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Thread: NOA OPC 1958, part 3

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    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    Talking NOA OPC 1958, part 3

    My dad crossing the finish line, Knoxville Boat Club, 1958. Mark 78/AristoCraft Torpedo. Second photo is after the NOA Nationals, he won unlimited class in the 100 mile marathon on Old Hickory Lake (Nashville). The boat would run 47-48 mph, and you can see that my dad did not trim out. Understanding elementary physics very well, he assumed that 'level' was fastest (he didn't think about lifting the tail via dynamic pressure). He never trimmed anything out, the boat probably would have sat on its tail and run 50 mph!

    The 60-70 c.i. Class required a 14' boat, the Torpedo was an inch too short. In Feb. 1958 we talked with Claude Turner at the Chicago Boat Show. that spring Claude built my dad a 14' 2" Torpedo but (while allowing home made wooden Allisons) NOA disqualified it as 'not production'. Politics mattered .... .

    Third photo is Fall, 1959, when the 1960 Merc 800 first came out. Beside it is my dad's 1978 Mark 78. Both motors were the ones we set the NOA records with. In the window is a 1957 poster showing a Mark 10 (first through-hub exhaust model) beside the last produced Mark 25, and below are the Mark 30H and Mark 55H models along with the Mark 75. wish I had that poster today. I think the 70 hp Mercury weighed about 160 lb, less than an E-tec 40, half the weight of an E-tec 75, and I won't mention the weights of today's 4-stroke 'Briggs & Stratton' type 'outboards'. I could in any case lift the motor on and off the boat and carry it in and out of the shop alone, standing it on the gearcae every few steps.

    Pictures 4 and 5 are of my well-thumbed, greasy paged Mercury Service manual that I used from 1957-1961. I still have the manual plus a few special tools.
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    Last edited by Smokin' Joe; 02-07-2010 at 11:33 AM. Reason: photo order wrong

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    Awsome boat! About 15 years ago the barn that my shooting star came from had one of those in it. It was in very good original shape. I should of bought it, but can't buy everything. I think the green windshield makes the boat look really cool. Great pictures!!
    53w

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    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by 53w View Post
    Awsome boat! About 15 years ago the barn that my shooting star came from had one of those in it. It was in very good original shape. I should of bought it, but can't buy everything. I think the green windshield makes the boat look really cool. Great pictures!!
    53w
    If the boat's still there my younger brother might be interested. He lives in Ky.

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    BoatRacingFacts VIP John Schubert T*A*R*T's Avatar
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    Default Aristocraft

    Quote Originally Posted by 53w View Post
    Awsome boat! About 15 years ago the barn that my shooting star came from had one of those in it. It was in very good original shape. I should of bought it, but can't buy everything. I think the green windshield makes the boat look really cool. Great pictures!!
    53w
    Darrell, do you know if the Aristocraft is still around from where you got your Shooting Star? e-mail me at jschubert@wi.rr.com

    Thanks,
    John

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    Sorry the boat is no longer in the barn, was sold about ten years ago to a guy looking for a small river fishing boat.

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    Team Member Smokin' Joe's Avatar
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    Talking

    A horror story, used as a small fishing boat. Probably with the deck sawed off.

    I also have a horror story. There was a pristine green Mark 55H that my dad sold new in 1957 to a lawyer (C Speedliner). The motor was hardly used. I ran it once in the early 1970s, accelerated like a beast! The lawyer wanted $700 for the whole thing but I had no money. I enquired recently, the lawyer had alzheimers and died, no one knows what happened to the rig. Junk yard, most likely, out of ignorance. Would be hard to fish sitting down in a Speedliner.

    AristoCraft is still made by Claude Turner's grandsons in Alpharetta, Ga. Claude is still alive and enjoys my old Mercury poster, which hangs in his house. He recalls making the special-length Torpedo for my dad.





    Quote Originally Posted by 53w View Post
    Sorry the boat is no longer in the barn, was sold about ten years ago to a guy looking for a small river fishing boat.

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