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Thread: Swift Big Bee project

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    Default Swift Big Bee project

    I just purchased this swift Big Bee.
    It came out of Georgia in the 60's to Washington.
    can anyone tell me who raced it? numbers f 55
    Does anyone have any old pictures?
    I was told it was run in C with a 30 h in the 60's, can a B boat run in C?
    any idea of the year of this boat?
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    Team Member BJuby's Avatar
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    How long is it? Our 1952 Swift A/B is 9' flat. You're lucky, mine didn't have racing numbers on it.

    Letter first means it was alky no? And what state is F? Georgia? (anyone have a list of the APBA letters per state?)

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    Barry Rees Heliarc's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by craigcraftdave View Post
    I just purchased this swift Big Bee.
    It came out of Georgia in the 60's to Washington.
    can anyone tell me who raced it? numbers f 55
    Does anyone have any old pictures?
    I was told it was run in C with a 30 h in the 60's, can a B boat run in C?
    any idea of the year of this boat?
    Nice find. Not a lot of those Big Bees around anymore, especially in that condition.

    To answer your question "can a B boat run in C?". In a word - yes. Not something I would have been comfortable with, even in my youth, but I had seen it done a number of times in the mid to late 60s. There was a guy from Long Island, NY by the name of Bruce Hurd. His boat number was 110-N. He ran B (20H Conversion) stock hydro and C (30H) stock hydro on the same 9' 8" SidSon B boat. It was a sight to behold watching that B boat run down the straightaway with a 30H on the back of it on a windy day in choppy water at the Long Branch, NJ race. Bruce definitely had a pair.

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    Default The Big Bee was rated a "B-C" boat in the Swift lit and specs of the time...........

    .............and I found that to be true. I purchased one new in about '57/'58 along with a new 30H and ran it successfully for several years, both as a stock engine on gas closed up exhaust, and also against the PR's of the day in "C" Alky Hydro. I had a couple of alky carbs that had been modified by a local guy who ran an "A" Merc against the "KR"s" of the day, and changed the timing a little when running on alky. Best I remember it was about a 58-60 MPH ride on gas and pushing 65 on alky with an open exhaust (not pipes) but basically stock powerhead Also ran it with a B on alky on a Quicksilver lower unit, but the power head was a highly modified Wizard Super 10, and it ran competitive speeds against the "SR's also.
    Very stable safe ride at those speeds but never ran in white caps either.

    Some place on the net are old copies of Boat Sport and there is a test in one of the issues of a BIG Bee and 30H with prop and set up information. I think the article was by Hank Bowman

    ADD:

    This boat pictured was pretty much a copy of mine, right down to the hardware and paint color and scheme. They were very attractive and well built boats for the time, and Joe Swift did a great job marketing them. I purchased mine thru the local Merc dealer, who also sold Speedliner's, and I seem to remember the price of the boat was right at 600.00 with crate, frt, paint, and hardware. The 30H was also in that price range but I don't remember the exact figures after this much time has passed.

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    in the 50s and 60s and today ga folks run F.Danny Piggott may have some info on who ran F 55.nice find.

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    Team Member F-12's Avatar
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    Back in the late 50's through the time of his death in 1972, Ben Perry ran F-55 on his F cabover.
    Charley Bradley


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    Team Member Danny Pigott's Avatar
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    I would say this is a 57/58 Big Bee, it has a hard deck and long cowl, I have a 56 with soft deck an the cowl is shorter . Bill is right they made what was called a B/C it must have been in 57. The one I have is 9 foot 6 in. the thing they like to do was barrel roll my dad to me that and I found out. The A/B Swift liked to stuff. Ralph Donald might know something about this boat if it came from GA.

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    Team Member BJuby's Avatar
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    I've stuffed our 1952 A/B Swift once. Not a fun experience. Other than that, it is a very fun hydro to run.

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    Thanks for all the info guys! I would really like to get an old picture of this boat racing if someone can dig one up that would be amazing!

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    Team Member zul8tr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BJuby View Post
    How long is it? Our 1952 Swift A/B is 9' flat. You're lucky, mine didn't have racing numbers on it.

    Letter first means it was alky no? And what state is F? Georgia? (anyone have a list of the APBA letters per state?)
    Look here section 9 page 11

    https://www.apba.org/sites/all/files...-SO_MO_PRO.pdf

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