Ron Hill Family: Hill Marine and Signature Propellers

[Ron Hill]

It is actually fun to travel. My brother and his wife, Carolyn went with us to Italy. We were to get there first, so we were going to pick up the rent car at the airport. Trouble was, our airport was 65 kilometers from the airport where our car was. No, real big deal, we got a different car and with my brother's GPS, we found our hotel and we found the other airport and picked up Russ and Carolyn. The GPS seems to work great we found a McDrive at McDonald's for lunch and we found a great bar/restaurant in Milano for dinner in the rain. Great food, great wine, great weather, a very nice first night in Italy!

The ABC's are in Rome, the food is from Venice and McDrive is outside Milano!

(ABC sands for Another Bloody Church as our English friend calls them)...

[Ron Hill]

This was the first time I ever raced against 126 other drivers at the same time. The boat was fast, but lucky for me, it broke early! Ernie Dawe was to be my Co-Driver, he was glad he didn't have to get in and drive....A very wild race in those days!

[Ron Hill]

Jake is taking a little break. He's been helping Grandpa and dad. There is always a lot of work to be done at the Hill Marine Propeller Factory.

[Ron Hill]

Before APBA got the "BRIGHT IDEA" to change the points year from January 1st to October 31, and move the membership year the same, we used to race at Lake Weist in December. Lake Weist is outside Brawley, California near the Mexican border. It is quite warm there in December. This was in December 1973. My wife, two month old child and I stayed in Rod Zapf's motor home......came close to freezing to death as his heater didn't work. We had a great race, I bought Rod's boat, motor and trailer as he was going Inboard racing the next year. I went home and bought a new Winnebago.

Ron Hill


December, 1973, Lake Weist, Brawley, California. Ron Hill leads D Runabout, 84- C is Rod Zapf (Driving a Bill Boyes Runabout. Ernie Dawe is 29-C driving a Dawe Runabout.

Ron Hill was driving a Hill Runabout.

The three of us are still good friends , boat racing is family, friends and fun!

[Smokin' Joe]

Charging along the Seine in a high-flyer!

[Ron Hill]

We called those Molinari's "High Riders". This Molinari was driven by me and John Schubert in Paris, 1970. Then, Jimbo and I won Berlin the next week. Berlin was 6 Hours just like Paris was in those days. This Molinari would get over some tall water, but it was not a "TRUE" High Rider, as it had longer sponsons, and didn't turn up as much as a "HIGH RIDE".....It was fun to drive.

The picture I'm posting here is my Sid-Craft Hydro I bought from Ted May. After the first 9 races that year, 1964, I had 36 firsts, C Runabout, C Hydro, D Runabout and D Hydro. I managed to "WRECK" in the first turn, my "NEW" fin snapped off at the first turn, and I went "*** Over Tea Kettle". Someone bounced off me, but we duct taped it back together and I won the second heat.

Funny motor I ran in D Hydro that year. I broke the C Runabout and D Runabout Kilo records at the Nationals that year, but felt my D Hydro was NOT a kilo set up, but felt I could do well in the finals. I won the D Runabout and probably should have put that motor on the hydro, but I'd won every race that season with that motor and I just figured stay with what I had, though I knew Jimbo and Ted may were faster. As it turned out Louie Wheeler won D Hydro, Jimbo's mag dropped and he broke a timing belt and so did my mag drop. Ted won the first heat and his gears started going out the second heat and he ended up second. As great as Ted was, he never won an APBA Stock Nationals.

After the nationals, my dad got to looking at my D Hydro motor with the broken mag arm, and decided to take the motor apart. I had bought it from Joe Moore, my dad had built it for Joe many years earlier. Anyway, my dad decided that the crank was worn out, so he tossed it. It was .015, which was as large as you could bore a block in those days, and it was really about .022 over and the pistons were out of round. My dad put the block on the shelf, and said maybe someday they will legalize .030 and we can use it.

He got to looking at the tower housing and the bushing were so worn out, he decided it was junk, beside it had a crack down by where they all cracked. So, next he took the foot apart and decided the gears were shot, so when he tried to get the pinion gear off the driveshaft, it wouldn't come, so he sawed the gearcase in half to get the pinion off the driveshaft, but it had galled to the drive shaft....

So, I ended up with a top and bottom cowling, a mag, flywheel, two carbs, a saddle with clamps and a tail cone. Not much of a D Hydro motor.

To carry the story more, in 1974, my dad bored that block to .030 and I won the Nationals in Dayton , Ohio in D Runabout, ten years that block sat on my dad's shelf!

[Ron Hill]

When I was a KID, it was a great time to be a KID! Seaboard Equipment Company was the Mercury Distributor, on Coast Highway in Sunset Beach. Behind Seaboard was a channel and we could test there anytime we wanted. When I first started with my AU, we'd run 5 gallons of gas for the day plus whatever was in the tank. Now, my dad always assumed my tank was dry when we got there, but usually, during the week, he'd time somebody's motor and he'd tell me to drain the tank. Well, I'd drain it alright, right into my KG-4's tank.

So, on Saturday, I'd get 5 gallons of gas plus a full tank.

On Sunday, we'd go to Bixby Slough, as it was fresh water and I'd get another five gallons. We did this just about every weekend in the winter of ;54 and the spring of '55. In '55 I was eleven and my dad told everyone I was 12 and you and to be 12 to race.

Hell, we had a boat trailer made out of 2 X 6's and a plywood box, painted Russ Hill Red. My brother was in the Army, so I got to use his trailer. Russ Hill, Jr. painted on the back with "The Bellflower Flash's" name on it.

We were "COOL" in those days. The winter of '55 we raced 26 straight weeks on LIVE TV. I was on the Mickey Mouse Newsreel like 9 times.

California has always been a great place to live and play!!!!

The picture is of Dick Lane the TV announcer and me, December 1955.

[Ron Hill]

John Drake and Russ went to Catalina Island for Labor day, 1952, they came back with these "COOL" hats.

[Ron Hill]

Hallett Hydro

[Ron Hill]

I won the Chicago to Milwaukee to Chicago Marathon in 1967. I got a thousand dollars in cash (I made $5,900 a year teaching that year) and I also won a new Evinrude outboard motor.