Miami Vice Stinger Filming Boat
 

After more than 20 years of searching, the Miami Vice season one Chris Craft Stinger 390X Competition filming boat has been found!

A huge thank you to Terry Brown for passing along the anonymous tip that led to this discovery. The boat is currently on its way back to Florida to be evaluated for restoration. Of the three Tri Color Chris Craft Stinger 390X Competition boats used in season one, each had a different Chris Craft side logo placement which identifies them. This boat is the only known and first to appear on screen in episode 5, “Calderone’s Return Part II” in the Voices Montage. Also in the aerial footage in episode 8, “The Great McCarthy”. Other episodes are being studied to see where else it appears. This is the boat that started my love for offshore power boats in 1984 as I’m sure it did for many of you. A new Instagram & Facebook page have been established to elaborate on this story and follow the restoration, either can be found by searching “miamivicestinger“ the FB page name is "Chris Craft Stinger 390X Miami Vice Filming Boats"
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Awesome!

Where was it hiding for all this time?.......not exactly a barn find.

The Miami Vice nostalgia is great but even without that, it’s still a beast of a boat. Might not go like the newer boats of today but I reckon it looks just as nice. Great find!

RR

I really hope she's got good bones. Congratulations on finding one of the best-recognized classic offshore performance boats of all time. She'll be heading towards new horizons. Fantastic news!

Still a classic video ! What a great find !! It looks pretty clean sitting on the trailer, should be a interesting concept. With the price of todays boats and power, why not. It's not like the y are a no-depreciating asset.. LOL

Following. Thank you for sharing. Hopefully there will be a build thread to follow.

Following! Will check out FB too.

Hard to believe that was 37yrs ago!!

About 5-7 year ago I went to buy parts for my car collector car in Pennsylvania and in a barn was a 39 Chris craft and it had a plaque in stating is was used in miami vice. Could be one of them.

I just went searching through my emails and found the husband and wife that has or had the boat.

I assume the OP has checked out https://chriscraftstingers.com/. Looks to have plenty of info.
(Interesting website)

RR

Thanks everyone, yes I am aware of the Stinger Registry, I worked with them to verify the boat.

That 39’ of Tri-colored Fiberglass is responsible for a lot of dreams, and for me A Lot of Cash. But I’m loving every minute of it. I wish you all the luck with the project, Thanks for working to keep our dreams alive.

This boat is also for me the start of my love to go-fast boats. Remembering when we forced my dad to buy our lake boat ( Seebold Eagle 236) in a similar colour scheme to give us a „Miami Vice“ feeling.
he would have preferred yellow:-)

A buddy of mine has one but it’s long gone from looking original. For only a 39’ it’s a huge boat compared to our old gun. When I was in my early 20s I had the keys to it. Fun times!

Awesome, sub'd!

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Very cool! Here's a pic I took of the 86 Scarab used in later season episodes. It's in Eastlake, OH on Lake Erie. It was Don Johnsons boat. It is mint!

Thank you!

It's really a shame that this is still going on... that boat was never used on the show, it was never Don Johnson's boat.

The owner made a fake plaque stating it was, how do I know? Because I am the previous owner of that exact boat and one of the admins of the 38 Scarab KV Miami Vice FB Page.

Well, if that's true it's really sad that someone would stop so low as to misrepresent themself and a classic like that. He even had the OPA race officials believing his story.

Bit of trivia FWIW.
The sniper with the yellow shades in that film clip is Jim Zubiana. He also played the assassin with the super quick cross draw in another episode.
It was were he exited a car and shot over the hood IIRC. People think that his draw was sped up on film. He actually drew his 1911 that fast.
He was a very good shooter who competed in the Southwest Pistol League in southern Calif.

So the owner himself made those statements?

Hey..

I see all the usual suspects are still around. Getting the popcorn 🍿 ready.

I guess my plaque joke is still getting some mileage after all these years?

Mine the EXACT plaque….except I crossed out DJ’s name an put mine there…..probably do the same with my “new to me” 38 AVS Scarab.

Maybe Tony, Wayne, and I will share all the “plaque” history with y’all…? It does keep the fakes and posers down a little…..or maybe not?

Say Whaaaaa????

Started my love of offshore life! Still love those boats other than needing to update the helm and cabin they still stand up today!

Regardless of the authenticity of the Scarab it is a nicely done cool, old boat. It was the pace boat for us at Eastlake and the coolest pace boat we have had in a while. Probably had some nice video of it running but unfortunately that camera ended up in Lake Erie. The baby boat with the same paint scheme was a cool piece also.

One of the most memorable scenes from Miami Vice other than the In the Air tonight montage. Still one of the best Hollywood boating scenes out there , I always get a kick out of watching Tubbs just Dying in that scene.

[QUOTE = waveryd; 4799427] Independientemente de la autenticidad del Scarab, es un barco viejo y genial bien hecho. Fue el barco de ritmo para nosotros en Eastlake y el barco de ritmo más fresco que hemos tenido en mucho tiempo. Probablemente tenía un buen video en ejecución, pero desafortunadamente esa cámara terminó en el lago Erie. El bote bebé con el mismo esquema de pintura también fue una pieza genial. [/ QUOTE]

Creo lo mismo, a pesar de que todos estos botes son increíbles

[QUOTE = seascarab; 4798891] Este barco también es para mí el comienzo de mi amor por los barcos rápidos. Recordando cuando obligamos a mi papá a comprar nuestro bote del lago (Seebold Eagle 236) en un esquema de color similar para darnos una sensación de "Miami Vice".
hubiera preferido amarilla: -) [/ quote]
Wow lovely history

I guess no one else noticed that in the pictures from the TV show that the boat in the race and the boat going to the island have 2 different hatch pads. Don't know if there were two different boats or they just changed the hatch pad? Just wanted to add a little controversy to the mix.

[QUOTE = Team Archer; 4799917] Supongo que nadie más notó que en las imágenes del programa de televisión el barco en la carrera y el barco que va a la isla tienen 2 plataformas de escotilla diferentes. ¿No sabe si había dos barcos diferentes o simplemente cambiaron la plataforma de la escotilla? Sólo quería añadir un poco de controversia a la mezcla. [/ Quote]It seems that they simply changed the place covers, since if you look at the covers they can be placed in those two ways, creating 2 different shapes

No controversy, it's the same boat.

This question has been asked many times over the years.

The pads were put back on the wrong sides, the blue stripes only line up one way.

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Cushions Reversed
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Cushions Correct

Shameless plug over at swap-shop

Miami Vice Seasons 1-5 DVD - Offshoreonly.com

A telltale for 38KVs in the show is the width of the stripe on the hull...

Subscribing for restoration updates

any updates on the resto?

Filming 'support' Stinger has to be sold first...