Byrne/George Taylor Family Racing History -- 1948 to 1963

Wayne (Master Oils) suggested that I start a new thread here. So I have done so.
See the Kim Newcome thread in "videos" to see my earlier posts.

Please bear with me as I'm 71 years old now, and there is every possibility that I'm not always accurate with my dating of events, or even the total story.
But what I convey will be as accurate as I can make it from what I remember from all those years ago.
Please feel free to correct me if you detect any errors caused from my 71 year old memory! :)

So let's get started with my story ----- I hope you enjoy!

My dad, Byrne Taylor, was a Doctor and a Flight Surgeon in the Navy during WWII.
After the war we returned to our home town of Orlando, Fla. And my dad renewed his medical private practice as an eye surgeon.

One weekend in 1947 we went for a family outing and found ourselves in Lakeland, Fla. Just by accident we drove by lake Hollingsworth, where they were racing boats.
As you old times know, this racing venue was quit famous to
outboard racers as it had the perfect record setting one and 2/3rds mile course that filled the lake entirely.

We stopped and watched some of the races. And my dad was "hooked"! This was the beginning of the Taylor Family's boat racing adventures.

(Stay tuned - it's my bed time -- hey, I'm 71! Cut me some slack! :D)

I'll add more soon.

Regards,
George Taylor

Hi Everyone,
I'm back to add some more to the Taylor Family racing history.

At the time I had no idea how it had affected my Dad. Behind the scene he was "at work" making his "dream" come true. And as it turns out, mine too!

I guess he was a bit concerned about my mother finding out about his decision to go racing until the "last minute", after he has already made his decision not reversible.

I was in for a "suprise" too. But I already knew what was in store. But my dad didn't know I knew.
But I did! That's because, as a kid, you tend to be just a bit "nosy" about things. And a couple of months before Christmas, I discovered all these racing motors that my dad had purchased and then "hidden" in the loft in our boat house, down by the lake we lived on.

But my mother didn't have a clue! Until she got up Christmas morning in '47, to find three hydros parked
on our porch. And a racing trailer sitting out in front of our house.
Of course, I was "pumped". But for some reason, I don't recall my mom's reaction. I'm just assuming that I probably disappeared when mom started in on dad to
avoid all the "sparks" that I'm sure followed! ;)

To make a long story a bit shorter, my Dad had purchased Joe Swift's entire racing package, including the trailer.
I'm sure most of you old timers remember Joe Swift, the guy that built the "production" A/B stock hydro that made Stock Outboard Racing so popular.

The package included a custom "bubble hydro" that Joe had built himself, along with a Fillinger hydro and a Mishey "M" hydro for me.
And four engines. A Johnson PR, SR ,KR and an "M" motor for me.

I have a lot of photos to add. But I'll have to do that when I have the time to go through them and scan some into my computer.
Most of the photos I have, I've not looked at in probably 20 years or more. So it's gonna be a challenge to even find them! :D

Oh, by the way -- I'm a native of Fla. Grew up in Orlando and currently live in Lady Lake. About 25 miles from Mt. Dora, where Joe Swift had his boat building shop.
I visited his shop on numerous occasions during my youth.
And also owned three models of his hydros.
The original Swift A/B hydro he introduced for Stock Outboard Racing, I believe in 1951 or 52.
And also his "Atomic A" hydro and "Big Bee" hydro.

I still have the invoice for the Atomic A and Big Bee boats.

How many of you know that Joe Swift woodworking actually began by manufacturing the old wooden clothes pins that had no springs?

Gotta quit for tonight -- more later.

Regards,
George

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ezryder

How many of you know that Joe Swift woodworking actually began by manufacturing the old wooden clothes pins that had no springs?

---

Knew that ;) ... that's what the Swift logo is, a clothes pin

I can't wait to see some of this stuff ... you were right at one of boat racing's big turning points. A lot will be learned from you pictures and memories

Thank you for telling your story

........I figured you had some interesting parts of outboard history to plug in, but what a start.:cool: Can't wait for the pictures, but I can already tell...this is going to be one good thread.:D

George,

Good to see you here.

Quite a surprise to learn a few days ago that you are EZRYDER after all the e-mails we've exchanged

Keep the stories coming.

Gene

Attention BRF Guru's !!
HELP!!

I've got all sorts of cool stuff from my past that I think you guys would enjoy. But you have to be able to read it.
I ran a test today on an old Swift Brochure I had in my collection.
I scanned it into my computer.
Then checked it out with my XnView graphics program. And I could easily take it out to 100% size and easily read it.

Next I tried posting it to the bbs. Then downloading it back to
my computer. Then using my graphics program to enlarge it to a size where you could read it.

That proved to not come CLOSE to working. I guess, in the uploading process, the scan is reduced considerably in resolution. And when you try to blow it up, you just get useless images.

Is there any way that I can make my scans available to the members in a format where they can download them and then use a graphics program to allow them in the same
resolution that I scanned them into my computer?

EZ

George...a number of us have gone through that type of situation,although I don't know what bbs and some of the other things you mention are. Scroll down below where the encylopedia section is and you will find a section devoted to posting. Getting the right size is one of the biggest problems. I scan jpeg and I learned that negatives, transparencies, and prints will size up differently than if I do just a black & white scan where I want it to be clean and readable. On my scanner, if I go for black & white in order to adjust the contrast and get the background white, it will not let me do jpeg, so I have to size it much smaller. I can't tell you why...I just learned it from trial and error. BRF has done more to get me to learn a computer by 10X more than any other source. So try out some of the threads in that section and Sam or Jeff can help with technical stuff if you can't figure it out.

The best parameters for direct use are 1,000 X 1,000 pixels and 72dpi; if you have an option for "jpeg compression" use medium or low.

You can make prettier scans by scanning larger and reducing before uploading, but if you want quick and simple use the above settings.

Thanks Sam,
I'll see if I can figure that out tomorrow.

I've got a bunch of stuff to post -- If I can just figure out
how to do it where everyone can read it.

I have lots of newspaper clippings that will be of interest. But their not worth much if you can't read them. And the
ones I tried to scan just didn't work out.

I'm only used to sending pictures to my friends via e mail.
If I send them hi rez, they get hi rez. They can download them and do whatever they want with them in their graphics package.

It quickly became apparent to me that BBS's don't work that way.

EZ

Hi Sam -- and everyone else interested.

I spent the last three hours trying to figure out how to play games with what I want to post, so people could read my postings. Tried every trick I could think of. I manipulated my scans every which way I can imagine in my graphics program. But was never able to come up with anything that I could actually post as a test on the bbs, and be able to read it. Downloading and attempting to increase the size didn't work either.
At this point I'm just out of ideas and also kinda "burned out" trying to figure out a way to do it, quite frankly.

It's a shame too, as I have a lot of old clippings that I was hoping to be able to post. But if you can't read them, what's the point?

Anyway, I've posted the best results I was able to achieve in all the efforts I've made since noon today.
But they just are not quite large enough to actually read them.

I'm "all ears" if someone can guide me as how to make newspaper clippings readable.

This is a Swift Hydroplane Brochure from 1954.

Regards,
EZ