original Donzi 22 with twin sbf's
 

I have been charged with consigning what I have been informed as being a '69 Donzi prototype (1 of 6) built by the big guy himself.

The boat has a pair of SB Fords turning v-drives with external rudders....port steering.....

Anyone have the actual history on this/these 22's?

It's just coming out of shrink wrap storage and needs prepping before firing it up - should wake up the neighborhood which is predominately 'toons and towboats!

----Don was gone from Donzi by 69. I would bet that what you find when you pull back the shrink wrap will be a 21GT. I believe that there was only one GT21 built with 351s and V-drives. Mark O knows more about that boat, as it was raced on Lake Saint Clair, so I will alert him to this thread. There were approximately 4 to 6 21GTs built with twin Holman-Moodys and Volvo drives, but they were all built under the watchful eyes of the Chisholm brothers (then owners of Donzi Marine)........Bill S

This is the 21 GT Bill was talking about that had originally twin 351 Cleveland Holman Moody engines, it was later repowered with 302 HM engines..

Thank you for the info... It's a unique boat but unfortunately the primer coat wasn't properly prepped and needs a lot of love. I will post pics as I can. This is definitely a V-drive boat - old school cool!

The records indicate they built 1 twin v drive it had 427s hull 13 but they did also sell a few unrigged and they did make special boats for themselves or others at the time it was easier back then without HINs
I think Mark posted a pic of hull 13 he is right I heard it was repowered to small blocks
the original twin 22 was the seven meter

----Not trying to disagree with you Matty, but wouldn't a 7 Meter be a 23 foot. I helped sell one new to a family across the street from me in 1971......Bill S

Bill not to worry you are correct they did market it as a 23 in 71 but the original ones prior to that were 22s the boat didn't change 22' 11 5/8'


the 22 7 meter http://www.lgdonziclassic.com/pdfs/7mtr.pdf

the 23 7 meter http://www.lgdonziclassic.com/pdfs/23c.pdf