A great piece of Formula history
 

Some time ago, I wrote to Formula asking about the possibility of uploading past product demonstration videos to the vintage section of the Formula website. While they did like the idea, there really wasn't much inclination to dig into the archives for those old Betamax and VHS tapes as I was told they are buried somewhere in storage. I even offered to make some pro quality transfers, but nothing ever materialized.

I have always wanted to see these vintage 'birds in action when they were new, and was just ecstatic to stumble across the 1989 product demo tape on YouTube.

Wish there were more years available for viewing. These videos showcase the absolute timelessness of the classics.

That's pretty cool!!!

Good find!!

That's awesome!!!! My boat or its twin (not sure) is the Newport number 1 272sr1!

thats awesome love the teal 311

Wow...that brings back memories!!! Those videos were an addition to the 1989 Catalog. I don't know if it's the first one they did but I think there are probably some older ones.

John and Bob Ellis used to own and operate Hi-Lift Marina in Miami at NE 188th Street. They were one of the premiere Formula dealers in the country for years. Evey year the Thunderbird Formula folks would stage all of their new boats at Hi Lift and head over to Bimini or Freeport for the catalog photo shoot. That's John Ellis in the white ball cap at the helm of the 35 PC and a few of the other boats.

I bought two of my Formulas from them...a 1986 242SS and a 1986 272LS. The had a very busy in and out dry stack storage business. In 1986 they had the first Five Alarm fire in Miami-Dade county history and lost the entire facility. Investigation found that a float switch on a bilge pump hung in the on position and shorted out the pump motor in the bilge of a boat in storage starting the fire. The buildings were not Fire Sprinkled.

The Ellis brothers were a couple of good old boys from Kansas and were not to be put down by a fire...so they re-built. The still sold boats out of a temporary trailer on site while the new facility was being built. Needless to say I was their Fire Protection Contractor. We put a "State of the Art" in-rack and overhead Fire Sprinkler System in the new warehouse, offices and showroom as well as hose protection for the fuel docks. I bought my 2: Formulas from them during that time.

The brothers sold out several years ago and Hi-Lift Marina remains the only operating marina in the old "Thunder-boat Row" area.

I didn't mean to hi-jack the thread ...just thought some of you guys might enjoy a bit of the history.

Thats pretty cool, thanks!

Think the teal is actually a 292, the white/dark blue/black/silver stripe is the 311.

Cool vid!

love to find a 292 mint like that

Way cool, love those classic lines on Formula's

Picked up a 1990 292 in teal this year. Ran over 100 hours on her this season with a bit of bring-current maintenance (hoses, seals, etc.) -- to be expected on a 20 year old boat). The kicker for me was the condition of the hull and the interior.....great shape all around and a LOT of fun!!

I ended up blowing out the starboard side driver's window in the rough stuff so that will be a winter project to source a replacement (unless someone has a spare kicking around)!!!

Bill

Thanks for digging that up! I've owned lots of newer, faster and more expensive offshore boats in my life and I must say that my '89 292 is one fine boat, and for the money blows all the others away!
LOVE the old Birds!