h2oboater

\

Have you ever measured it to see how long it really is ?? Back in the 70's there were many boat companies called Cobra I have one that was made in HIALEAH, FL that has twin 302 Holman Moody Ford engines & is 24'. I see your hull has Michigan tags so it could be a Martini that Jim Klem sold, [KEMS GEMS ] the Sterpowr drive is the giveaway. Jim was selling them as he would buy the blank hulls & rigged them, this was before he made a nockoff of the 27' Magnum Sport.

NJThumper

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/c...tini-boat.html

4bus

iTrader: (4)

Does anyone have any era pics of the Corsa called "Magic Rat" was arneson rigged with a turbo dry sump engine right from the start. My friend purchased it and is in the process of a resto, keeping the drive, the engine is gone but it has been replaced with a new 575sci. I'll post some pics up here when the boat is done.

dangerzone7

This helps a lot. I am going to measure it this week now. I did speak to a guy from Corsa, and he said the HIN is definetly a Corsa HIN, so now I am a little confused again. My boat is a '79, Corsa bought Martini in the 80's, didn't they?

Lee

iTrader: (4)

I have some pictures from when I owned it, is the restoration almost done?

Hittman69

I would love to have those Holman moody motors...they have some parts on them worth a small fortune...lol

Firecat

A '74? Wow! The boat you describe was only the 2nd (or was it 3rd?) boat they ever made! At the Time, Bob Bower's brother - and partner with the boats - were sharing the same complex for two different businesses. It was the burgeoning point of Martini, while John ran his electrical contracting company.

If you were going, "almost every [weekend]," and beer can island was involved... we may very well know each other!!!

Do you remember another Martini, by the name of Miss Italia, it had a chevron of the Italian flag on it's side? It may have shown up at that island once or twice.

Firecat

Although Excalibur and Martini/Corsa are similar, Martini bought out Excalibur and closed their doors.

Funny story about that too.

When the very first Martini was made, obviously the name and style of boat, associated with that name, was unknown. Bob Bower placed an ad in a local paper that simply read, "Excalibur type boat for sale." Apparently Excalibur didn't like this much and tried to sue Martini for the use of their name. But, to Excalibur's dismay and Martini's delight, Excalibur had not legally owned the exclusive rights to the name for the last 7 years. Bob Bower payed all the back fines and fees, associated with the name Excalibur, and the ownership of the name, "Excalibur," listed as HIS private domain dating back those 7 years. Martini filed a counter-suit against Excalibur, and won. The lawsuit basically all but put Excalibur out of business.

Although Excalibur did eventually make a comeback, they almost went out for good. But, Martini has never heard a thing from them since. Plus, they [Martini] received a nice influx of capitol, to help further finance their new company.

Business is business, I guess.

Hittman69

Cant say i remember that boat..i was pretty young at the time..i just recall going to the island...before my step dad bought it he had a little 16 ft.Phantom that was sponsored by sunshine airlanes as it used to be raced at the miami marine stadium back then..when he got it it had a 150 merc on it and was clocked at 72mph..I recall one day at the stadium a mullet jumping up and hitting him square in the face at wide open throttle....boat needed a good cleaning after that to say the least...lol

I honestly cant say what number the boat was off the assembly line..i just recall it was a light beige in color with a darker pin stripes in a darker beige a brown and a red'ish brown...was a triple stripe over the beige that ran just under the rub rails....Had the martini glass on the back and said 7 meter as well...single 454 and it said 330hp on the merc outdrive..also had trim tabs on it.

Firecat

It is a Martini... I remember that particular boat sitting outside a while. The person who originally ordered the boat took a very long time to show up for delivery. I always loved the name and thought it was a very nice boat. After Miss Italia was sold, I remember hoping the buyer would never show up and Wild Thing would be relegated to show duty (which would have made her my new boat ... well, whenever I could have gotten the keys anyway.)

For the record: Martini/Corsa were owed by Bob and John Bower <-- no, "s". As for B&B racing. I have no clue who owned them. It may very well have been a Bill and Bob Bowers, but they were of no relation to the owners of Martini/Corsa.