Offshoreonly.com - 28' Thunderbird Formularace boat from the '60's

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Cleveland Propeller

Where does this Formula fit in the puzzle, Cleveland Propeller ?????

Quote:

Originally Posted by h2oboater (Post 4040596)

Where does this Formula fit in the puzzle, Cleveland Propeller ?????

I'm not sure but looks like a 302 with a custom faring to me. What does the HIN# reveal?

Quote:

Originally Posted by sprink58 (Post 4040692)

I'm not sure but looks like a 302 with a custom faring to me. What does the HIN# reveal?

Not a 302, but a early 70's formula 32' hull I believe built just for racing.........

Don was a great one for being economical with his tooling. Look at some old photos of Billy Martin racing his 30 foot Magnum. When they built the boat at Magnum they didn't have a deck mold, so they sent the boat down the street to Thunderbird / Formula and they put one of these decks on.

That is a real deck from the factory at the time.....I don't remember a transom like that, maybe that is how they made a 30 foot boat into a 32 foot boat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by larslindroth (Post 4040473)

Don Aronow had a 27' Formula designed by Peter Gurke for himself that was named Claudia II. Mr. Aronow had he few more made for others to race and called them Formula 276. When he sold Formula he didn't include the mold for the Formula 276. It was sold to Marlin Boat Works in North Carolina and became a sportfisher. My instinct is that you are looking for information on the Donzi 28 and that is the next chapter in Don Aronow's boat racing.

http://www.magnummarine.com/aboutMag...er-in-1965.jpg

There was another 28 that raced under the T/F brand. It was a boat called Holocaust that Bob Nordskog bought from the owner of the T/F company Merrick Lewis. The boat had two engines running power to the prop on a single,shaft.

With that much torque the boat,had a tendency to chine walk more,than a little bit. They came up with an idea to put down hydraulic skids on both sides of the boat to keep it more stable. They looked like skis and they operated just like trim tabs do on the transom. That boat had a narrow beam at 28 feet compared to the above,photo of the 28 foot Donzi.

A few years ago someone sent a few photos to HORBA and let us know the old Holocaust was sitting in a field up in Michigan or Indiana or somewhere in the midwest. We posted the photos and notice, no takers.

That 32' looks like what became a Tempest 38'. Very few built, Fred Kiekafer had one. ( I know it's probably not, but sure looks similar) The 44' Tempest was a Gara/Corsa and I know the 38' wasn't derived from that....IDK..

Thunderbird Formula 28.

Thank You Charlie for mentioning the late great Bob Nordskog's endeavors in the Holocaust Thunderbird.

Picture: http://www.powerboatarchive.co.uk/Ma...caust%20II.pdf

http://seriousoffshore.com/forums/at...1&d=1381808444

Pics from about 10yrs ago.

Charlie, that Thunderbird with the # 250 looks like a Bertram hull. Maybe Don used one to make the raceboat?

Formula 283 by Thunderbird is a stretched 233.

Was busy over the holidays, but will make another post after this and show a few photos of the Formula 283 race boats. They are stretched Formula 233's and the first were made in 1964/1965 supposedly. U.F.O., Thunderstreak II, Holocaust etc. were some of the well-knowned ones. Here are a couple of photos. More in a later post.
http://www.mercuryracing.com/blog/wp...rmula-1965.jpg
http://www.boatmad.com/forum/attachm...1&d=1285708726
http://www.powerboatarchive.co.uk/PA...(1967)_jpg.jpg