I've often wondered about this.

I don't think mine is ..but it's bound to be in the top 10 at 34 years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R526BfFVXbE So bring those pics out guys...even those that are gone but not forgotten memories from your family boating archives.

looks really clean!!!!

<---------79 here too. Gotta be a few older than ours.

'Nother '79 (233 interceptor bbc trs.)

wasnt their a guy here with a older turbine race boat?

My Dad bought his 1978 20CL new and still runs it today. Mine is a little newer and hope lasts just as long!

http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/f...la-family.html

I love it!!...especially the F-20CL!!

I would love to see some detailed pics of that one...it could be a write up all by it's self!!

The fact that it's an original 330 TRS is amazing. I did some work years ago for John and Bob Ellis...former owners of Hi Lift Marine in North Miami Beach at the end of famous NE 188th Street. They were a Formula dealer for many years and with the Miami Plant being a ten minute drive down US-1 they used to get some custom rigs built occasionally. I had one of the few 272 LS boats with 320 EFI's and Alpha SS drives. The 255 Liberators like mine came with twin 330 TRS's as an option but Hi Lift delivered several that had twin 420 horse Cyclones with #1 Speed Master TRS's. Formula wouldn't install that power at the factory due to insurance liability issues and the boat wasn't BIA certified with that power. The boats were shipped w/o engines and drives to Hi Lift and the power was drop shipped from Mercury Racing. Hi Lift rigged a few and some went around the corner to Cigarette or Magnum on NE 188th for rigging. These 255's with twin 420's were allegedly good for 85+ and would cruise at 65 with 2000# of "cargo". Back in the '70's and '80's NE 188th and Hi Lift were the "skunk" works for Formula and if you had the $$$$ you could arrange to get just about any thing you wanted.

I even heard of a few F-233 Center Console boats being fitted with twin 350 horse DOHC 292 GMC inline 6's/TRS with both engines and transmissions below the console and jack shafts running to the TRS drives....talk about the "Ultimate" 233 "sleeper"!!! Those "Hot Rod" 292's were an option on the Bertram Barron and occasionally a pair will surface here in SE Florida. I saw a pair at Daddy'O's marine in Pompano last year that had come from Tommy Hoffstetter at Chief. Tommy gets all kind of cool stuff from time to time...you never know what you will see in his shop!!

The reason I mention this is that your Dads's F-20CL with a 330/TRS may have been one of these special orders....extremely RARE indeed!! His boat is not unlike some of the exotic 427 and 454 Camaros and Novas that came thru Chevrolet's Central Office Production Order (COPO) back in the '60's and '70's.

Try to get some pics of that set up and post them....that kind of history needs to be shared.

I still have an 82 302 running and going

My 302 is a 79. I think Biggus on the board has an older 20?

Very cool stories about those Hi Lift Formula's! Definitely high performance back in those days.

My Dad ordered the 20CL through a Formula dealer at LOTO in 1978. I believe it was Pier 31(?). I don't know all the details, but I recall he talked directly with the Porter's at Formula about building it with a raised X dimension for running a cleaver prop.

I was 12 years old when we picked the boat up at LOTO. I remember the salesman took us all out for a ride. When he first came off plane he slowed down too quick and the wake came pouring over the transom. I understand this is the reason Formula would not make another 20 footer with the big block/TRS combo.

I don't have many digital pics of this boat and will have to track down some at my Dad's and have them scanned. Here is a post on this boat from 2005: http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/f...e-formula.html