we had an old Johnson surfer tri hull when I was a kid with the pushbutton OMC drive and and a buick small block in front of it.

Yeah! some had small Oldsmobile engines,some had nail head Buick's and even some small block Chev's .But all were elect shift,shifted with electric magnets in the lower instead of dog gears. They were called stringer drive OMC's. Some were tilt and trim.They did that with electric screw jacks built into the front mounts.Picked the front of the engine up and down and pivoted on the rear mounts. Worked on many of them over the years.JOHN SR

If I had room in my garage I'd be all over that puppy.

I could be way wrong - but just last week I was in Decatur, Indiana - Home of Formula and I always drive by the factory to see if they have any of the "big boys" out-- This time nothing. However, I swear this was the same type of boat that was on display in the lobby.

three point star

These Formula Jrs are around. Just have to look for them. Thinking that this one is at the high end needing to be restored.

were these built by don aranow?

This guy must be advertising that boat all over the country. Its listed up in Seattle too...

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/boa/4089097347.html

Formula Jr.
 

Jim Wynne boat. The first one was Jim's Paris 6 hour boat with a little racing Volvo with a speedmaster looking foot. I helped build it in Howard Abbey's shop in 1906-61. Later built by Thunderbird/Formula. It was the inspiration for the Donzi 16.

Thank you for that!