Ted Jones Hydro

[Ron Hill]

Jack told me Ted Jones built Burt's boat, then he added, well Ronnie built. So, I gathered from our phone call, that Ted had a lot to do with the design, and Ron Jones, Sr. did the wood work.

Burt did not drive the boat that Jack and Hu had at Lake "X" with Carl. I guess that boat was hu's and Jack and Hu took to to the Alkie Nationals in McKeesport, PA (1957).

[Cameraboy]

Well, we have seen a lot of the big yellow boat this year. Troy Holmberg has been working it out. It now has a Tohatsu on the back. The first shot shows the original configuration. The second is Ron Jones, Jr putting the finishing touches on removing about 2 feet (yes, 2 feet) of rear shoes. Big performance improvement.

[BRIAN HENDRICK]

Recent pic of my 11' Jones CRH/DMH with M55H 'mule' on for testing. We were ready to go to Constantine AOMC meet, but had to cancel at the last minute.
We will be at the Clayton 'RB' in AUG.
The following are comments from Harry Pinner and his experience with a D Jones in FL .

"...Jones hydro? Back in '59 and '60, the Cadillac dealer's son had one. It ran good down the straightaway, but coming out of the corner it was slow. In 1960, he ran it in the Gold Coast Marathon from Miami to West Palm Beach (65 miles). By the time he got to West Palm Beach, his knees looked like hamburger, so I ran it back the next day. Came in 5th out of 200 boats.
[Q?...…how did u set up??]

".....we mostly ran parallel to the boat. I know (when) we ran the Jones parallel the front would float high. But never felt like it would blow over. I was only 155-160 at that time and I would lay my body on the wheel on the straightaway - 73 mph."

[BRIAN HENDRICK]

There is at least 50 years between those two D hydros.
'66' is a 2005 Giles, last boat he built [so far?].
The Jones was built in the mid '50s, but not sure. Hope to date it at the Clayton RB Regatta. The Giles don't like it when the Jones gets out of the barn ahead of it.
Pic of '66' , and crew, in the pits at Tweed, ON recently.
My driver, Spencer, [STU-Racer] is on the throttle and explaining something very important to us ol'geezers! But now forgot what he said.

[BRIAN HENDRICK]

I have not seen this boat in person, but sure looks like an OEM Ted Jones to me, bigger than my 'D',
so the 'F' probably.
It was owned by Bill Swift, but no idea where it is now.

[BRIAN HENDRICK]

Never did get this boat to a big meet, like Constantine or Clayton, but have been getting some time in on the water using a 40" stock motor. With a 150# driver, the boat airs out nicely, and drives like a Cadillac. Some what sluggish in the corners, as it dumps air, and the sponsons plow. We are only doing about 60mph, with a very conservative set up.
I hope to get some pix of it at speed. It looks great, riding with the nose way up, and light all the way under.

[Ron Hill]

Ron Jones would know, but I think all the Cab Overs that had fiberglass cowling were Ron Jones built....

The ones I saw all had white fiberglass cowlings...

The top wood cowling that you think is a Ted Jones Cab Over...Why do you think this is Ted Jones??....Several suttle things lead me to believe this is a BACK YARD built boat...This era of boats was not the 1950's, well hell, late 1959... The Ron Jones were an improvement over the Entrop Cab Overs...but Sid Crafts put them out of business...and that was early '60's....

[BRIAN HENDRICK]

[QUOTE=RonHill]Ron Jones would know, but I think all the Cab Overs that had fiberglass cowling were Ron Jones built.... Maybe, but over here the 'expurts' tell me the fibreglass cowls were a TED Jones trade mark, technology from Boeing?

The ones I saw all had white fiberglass cowlings...
This one was blue before I sprayed it yellow.
Maybe it was white.

The top wood cowling that you think is a Ted Jones Cab Over...Why do you think this is Ted Jones??....Several suttle things lead me to believe this is a BACK YARD built boat...
This is why i am posting here, to hopefully get some factual info on these boats. Reson I think it could be a Ted Jones is a pic in a TJ brochure that looks like this boat, but could be a recreation.

This era of boats was not the 1950's, well hell, late 1959... The Ron Jones were an improvement over the Entrop Cab Overs...but Sid Crafts put them out of business...and that was early '60's....
Did the Ted Jones' not predate the Entrops and McDonalds? A pic of the shop floor shows a number of the o/b's under construction, but the latest unlimited is Thriftway Too, the only rear engine inboard in the pics.

[Mark75H]

No, the Jones boats did not predate the first Entrop or Entrop/McDonald

I think the first Jones was built to take the record back from Entrop when he set the NOA 114 mph record with the V-4; which I believe was set with the first McDonald/Entrop in March of 1960

I remember the picture you are talking about ... I always figured the Thriftway Too was there for storage/repairs/remodeling rather than construction

[Ron Hill]

"Did the Ted Jones' not predate the Entrops and McDonalds?"

Ok, where my head is on this: I felt Entrop only built boats for himself...and I thought Ted Jones "HELPED" Entrop as Ted had a LIFE TIME CONTRACT with Carl to build boats for ONLY Mercury, and he was paid well to do that...

Ronnie Jones, started building boats boats that were a little different, modern cowlings (figer glass) and we for sale as a for profit business...

Mac, Wilbur McDonald, had been a postman, I think, but loved to build boats and his early boat were copies of many other boats...His copies were EXACT, the only way to spot some of MacDonald's copies were that the plywood was darker (Stronger) than the originals...

We Jack Leek went to work at OMC, he hired Wilbur "MAC" McDonald to repair boats and build them. Wilbur and Leek worked closely on verious designs...

I have no personal knowledge of a McDonald "D" Cab Over....I know where a brand new, one race on it, there is a McDonald "C" Racing Runabout with a cloth deck, and I remember seeing several McDonald "SID CRAFT" D hydros... Mac ws a real artist with his wood working skills.....

That top boat, cockpit combings pieces, don't look like anything I saw in the Northwest in that ear....but maybe it was an early boat, and has ben redone...The sponson bottoms, from what I can see, don't look right either...

Cool boats, only drop Elgin Gate's Entrop "D" once...must have run 10 gallons of gas through it...It was at Irvine Lake.....I'd lay down in the cockpit and she'd start over backwards, and I'd jmp forward, lke "A Monkey on a Stick"....as they called it, and her tail would "POP"....and go like hell!!!

Every Entrop Cab Over I ever swa had a cloth cowling in front of the dash...