Gar Wood Speedster

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Gar Wood Speedster
Miss Behave in the ABM
Miss Behave in the ABM
Ship data
flag United StatesUnited States United States
Ship type Racing boat
Shipyard Gar Wood, Inc.
  • Marysville
  • Designer: Joseph Napoleon "Nap" Lisee (chief designer of the Algonac shipyard) and George Joachim (production manager of the Marysville shipyard)
Launch 1934
Ship dimensions and crew
length
4.90 m ( Lüa )
width 1.60 m
Draft Max. 0.43 m
 
crew 2
Machine system
machine 1 × in-line six-cylinder engine
Machine
performanceTemplate: Infobox ship / maintenance / service format 		129 kW (175 hp)
Top
speed 		48 kn (89 km / h)
propeller 1 × 2- or 3-blade propeller

Gar Wood Speedster is a five-meter-long racing boat that was produced and marketed from 1934 to 1938 by Garfield Wood and his company Gar Wood, Inc. under the “Gar Wood” brand. Of the fourteen original Speedster models, three have been researched in the most detail because of their famous original or previous owners - “Miss Behave” and “Miss Chief” from 1935 and “Miss Persia” from 1936. Today there are more replica Speedsters worldwide than original boats. The first reproductions began as early as the 1960s.

Design and construction

Alongside the much larger Baby-Gar models from the 1920s, the Speedster is the best-known and most sought-after boat model of the Gar Wood brand, but was only made fourteen times during its production time and was the smallest racing boat by Gar Wood built before the Second World War. It was based on the standard 16-foot runabout introduced by Gar Wood in 1933 a year earlier. The Speedster was Gar Wood's maritime version of the European sports cars that attracted a lot of attention in the United States in the early and mid-1930s. At the same time, the Speedster was seen as a smaller version of the famous Miss Americas by Gar Wood - his large racing boats , equipped with aircraft engines and, especially in the latest versions, multiple Miller V16 or Packard V12 engines , with which he set the world speed record six times on the water won the prestigious Gold Cup and the famous Harmsworth Trophy several times.

The Speedster was made of African mahogany and was a racing boat with a single cockpit in the stern, which was powered by various six-cylinder engines during its production time.

In its first year of production, the Speedster was priced at $ 1,195, equipped with a standard Chrysler engine. In the last year of production, the entry-level price of a Speedster rose to USD 1,565 or USD 2,045 for a more powerful racing version of the Speedster, which was then equipped with a canvas covered foredeck, a two-bladed propeller and the largest motor (a 175 PS Gray Fire Ball). A six cylinder Gray boat engine was installed in most of the fourteen original Speedsters, but other engine options were available with Chrysler Crown, Gray Marine 244, Gray Fire Ball and Lycoming 223, bringing the boat to a maximum speed of around 40 knots.

For the first two years it was possible to equip the Speedster with a 225 Scripps V-8, but none of the original Speedsters were ever factory-fitted with an eight-cylinder engine. The installation of a 225 cc engine in the Speedster was important and was also used by Gar Wood for marketing purposes (the V-8 engine was promised a top speed of up to 48 knots), since in October 1934 the new 225 cc racing class was introduced by the American Power Boat Association was introduced, for which the Gar Wood Speedster could now compete. The special design of this boat with a cockpit aft is now commonly referred to as "Gentleman's Runabout" or "Gentleman Racer".

Garfield Woods team that created the Speedster (from left to right): Ed Hancock (shipyard manager), George Joachim (production manager) and Nap Lisee (chief designer)
Ed Hancock and Charles Lussier in the Speedster prototype, 1934

history

Before the original production dates of the Gar Wood factories were recovered in the mid-1990s, it was believed that Edward J. Noble, president of the Lifesaver Candy Company, was the customer who persuaded Garfield Wood to build a small fleet of racing boats for himself and his friends to produce to race on the Saint Lawrence River (USA). This first assumption had therefore established itself in the classic boat scene for many years and is still spread in many media today. However, this has not yet been confirmed and based on the factory records found it is much more likely that the customers who influenced Gar Wood in building the Speedster were the Bourne and Thayer families of the Thousand Islands - they bought three of the fourteen alone produced the original Speedster in 1935. Although Edward J. Noble owned a Baby Gar model, it has now been established that he never owned a Gar Wood Speedster - but his daughter, Mrs. June Noble Larkin. Gar Wood boats were very luxurious and representative in their day (a Gar Wood boat had a markup of around 1.5-2.5 over a comparable Chris Craft model of the same size) and the brand even took advantage of theirs famous customers since the 1920s as a reference in advertising, yet the only famous person known to have owned a Gar Wood Speedster as a first owner was Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Based on the production data, the first model ever built by Phil Wood, Garfield Wood's brother, was built in late July 1934 and tested extensively. It was powered by an 85 hp Chrysler Marine engine and still exists today. This was the boat used by Gar Wood for all sales materials and for its first public appearance in an article in MotorBoating Journal in October 1934, showing reporter Charles Lussier and Gar Woods shipyard manager Ed Hancock aboard. Another eight boats, including "Miss Behave" (formerly "Miss Step") and the two sister ships "Miss Me" and "Miss Chief", were built in 1935. One of them was sold to Algiers (with a 92 hp Chrysler engine) and one to Paris . Except for the boat that was sent to Algiers, all the others were powered by a 115 hp Gray Marine engine. Another Speedster was produced in 1936 and delivered to Paris and then via Switzerland to Persia - today's “Miss Persia”. Another four Speedsters were still produced, but not sold until 1939 (one Speedster that sold to Detroit ) or 1941 (two to Ohio , one to Kentucky ). One of these four boats was powered by a 165 horsepower Lycoming engine, making it the largest factory-installed engine ever built into an original Speedster.

Of the fourteen original Speedsters, only seven survivors are known, five of them are registered in the ACBS, the world's largest interest group for antique and classic boats. The most well-known and thus historically extensively researched Speedsters are the following:

Miss Behave

Miss Step (with George Bourne), Miss Me (with Alfred Bourne) and Miss Chief (with Alexander Thayer) in the Thousand Islands in the mid-1930s

In 1935, the Miss Behave was one of four Speedsters originally supplied to Fitzgerald & Lee, Gar Wood's largest pre-WWII dealer, based in Alexandria Bay , USA . Miss Behave, then still with the original name "Miss Step", was delivered to the Bourne and Thayer families along with Miss Chief and Miss Me and this boat is exhibited today in the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York. Miss Behave was originally powered by a 115-horsepower six-cylinder, Gray marine engine - the first owner was George Bourne. This racing boat is one of the few original survivors and was donated to the museum by third owner June Noble Larkin. Noble Larkin, daughter of Edward J. Noble, bought the boat together with her first husband, David Shiverick Smith, from Miss Behave's second owner, Fred McNally, before 1968. Most of the replicas made today are based on the original drawings of the Miss Behave that were removed by the Turcotte brothers during their restoration in the early 1990s. Miss Behave's sister boat, "Miss Me", was owned by Alfred Severin Bourne, the older brother of George Bourne, although the fate of Miss Me has not yet been clarified at the present time.

Miss Chief

Another original 1935 Speedster from the Fitzgerald & Lee group was Miss Chief, originally delivered to Alexander Dallas Thayer, married to Marjorie Bourne and consequently the brother-in-law of George Bourne. With hull number 5703, Miss Chief is one of the five original Speedsters that are currently listed with the ACBS, alongside Miss Persia. Miss Chief was originally powered by a 115 hp six-cylinder Gray Marine engine, but now has a 150 hp six-cylinder Chrysler Spitfire engine. Miss Chief changed hands several times in the course of its history: after AD Thayer, a second, as yet unknown owner sold the boat to Randy Arnot, then to Bill Banister (who renamed Miss Chief to "Bandito"), then to Don Price (renamed again back to "Miss Chief") and on to Bob Fergus in the mid-1990s. Fergus resold the boat to American country singer and boat collector Alan Jackson, and it was later sold to its current owner at an antique boat auction in Clayton, NY on August 1, 2009 for $ 112,000, which included the entire hull and put Miss Chief back to its original 1935 condition.

Miss Persia

Miss Persia at the Gar Wood booth at the Chicago Boat Show in May 1936
Letter between Gar Wood distributors Theobald Quinn and André Couteau about the delivery and production changes of the Speedster for the Shah of Persia, July 1936 - written on the last day of the SS Normandy crossing with the Quinns and Miss Persia on board upon arrival in Le Havre ( France).

In 1936, only one Speedster was produced and exhibited for the Chicago Boat Show in May. Due to the decreasing interest of Gar Wood dealers, it was also the last time that Gar Wood showed a Speedster at its booth. Only a few weeks later, on June 24, 1936, this Speedster was transported to the New York harbor and on July 1, 1936, on board the SS Normandie, was shipped to Garfield Wood's French distributor Theobald M. Quinn in Paris . From here it was delivered to the Swiss Gar Wood dealer André Couteau. This boat (model 606) was bought by Reza Shah Pahlavi as a gift for his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi , who studied on Lake Geneva until May 1936 . Originally this model was powered by a six-cylinder 125 HP Gray marine engine, making it the original Speedster with the second largest engine ever installed. Miss Persia was re-equipped with a six-cylinder 1M-245 R Packard Marine racing engine in 1947 and was probably used by Mohammad Reza until around 1950. At that time it was part of the inventory of the Ramsar Palace on the Caspian Sea , the summer residence of the royal family. Today the factory-made one hundred percent exact rebuilding of the "Miss Persia" is well documented. This Speedster is now in a private collection and is in turn powered by its rare six-cylinder Packard marine racing engine.

In addition to the aforementioned, historically very detailed researched Speedsters, the following two original Speedsters have been known to their current owners for decades:

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is one of the boats produced in 1935 and was delivered to the Bennett Boat Company of Mayfield, NY for cruising on Great Sacandaga Lake. Today it is native to northern California .

Dream chaser

Dream Chaser (formerly known as Prima Donna) is Phil Wood's 1934 prototype, making it the oldest speedster ever. This boat has the hull number 5589 and is powered by a six cylinder Gray Marine engine with 115 hp. It was delivered to the first owner in Windsor , Canada , after the 1935 Chicago Boat Show . After many years in a single collector's hand, this boat is now at home on Lake Rabun in Georgia .

Speedster replicas

Several companies and individuals based in the US and around the world produced exact copies of the Gar Wood Speedster. Commonly known as reproduction companies are the two Miss Behave Inc. Speedsters built by Rogers Marina (USA) in the 1960s, fifteen Wellington versions in the 1980s, and the six replicas of the Turcotte brothers in the 1990s.

The main differences between the three small reproduction series mentioned above can be seen in the quality of the replicas and the original Speedster, which served as the basis: While both Miss Behave Inc. and the Turcotte Brothers Speedster dimensions of the original "Miss Behave" the Wellington versions were based on the original "Nostalgia". While the two Miss Behave Inc. Speedsters used generally available and thus non-original Gar Wood hardware, both the Turcotte and Wellington versions used exact copies of the original Gar Wood Speedster hardware. After all, all Wellington versions were provided with a fiberglass bottom, sides and rear, which is the biggest difference to the original Speedstern.

Miss Conduct

One of the most famous reproduction Speedsters, however, was Alan Schinnerer's "Miss Conduct", which was built from 1983 to 1985. The base was the hull (this was proven in the late 1990s using the still existing hull number 5496) of a normal Gar Wood 16 foot runabout with two cockpits from the same year of construction. This replica is powered today by a Chrysler Fire Ball six-cylinder engine with 175 HP and a maximum speed of 48 knots. In the late 1980s this boat won several major awards at the most famous American shows for classic boats. and can therefore be considered one of the best reproductions in the world. With an estimated value of USD 30-40,000, Miss Conduct was ultimately sold to the new owner for USD 70,400 at an RM Sotheby’s auction in autumn 2015.

Miss Demeanor

In addition, enthusiasts around the world built replicas based on the drawings taken by Miss Behave during the restoration process. One of the most published Speedsters of this type is the Swedish Speedster replica "Miss Demeanor", which was built in a garage over a period of almost two years. This shows the great fascination that a Gar Wood Speedster still expresses to boat lovers around the world.

Today there are more Speedster replicas than original Speedsters with a total of sixteen Gar Wood Speedsters that are registered in the ACBS, consisting of four Wellington Speedsters, two Turcotte replicas, five Speedsters of unknown origin and five original Speedsters, each from Gar Wood Society confirmed unique hull numbers (as of September 2018). The authenticity certificates issued by the Gar Wood Society are issued after careful examination and comparison with the factory records and are therefore the only way to determine whether it is an original boat.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gar Wood Industries, Inc. . Retrieved August 28, 2018.
  2. ^ Peggy Walsh-Sarnecki: Boat-building heritage lives through tales . In: Times Herald . Retrieved August 28, 2018. 
  3. ↑ George Joachim . Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  4. ↑ The Rudder listing of 1935 Gar Wood models, prices, and specifications . Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  5. ^ Paolo Tumminelli: Boat Design: Classic and New Motorboats . TeNeues Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3832790543 , p. 390.
  6. ↑ Gar Woods Miss America X with Packard engines - pictures, background information and video . Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  7. ↑ The Gar Wood Story . Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  8. ↑ Gar Wood 1935 Line General Specifications . Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  9. ↑ Gar Wood Speedster advertisement . Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  10. ^ Letter from Tony Mollica to Robert Joachim . Retrieved September 19, 2018.
  11. ^ The 1938 Gar Wood Price List . Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  12. ↑ 1937 Gar Wood Price List . Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  13. ↑ Gar Wood 1935 Line General Specifications . Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  14. ↑ Behind the Scenes with Gar Wood . Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  15. ^ Charles F. Chapman: Rules for 225 Cubic Inch Class . In: Motor Boating . 54, 6, December 1934, pp. 105-106.
  16. ↑ Gerald & Eric Guetat & Ledru: Classic Speedboats, 1916-1939 . Motorbooks International, Osceola, WI, USA 1995, ISBN 0760304645 , p. 44ff ..
  17. ↑ Tony; Bill Mollica; Northup: Gar Wood Speedster - A Noble Idea . In: Classic Boating . January / February 1991, pp. 10-13.
  18. ^ Gar Wood History . Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  19. ↑ Bill, Tony Northup, Mollica: Gar Wood Speedster Update . In: Classic Boating . 79, September-October 1997, pp. 24-27.
  20. ↑ Bill, Tony Northup, Mollica: Gar Wood Speedster Update . In: Classic Boating . 79, September-October 1997, pp. 24-27.
  21. ^ Anthony S. Mollica: Chris Craft versus Gar Wood - model for model price comparison - 1939 . Retrieved August 17, 2018.
  22. ↑ List of Baby Gar Owners from 1926 . Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  23. ↑ Milani, Abbas .: The Shah , 1st Palgrave Macmillan paperback. Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2012, ISBN 0230340385 , OCLC 776499698 .
  24. ^ Anthony S., Mollica: Gar Wood boats: classics of a golden era . MBI Pub. Co, Osceola, WI 1999, ISBN 0760306079 , OCLC 40683157 .
  25. ↑ L. Charles Lussier: Previewing a Gar Wood Speedster . In: Motor Boating . LIV, No. 4, October 1934, pp. 57, 89.
  26. ↑ Bill, Tony Northup, Mollica: Gar Wood Speedster Update . In: Classic Boating . 79, September-October 1997, pp. 24-27.
  27. ^ Anthony Mollica: The Fascinating Association of Gar Wood and Fitzgerald Lee . February 13, 2016. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  28. ^ Antique Boat Museum . Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  29. ^ Boats of the Antique Boat Museum: Highlights of the Watercraft Collection. . Antique Boat Museum, Clayton, NY, USA.
  30. ↑ Gar Woods at ABM . Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  31. ↑ Bill, Tony Northup, Mollica: Gar Wood Speedster Update . In: Classic Boating . 79, September-October 1997, pp. 24-27.
  32. ↑ Bill, Tony Northup, Mollica: Gar Wood Speedster Update . In: Classic Boating . 79, September-October 1997, pp. 24-27.
  33. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41257034/alexander-dallas-thayer
  34. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/44018071/george-galt-bourne
  35. ↑ Bill, Tony Northup, Mollica: Gar Wood Speedster Update . In: Classic Boating . 79, September-October 1997, pp. 24-27.
  36. ↑ http://antiqueboatamerica.com/ab_list_boatNew.asp?Left=ForSale&Type=ViewBoat&BoatId=28601
  37. ^ William F. Crosby: Quarter-Deck Talk - Chicago Show Draws Capacity Crowds . In: The Rudder . 1, June 1936, pp. 66-69.
  38. ↑ Milani, Abbas .: The Shah , 1st Palgrave Macmillan paperback. Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2012, ISBN 0230340385 , OCLC 776499698 .
  39. ↑ Bill, Tony Northup, Mollica: Gar Wood Speedster Update . In: Classic Boating . 79, September-October 1997, pp. 24-27.
  40. ↑ Milani, Abbas .: The Shah , 1st Palgrave Macmillan paperback. Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2012, ISBN 0230340385 , OCLC 776499698 .
  41. ↑ Tony; Bill Mollica; Northup: Gar Wood Speedster - A Noble Idea . In: Classic Boating . January / February 1991, pp. 10-13.
  42. ↑ Bill, Tony Northup, Mollica: Gar Wood Speedster Update . In: Classic Boating . 79, September-October 1997, pp. 24-27.
  43. ↑ Chuck Coyne: Miss Conduct . In: Trailer Boats . 12, 1988, December 1988, p. 72.
  44. ^ Scenes - Tahoe Yacht Club Concours d'Elegance . In: MotorBoating & Sailing . 158, 1, December 1986, p. 36.
  45. ↑ 1935 Gar Wood 16-Foot Speedster - "Miss Conduct" . September 10, 2015. Accessed September 20, 2018.
  46. ↑ 1935 Gar Wood 16-Foot Speedster "Miss Conduct" . September 10, 2015. Accessed September 20, 2018.
  47. ↑ Bill, Tony Northup, Mollica: Gar Wood Speedster Update . In: Classic Boating . 79, September-October 1997, pp. 24-27.
  48. ↑ Free Speed ​​In Sweden! It's Not What You Think! | Classic Boats / Woody Boater .
  49. ↑ How to build a GarWood Speedster in less than five minutes on YouTube , May 29, 2012, accessed April 16, 2019.
  50. ↑ Home - ACBS - Antique Boats & Classic Boats - International Boat Club . Retrieved August 15, 2018.