V-drive boat.... There's some good stuff over on the forums at Hot Boat for those guys into these.
That sounds cool that he still has it...maybe this year will be the summer to pull it back out??? Come on guys, lets see some more pics...please!!
Moonshine!,.........bitchin' I've got a great picture of that boat with the Moon El Camino, and "pop" Moon, back cover of the '68 Moon Catalog. There was an 8mm movie camera (remember those) which mounted directly to the ski tow, and the camera and ski tow swiveled with each other, so that you could keep the camera on the skier as he/she would cut back and forth. I'll see if I can get the picture scanned, and post it .
What a great thread. I love the Nailhead powered V drive, that is perfection. I had a 19' Howard in the sixties, red metalflake and silver metalflake upholstery called the "Raspberry Rebel". 429 Ford very heavy but I couldn't wait for the day to end and get in that boat and let it rip, Carol King singing "Smackwater Jack" on the eight track, Cuba Libre in a plastic cup. I only have an 8 MM film and about 30 seconds to remember it with.
I am in the process of redoing an x drag boat. A hondo t deck sprint. My first vdrive, I have a jet boat still. My first ride in a flat doing around 93 mph on water and I have been hooked on flats since.The pull and the wine of the vdrive is AWESOME A pick of when I drug it home and a pick of it on the move to the new house. I am gonna set it up circle boat style.The scoop I made but will not be useing. The motor is just mounted in it tempoary for the move.
It's comin along real nice abone1930! I just sold my '65 Stevens a couple of weeks ago. That was my first V-drive and I hated seeing it go...but they'll be another one in the future!
First time I touched an auto engine was in an early Rayson Craft (actually called a De Fir). My dad had one of these with a 59A Ford Flathead. Had a Star Marine gearbox,Dual 97's on a Fenton and a 3/4 bumstick. and was as close to a hot rod as this 14 year old car crazy kid could get. Red and white tuck and rolled interior, wood deck. Similar to the picture. Went like a raped ape, but with the flat bottom, when you hit a wave, your foot would fly off the Moon pedal and the result was a "lilt" in the butterflys which translated into an even wilder ride. Took cooling water into those twin marine conversion Jabsco water pumps and regularly ate impellors which had to field anything that was floating under the boat. I suppose they ran dry part of the time, since the boat was out of the water a good percent of the time it was running... It was known around our Minnesota lake as "da bomb".... My dad came to me with a rebuilt Stromberg 97 one morning and said he wanted it on the Fenton dual manifold by dinnertime.....guess it was leaking......He always did worry about that thing blowing up..... Finally, the dry rot consumed too much of the hull to support the motor, and we traded it off for a 57' ChrisCraft Continental, which had an immense flathead 6 with two huge updraft carbs. Still have that one 43 years later! Always had a warm spot in my heart for flatheads after that.
Man that was a nice Stevens.The Hondo is on hold until I finish my modelA this year. But its waiting in line again.Thats one thing about haveing alot of projects, I just rotate them around that way I dont get burned out Did you get what you want for it?
It's nice to see this hot boat thread 'alive' again. Have fun with that Hondo. I have a jet and a v drive too. Plan to enjoy both on the water this year. Steve <DIR>Hosting- 7th annual Nostalgic Show and Go! and swap. Drags, cool car show, parade, special exhibitions, gassers, rails, stockers, customs and much more. coming Sunday April 5, 2009 to Speedworld. Phoenix, Az -This is Arizonas longest continuest running nostalgic event, our 7th year! www.nostalgicshowandgo.org Also Hosting- Hosting 11th annual Pontiac Heaven, show, swap, drags, party and all around good time. Saturday April 4, 2009 at Speedworld near Phoenix, Az more info- www.pontiacheaven.org </DIR>
Plan on it. That hondo is awesome you have any more picks? Here is a pick of a Kurtis I just got rid of. And a pick of my current Jet Boat. My family boat, 521 alum. head stroker motor 76 omega.
Thanks for the purchase.... now you know where the money goes Glad you liked the T..... seems people loved it or hated it.... not much middle ground. I took the Stevens out last month at a little get together on a local lake and splurged by putting a MT scoop on it instead of the one in the pic. Couldn't bring myself to put a set of MT v/covers on it.... just wouldn't be the right look for that boat.
Yea, I do the same thing with the projects. Good luck with the Hondo and keep the updates coming. In fact, if any of you boat guys know where theres a pair of SBC exhaust logs, let me know...my new project is in the wings and I could really use a set. They don't have to be pretty, just need to be in good mechanical shape.
Will keep an eye out, I think I seen a pair on ebay lately. You building another boat? Here is some clips Of the work on the boat I have been doing. The Hondo was actually the first drag boat John White(tfh driver of HOT LICKS) used as his first drag boat. When he painted it from red gel coat to blue, He called the boat Grounds for Divorce, because he was going through one Click on the pick should take you to a slide show. Here is a pick of the boat as orignal gel, only pick he could find.
Mr. T body..... I love what you have done to your boat trailer...Is that teak wood bolted to a frame support for on and off? Very tasty! I want to say your running Halibrands on your boat trailer too! Thats too much!!! What a real nice set up! would love to see more detailed pics of that trailer
Somethin' like these?? A buddy of mine asked me if I could store some stuff for him about 20 years ago and they're in the pile. If you're interested, I'll see if I can find get in touch with him and see what he wants for them. Larry T
Larry T, and Leadsled.... It looks like those wet logs are Edelbrock "M-1"s, with adapters to put 3" elbows on the outlets. ( I think the outlets are 2 1/2" as cast.) I'd love to have a pair myself, to match the Edelbrock 3 two barrel set-up on one of my projects "in the works". I'll find some. On another note, I found the photo of "Moonshine' with the matching El Camino, but when it was scanned into a PDF file, it got way too large to attach as a thumbnail. Once I get the photo scanned into my computer, I'll share it here. It's a great picture from '68. Any of you out there going to Bass Lake for the "Boatfest", June 4-5-6(here in California) ?
Abone1930, Yes, that movie was shot there. A handfull of movies have been shot there over the years. That's a fun shot of "Suck My Wake", the boat from the movie. As I recall, there were two identical boats built for the movie, one was used for the scene where the boat ran aground, and the other was used for the driving scenes. Chris Blevens, (a member of the Classic V-Drive Club) once told me, at an event, that the blower was non-functional, ( I suppose hogged out inside and hiding a carb). The Blevens family, long time boat builders, drag racers, built the boats for the movie, having a brother in the movie business. I have to appologise for my "captain obvious" remark about the Edelbrock M-1's, I was familiar with the shape and the three lines cast into the manifolds, so I called it out. I forgot that ANYONE could just click on the thumbnail to enlarge it and read the lettering. DUHHHHHH! I made a new years resolution to spend more time on the boats, so I haven't been on the computer for a while and I forgot that thumbnails can be enlarged. A-Bone, I used to have a '30 coupe, bone stock . It was my first car, had it in high school and drove it everyday for ten years , on and off for another two years. That was an incredibly reliable car. I went out on dates with that coupe.......if cars could talk!
Nice thread and noticed a few from some other forums. If you guys don't know there is a drag boat race at Lake Elsinore, CA on March 21, 22nd. Here is all the info on it. http://www.performanceboats.com/html/forums/showthread.php?t=26628
The Jalopy Journal
