Tavares, FL hosts a large, classic boat show each year and Rick was excited to attend. This show features amazing boats from the golden era of boating -- focusing on the late 20's to the 50's. Boats like this magnificent 1927 Chris-Craft shows us how boating used to be.
Rick is in his glory looking at the amazing boats and motors. He loved this late 1950's Evinrude Lark 35hp outboard. He had an early 60's version of this same motor -- of course when Rick had it, the motor was just "old" and not yet a classic.
Walt, a friend of Rick's from the RV park, has owned several classic boats like this Chris Craft. Walt knew all about these wooden masterpieces and seemed to really enjoy the show as well.
One of the cool features of this show is that most of these boats are actually used and as a result, we can see them in action. The owners of these boats are real enthusiasts as they restore and operate boats that might be 80 or more years old. Pretty cool!
Rick and Walt got a real kick out of the several race boats that were present, including this Baby Gar boat, built by Mr. Garfield Wood. This 33' boat was built for speed and looked it as it tooled by us.
Speaking of speed, how about this Gar Wood boat -- "Miss America IX" which in 1930, was the first boat in the world to exceed 100 miles an hour. Today, the restored boat operated twin Chevy 454 engines and is every bit as potent as it was in 1930.
Back in 1930, Mr. Wood installed twin Packard supercharged engines, with each one developing over 1,200 hp! Yikes -- imagine a boat this size with 2,400 hp and made of wood. This restoration is amazing and really brings the past to life today.
1 comment:
Nice! We love old boats.
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