Vintage boats that make a splash with their dash!! (pics)

[LocktownDog]

I'm sure there aren't a whole lot of boat lovers here. But I guarantee you'll appreciate the beauty in this vintage cruiser. I have no details on her ... yet. But let me tell ya ... mahogany and chrome makes me all fuzzy inside. :eusa_clap

Richard

 

[warbird]

Stunning!

 

[Feraud]

Wowza! That is a beauty! :eusa_clap

 

[MK]

?

Your god is a boat?

 

[KittyT]

Yeah, I don't know a damned thing about boats, but I sure can appreciate fine design when I see it!

 

[lauwalton]

Yeah, I don't know a damned thing about boats, but I sure can appreciate fine design when I see it!

yes ma'am- me too

 

[Twitch]

The bow of the boat in the foreground is a wooden wonder too it appears. Those old boats were simply cool.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

I really can't think of a time that I've ever seen a cooler boat than that (at that size for sure)!

 

[deadpandiva]

I don't know a thing about boats, but that is a beauty.

 

[LocktownDog]

Your god is a boat?

Without going into a deep theological discussion, let's just say "yes". Oh ... and goddess, not god. Boats are always female.

Richard

 

[Murph351]

Thunderbird! Now this is a wood boat!
This boat is absolutely breathtaking.
It calls Lake Tahoe home.
It's kept at the Thunderbirdlodge.
Here's a bit about her:

The largest and undoubtedly the most elegant of all gasoline powered, mahogany hulled "woodies" to grace the waters of Lake Tahoe is the Thunderbird. Designed for real estate tycoon "Captain" George Whittell, Jr., by naval architect John Hacker in Michigan, this 55' marine masterpiece was built by Huskin Boat Works in Detroit. Whittell's love of aircraft is evident in the graceful turn of the riveted, brushed stainless steel cabin of the yacht, sculpted at his instruction to resemble the fuselage of his personal DC-2. To accommodate the Thunderbird at his Tahoe estate, Thunderbird Lodge (see related story), its notoriously reclusive owner ordered the construction of a 100-foot long enclosed boathouse and 600-foot long tunnel that connected it to the main residence, both blasted out of solid granite.

Completed at a cost of $87,000 (over $3.3 million in today's dollars), Whittell took delivery of the Thunderbird in 1940, and it first crossed the mountain lake's sparkling blue waters on July 14th of that year. The aging playboy used it extensively that summer and the next, retrieving friends from nearby communities and showgirls from the Cal-Neva casino for lavish parties at his estate. Following the entry of the U.S. into World War II, however, Whittell became afraid that his beloved yacht or its engines might be conscripted into military service, and he hid it away in Lodge's boathouse. Until the war's end the Thunderbird never saw the light of day and was used only occasionally at night.

In George Whittell's later years the Thunderbird sat unused in its boathouse slings until purchased in 1969 by casino founder William F. Harrah. Mr. Harrah had the cruiser meticulously restored by craftsmen who maintained his extensive automobile collection in Reno and replaced the original Kermath engines with two 1000 horsepower V-12 Allison aircraft engines. Harrah used it as his private yacht for the entertainment of his casino high-rollers and showroom headliners, such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Frank Sinatra and Bill Cosby, to name a few. During the years he owned it, the Thunderbird was transported to Reno each fall where the triple-planked hull was stripped to bare wood and refinished with ten coats of marine varnish!

After Harrah's death in 1978 the Thunderbird was bought by Buzz and Joan Gibb of Tahoe City and still makes occasional, but all too rare, appearances on Lake Tahoe. Today the yacht is still fully operational and can be viewed in its boathouse at the Thunderbird Lodge Historic Site during tours of the fascinating property conducted by the Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society and Woodwind Cruises. It is also usually on public display each August at the Concours d'Elegance.

and a link:
http://thunderbirdlodge.org/theboat.html

As you can probably tell I'm a wood boat nut.
I've owned and restored a couple of these old wood cruisers.
None of the new tupperware boats seems to capture the grace and elegance that these old girls bring to the water.
Here's a picture of our present wooden hole in the water.
She's a 1966, all wood, Italian built, 16 meter Baglietto.

 

[LocktownDog]

Murph! You legend! I had no idea she was a mere 45 minute drive from me! I think I now have plans for the weekend.

Thanks for the info. I could kiss ya! :eusa_clap

Richard

 

[Murph351]

Careful...
she's an Art Deco overload.
Be sure to bring your sunglasses!

 

[dhermann1]

I believe this subject popped up once last year on another thread. Yes, indeed, much to drool over. A friend of mine on Chautauqua lake has the 22 foot 1946 mahogany Chris Craft that belonged to a mutual friend for years. He's overhauled it a couple of times. MUCH work. You have to refinish the wood every two or three years, recaulk the space between the planks, etc., etc. A staggering amount of work. I remember once somebody in the neighborhood wanted to refinish their little 16 foot Lyman. We used gallon after gallon of Zipstrip, and scraped and scraped and we still couldn't get all the paint of that little hull. My friend finally resorted to a blowtorch, which did the job.
A wooden boat like that has something like the same soulfulness of a Stradivarius violin, or a piece of Chippendale furniture. But as alluded to above, the definition of the word "boat" is "a hole in the water into which you pour money."
The snazziest wooden boat I was ever on was Sir Thomas Lipton's last America's Cup yacht, the Shamrock V. It was remodeled after its racing career to be a luxury yacht. Just an astounding exercise in exquisite woods and fittings.

 

[Earp]

What a beautiful thing this is !!
I love the streamlined, Art Deco look of it so much! Thanks for posting this.

 

[Jerekson]

That is a beautiful machine.

 

[Lucky Strike]

Fantastic. It must be one of the absolutely finest of its breed.

A fork-rigged sailboat:

And the Antwerp 1920 Olympics gold medalist N2 "Most", 10-metre class:

Couldn't find better photos of the boat itself, sorry.

 

[Luddite]

It's antique speedboats which get my pulse racing! This is the pick o' the bunch I reckon....

Shame I'm as far away from water as you can get in the UK!

 

[Alan Eardley]

Here's a nice boat that cruises around the canals of Amsterdam - I'm sure some of our regular loungers will know it. That's the way to go out for a meal!

Alan

 

[Lucky Strike]

I think I've seen that one (or one very much like it) in Amsterdam!