Contagious, You hit an issue right on the button, talking about the '68 pick-up truck tow vehicle. Those of us who were there in the sixties know that there was no such thing as a "dually crew-cab", when most of these boats were new. People towed with whatever they had, either a pick-up truck they used for work, or the family car. Even the family car, back then, had a V-8, rear wheel drive, a heavy trans and rearend(compared to today), and most mid-to-fullsize cars had frames. Boat guys are really car freaks who got wet when you think about it. Lots of people that I know still pull their ski boats/dragboats with some kind of cool car/vintage car or truck. I pull my boats with an old Mach 1 Mustang, have for 18 years now,it's my only car and I drive it everyday to work, it's up to the task. Towed with a '70 Olds 442 for years prior to that. Don Edwards pulls his blown gas hydro with an old El Camino, Fred Iaia tows his blown gas hydro with a Dodge Magnum, Bob Garner tows his BGH Sanger with a '47 Cadillac. Back in the seventies, when custom vans were big, guys would have their vans painted to match their boat, even the mags would match on both boat trailer and van. I may meet with some opposition here, but I think if you need a crew cab sized truck to pull your boat, your boat's too big!
Spike: in about 1966, I was at Tahoe with my wooden Sanger Which was the original "Climax". I had an unblown 354" Chrysler hemi. Raced a stevens with a BBC Probably a 427, and Blew him off. Later became freinds, and took a ride in the Stevens, That boat scared me to death.
I have a lot of pictures from 1978, 1979, and 1980 of Drag Boats. My dad worked on the Ambush Blown Fuel Hydro.
Here's a couple shots of the '40, but I don't have one of it pulling the boat. We used a "borrowed" U-Haul clamp-on hitch clamped on to the stock '40 Ford bumper which was hard as hell on the bumper and didn't work out too well (It didn't want to stay centered, and bent the bumper slightly!) Sadly, cameras and film were considered VERY expensive in those days. We mostly used my friends '49 Olds convertible to pull the boat. It was more reliable, had better brakes, cooled better, and would haul the girls better!! The '40 had a 1954, 354cu. in Chrysler Hemi in it.
I aquired a vintage stevens flat bottom about 25 years ago, and it has been in our warehouse since, my son wants to restore it and we are doing some research on it, it is a 1966 stevens with a hull # nsi dragboat 007, it is colored with the morticians paint scheme and has a 427 ford, any help on knowledge of this type of boat would be greatly appreciated
In 1989 I aquired a 1966 stevens serial # nsi dragboat 007, It has a ford 427 and is colored with the same color scheme as the mortician, any input on this boat
Calling Spike to the courtesy phone...Spike, you out there? PS: Spike is the current owner of the real Mortician!
Check out http://www.vintagejetboats.com/forum go to the Manufacturer/Dealer Section and look up Jet Boat Performance. He does V-Drives as well as Jets!! Good luck!!
Anyone have contact info for Spike? I'd love to get a vintage drag boat display together for Billetproof in Sept.
Anyone have contact info for Spike? I'd love to get a vintage drag boat display together for Billetproof in Sept.
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