Molinari Racing Boat History and Information

[toritatv]

Old is Gold ....golden era of shipping and boring for a life jacket for adults....the pictures reflect the past history....

[Lake X Kid]

Don Aronows son (Michael) we have this ...

Lenny, when my dad came back from Europe in 63-64 he spoke about these great Molinari cats that he had seen and how great they looked, ran and handled. Fast forward to the summer of 67 when we were racing in Europe. During that time, Don once again had the opportunity to watch the Molinari cats in action and this time he ordered two to be delivered to him in North Miami Beach, either at Magnum or to one of his little work/test shops. He had spent the day with Francesco and/or Vincenzo and they had introduced him to Angelo Molinari.

To quote from the Fort Lauderdale News, January 26, 1968 by Johnny Wilson, Outdoor News Editor who had interviewed Dad - "Take one of the finest Italian-designed and made outboard racing runabouts, revise it a bit and put it through the American production gamut and what do you have? You have the new Maltese Magnum 16, a fiberglass blending of the best qualities of the world's finest racing catamarans- the original race-winning design by Molinari of Italy with improvements and solid fiberglass construction by Magnum of Miami, as proven by Don Aronow, the current world champ in offshore powerboat racing.

Aronow's newest creation (which was just released at the recent Miami Boat Show) will have it first Broward showing today, tomorrow and Sunday at Everglades Marina, where selective demonstrations will be given all three days by factory representatives.

The first American showing of this three year old Italian design was old number 888 which Roy Ridgell of the Kiekhaefer Mercury team drove to a smahing sixth overall with a single engine in the last Miami-Palm Beach version of the Gold Coast Marathon.

But Aronow saw the boats in action while he was touring Europe last summer on his way to the world driving title, and bought a couple for study. The Molinari had won the rugged 6 hour Marathon of Paris two straight years, and even Aronow was impressed. He and the Magnum development team analyzed them from stem to stern and after months of testing, revising and re-designing the twin-keel Maltese magnum 16 went into production.
Of one piece laminated high impact fiberglass, the hull has an aerogynamically designed tunnel from bow to transom and the typical "droop snoot" silhouette configuration of the top European racing rigs.
Aronow says 'She's an incomparable ski boat, a thrilling personal boat and a born to win racing boat - a finer boat than any of the champions from which she was created' ".

This article was titled MAGUNM 16: SUCCESSFUL BY-PRODUCT OF ITALIAN HULL and was printed below two black and white pictures of the Missile, one in our driveway on a trailer and one running with its Merc 125 (the 1250) outboard.
Lenny, the picture you have posted looks exactly like the Magnum Missile 16'.
A year or two later, Glastron's Bob Hammond put Art Carlson and Mr. Molinari together and they began building the Glastron-Carlson-Molinari line of small outboard cats. All three men - true powerboating legends.
To my eye, the Magnum was the winner. It was built with all of those little extras that always made Dad's boats special. It was carpeted and had those 4 comfortable back to back bucket seats and so on. Jim was not involved with Magnum at that time.
Dad had this idea of using the Missile to get from our home in Coral Gables to Magnum on 188th Street in order to avoid the daily traffic. He tried it a few times but decided a comfortable car trumped the pounding and the wetness.
I have these great shots of the Missile including my favorite with Don and Vincenzo running in the bay behind our home when Vincenzo visited.
Dad sold Magnum to Apeco (the American Photocopy Equipment Company) owned by friends Bobby and Clayton Rautbord with Clayton in charge shortly thereafter. The Missile never really got off the ground after the sale. (Socialite Sugar Rautbord was Clayton's wife)
Hope this has helped answer a lot of Missile questions.

A quote from Allan Brown (Brownie)
Mike, I hope you don't mind my piling my recollections on top of yours. Two small points: The builder of the original wooden missiles, 16' and 19' was Dieter Schulze. The missile took up too much room in the small glass shot to create enough bucks to make it worthwhile.

A reply from Michael Aronow
No problem AB, I welcome your input and appreciate the help, - after all, you were there on the street all week while I was in school. As to your post:
You are right on. Dieter did indeed build the wooden 16' and 19' and true enough, there was not enough room in the "shop" to make producing the Missiles worthwhile when the money was in the larger Magnums.
One more interesting little footnote: The Missile molds ended up in the vacant field next to plant 1 at Cigarette, along with that large group of discarded molds and other mold parts, etc. and with all the change of ownerships going on over the years, I do not believe that any of new owners were ever aware of it.

https://www.boatdesign.net/threads/g...82/#post-19188

[amicodellscorpionne]

Hello all,
I wonder if anyone here knows the current whereabouts of the beautiful " Martini Bianco " offshore powerboat seen in 1987, driven by Molinari and Cesare Fiorio on the world championship. The hull was a Falcon made by Molinari and the engines were 4 full Gr.C spec Lancia LC2 units made in abarth.
Whatever happened to this boat after '87 until this day ?

[WaltZucher]

Another Swede..Ulf Backman when he wasn't driving his Molinari-Evinrude Ulf was a commercial pilot for SAS..Scandinavien Airlines..tabletop miniatures

Well..not 100% sure..before my time in racing but I think this is Ulf´s Molinari #24.. https://sharpedgeshop.com/collection...-multi-purpose but it could be his Schulze..I do know the picture is from Paris Six Hours and Ulf drove all the six hours by himself.

Ulf Backman, the racing legend with the wings of a pilot and the skills of a speed demon! Taking on the track for six hours straight like a Scandinavian superhero, all while spreading his prowess across both land and air. A true master of multi-tasking!

[Lars Strom]

Ulf Backman, the racing legend with the wings of a pilot and the skills of a speed demon! Taking on the track for six hours straight like a Scandinavian superhero, all while spreading his prowess across both land and air. A true master of multi-tasking!

Ulf took his UIM ON class #30 Molinari boat fishing..He was upset with OMC not getting a power-trim for his V4 Evinrude Starflite SS in time for the Paris race.

[Lars Strom]

Renato in his Unlimited cat powered by twin F1-V8 engines 1983.
Clear Lake, Texas.

[Lars Strom]

Roger Hinsdale shared a memory.

Timeless.......just a couple of Molinari / CCC/RS powered tunnel hulls

Thanks RH

[Lars Strom]

.."move on up to an Evinrude"...with Renato Molinari..the F1 Champ 1983.