I haven't seen this topic before, maybe it's been covered already. But if not, let's see some pics of vintage speed or race boats from the '60's on back as far as the pics go. This could be fun... Go ahead and include other boats of interest, like military boats that had Caddy flatheads or Packard V-12's etc... Engine pics are a DEFINITE plus... Drag boats, flathead powered boats, roundy-race boats, Allison powered offshore boats, whatever! Let's have fun. I don't have any way of posting pics myself tho'
Here's a handful from last year's Sydney Hot Rod Show. ...and one that my Dad took some time back in the 60's. I think it's on the Swan River in Perth, Western Australia. ...then of course, there's the KING of high peformance boats, Donald Campbell's "Bluebird". My Dad took these pics too back in the 60's. This of course is just the support vehicle with the runabout. THIS is "Bluebird".
No picks yet, but my Dad and I started construction of our wood boat tonight. Got the keel set in the frames. I'll keep you guys posted.
<font color="purple"> </font> What we need is some of the folks in Michigan, Tri-cities, and Seattle, to put some old Hydroplane pics on here. The old wood hull, Merlin and Allison powered piston boats like the Slo-Mo-Shun IV and V, The early Miss Budwieser, The Tempest, The Miss Skyway, Miss Thriftway, The Hawaii Kai III, The Gale V and the Miss Bardahl. All those old girls that made hydroplane racing what it is today. Those are the pics we need! Lake Washington and the Gold Cup! Now thats history!
My dad was a top runabout racer on the West coast in the sixties, and if I can borrow a few of his albums, I can post pics that you guys should dig. He's driven everything from an 8-foot "wooden shoe" mini-hydro to offshore inboards and racing yachts. Me? He'd retired from racing by the time I would have been old enough to ride as co-pilot/navigator. Nothing like hearing all the crap they used to pull in racing circles back then, whether it be cars, boats or airplanes. Any cheat you can come up with now was probably attempted at least ten times back then.
WOW, was Bluebird rocket-power, or jet power??? I've got an old program from one of the old '60's unlimited hydroplane races somewhere, has some great photos of those glorious Allison and Merlin-powered race boats. Now I just have to figure out where I put it and how to get a decent pic to this thread. Any others out there? Don't stop now!
[ QUOTE ] WOW, was Bluebird rocket-power, or jet power??? [/ QUOTE ] I'm pretty sure it was jet powered. I'm pretty sure there'd be some history on it somewhere on the WWW.
I built the engine for this cats boat back in 1980 !! Blown Hilborn Injected small block Chevy !! Needless to say it got with the program !!! >>>>.
@ 2:57 showing the end buoy and moored boats Hello, Here is a drag boat "PITS" section of a film clip I took in 1967. After years of recovery of the 40 Willys accident at the drags in 1960, our minds wandered to all kinds of motor sport activity. I borrowed my dad's camera one last time to film an all-day event at the Long Beach Marine Stadium's Drag Boat Races. Since it was the only local So Cal place with fairly calm water prior to the late afternoon, roaring, west winds, it was a great place to hold these events. Circle races, drag boat races, water skiing, pleasure boating when races were not scheduled, this Marine Stadium was made for these events. Today, the stadium is still there, but the number of events has gone down due to complaints from the $million$ dollar homes surrounding the whole complex. The sound of the big supercharged motors echoed all over this Southeastern part of Long Beach. Jnaki During this time (1966-68), many hours were spent piddling around on a small 8 foot wooden dinghy rowing to the end of the shutdown area to get a better "on the water" experience. There was one event during another race day that a big supercharged hemi in a hydro hull had his throttle stick even though he finished the 1/4 mile race. It made for the fastest scramble of moored power boats and the several small rowboats tied to the end buoy that we had been a part of during this harrowing time. The drag boat racer kept coming past the finish line. For a second or two, no one moved, thinking that he would shut down and turn back to the pits before coming anywhere near this grouping of moored/anchored boats. About 5 seconds later, the power boats started and immediately got out of dodge... We only had rowing oars for power and scrambled to get untied and turned around to head for the opposite shoreline channel. The blown hydro hull racer kept coming and he finally realized what he had to do to prevent any mishaps with the group of boats and to himself. He angled away from us and zipped by continuing on towards the 2nd Street Bridge underpass. He actually had a least a mile of water through the Alamitos Bay Marina leading out to the ocean. (or until his gas ran out) Finally, he shut down his boat just before the bridge overpass and coasted to a stop. No accidents or injuries...except for his pride and a few scared to death 20 somethings frantically rowing away as fast as possible... The look of impending doom fast approaching must have been on our faces...That was a scary moment.
The Jalopy Journal
