Agreed.

Mr Fountain's victories on Sunday's racing is attributable to his devotion and love of the sport, which is why Fountain boat owners leisure in the safest best built boats the industry has to offer. Mr Fountain was bitten because the R&D and extraordinary time and capital invested could not survive the severity of this economic downturn. No, I am not a relative, but saved for 30 years to get the finest 35' boat man builds. I would not look to another name.

The truth.

Reggie himself has admitted that his big screw up in running Fountain was that he pissed away to many millions by over advertising. When the competition saw fit to take out one page ads in the boating publications Reggie would pay for three and four page ads. Month after month, year after year, it added up to ALOT OF MONEY. Reggie literally advertised his way into bankrupcy, for when the tough times came he had no war chest to wait them out - he had pissed it away with three and four page spreads in Powerboat and other rags.

Live and learn.

Bullhead what type of power does your 42 have in it?

he has twin merc 700 # 6 drives /.. ran 109 at the shoot out 2 years a go . robbie

Just bought my third 42 this one is a 09 with 850's we just changed them to 1075's look for the boat to run in the 130's
Hope to see you guys at Jammin on the James this year.

I sure we have not heard the last from Reggie!

Very Nice boat !
Nice move on the upgrade during a re-fresh. Boat should perform as you expect.

What other Fountains from TN coming to JOTJ ?

2009 42 1075"s
1999 35 with Quad Rotor 1000's
2001 35 with 1000's
2002 42 with 900's
37 Active Thunder 600's
35 Nordic 750's
We hope to have a couple more come also.

Sweet....what kind of numbers did you see with the 850's



It appears that there is gonna be quite the contingency of Fountains at JOTJ.....we should try to organize with Randy Nuzzo (the photographer) a pic from the heli of the group running

And I am equally sure that we have not heard the last from Reggie

????
 

Shogren - We will see.

Thank you for the business RB.

Scott Shogren

I live near the Fountain factory, but haven't been keeping up with the 'Reggie issue' since I heard investors had bought the company. Then today some locals brought me up to speed. Certainly sorry to hear Reggie walked. I'd love to know why. I wouldn't think anyone would walk away from a company he started without a damn good reason.

I was planning on buying a used 38EC this year, but now that Reggie has walked, I plan to make damn sure the new management plans to support older Fountains before I bite the bullet. If I get the wrong answer I guess I'll be forced to look at another brand of boat.

As for buying a new Fountain. No rocket science here folks. If the new management can't swing good sales numbers, something (or everything) will have to give - probably starting with production quality and going down hill from there. And I sincerely hope that's not the reason Reggie walked.

Then again, if last weeks prediction of fuel going to $5 per gallon by 2012 (CNN) becomes a reality, and the economy doesn't start to turn around soon, Reggie's departure from Fountain may not make much difference.

SR-71

[QUOTE=Bullhead;3287820]Sweet....what kind of numbers did you see with the 850's

We only ran the boat one time before pulling the engines and it wasn't the best of conditions that day but still saw 116.

Scott do you have a date scheduled for your event this year. We would like to come and bring some boats if possible.

Bingo.....I will walk away at 5 bones a gallon.....

I'm with ya

support older models how? Just curious what your thoughts are

Trying to wrap my mind around $5 per gallon. I burn up around 1500 gallons per year. That is $7500 bucks per season. That is a lot of money and if you cant get your mind ajusted to it then that price will ruin the one thing I love to do. Right now I am telling myself that $5 is the normal price but I am having a hard time believeing it.

All they have to do to fix this crap is take it off the comodities trading board so it is no longer suject to banks like Morgan Stanlet and Golman Sachs from buying up the future.

I think Reggie needs to get his eyes checked then! His boats look just like him.....1985..... cuz thats when the interior was last updated. Hey, at least he made it into the early nineties with his graphics. Engines....he's really ahead of the game on that. Let's see he used Mercury, then Mercury, oh and then he tried Mercury. Handling and speed, yes, it's impressive, but thats about all he's got. But yeah, Reggie didn't engineer the hull nor hand lay the glass.

I do agree it's sad that the new company is going to make profit their #1 priority over the enjoyment of the great sport of powerboating.

To get back on topic. Back in the 70's and 80's I was into motorcycles. Every time I passed a Harley I was a little envious. So eventually I bought one. Every now and then I would buy the new jap go fast bling bike. But it wasn't long before I wished I was back on a low tech slow ass cool as hell H-D again and again. Eventually learned my lesson and kept my butt on H-D and buy a new one every 2 or 3 years to this day. Why because it is the coolest bike you can own. Feel the same exact way about Fountains. After buying my first used Fountain back in 90. I would cheap out when upgrading through the years and have owned a few Checkmates, Formulas, and Sunsations. But, every time I saw a cool as hell Fountain at the ramp or on the water I was never satisfied with anything else. Again maybe a slow learner but nothing but Fountains for me from now on. I will admire your new go fast bling bling boats at the dock. But IMHO Fountain is the H-D of boats. Why because it is the coolest boat you can own. Very sorry to see Reggie go and wish him and his the best. In my opinion he is in a class with William S. and Author Harley, Walter and William Davidson. These guys made cool, COOL ! So to answer the question I am staying. Now in a perfect fit. I hope Reggie starts a business rerigging older Fountains. But that's another topic.

My 2 cents.

X2 Amen!!

Having the best interior or selling clothes was never Reggies top priority....nor was saving Baja ........

You think Black Thunder is up to date? That line is stuck in the 70's. Just admit it, you really want a Fountain.

I love all powerboats. Yeah I might own a fountain if my needs changed and the deal was right. I would buy from the new owners IF they impress me just like I would buy from Reggie if he starts a new company and IF his product impresses me. Currently a fountain Does not fit me right now. My boat does. Its fast, huge cockpit to enjoy, and its paid for. Yeah I love black thunders! You must love following my post on OSO to notice this!

I like to look though the Baja section also...

I've recently sold my 27, but the fact that I'm still here reading this says alot. I would buy another one tomorrow, anything Reggie built, can't say about any future product, only time will tell.

I'd like to hear from the sport fishing crowd. Reggie made the baddest fishing boats on the tournament trail. Something pretty cool about getting to a fishing spot 90 miles offshore in just over an hour! I haven't seen anything fly straighter than the 34CC....except for maybe something with wings.

DollaBill wrote: support older models how? Just curious what your thoughts are

Several years back (before things started going down hill), I took a tour of the Fountain factory and I was told that the factory provides support and repair parts for older Fountains. Items and issues such as ; vinyl, hardware, factory upgrades, etc. The only downside (at that time) was there was a one year waiting list.

I'm curious to see if the new owners of Fountain plan to maintain that same support for Reggie-Era Fountains.

The Apple Computer company fired Steve Jobs and eventually hired him back to bring the company back around. The same thing may end up happening to the Fountain company. Without Reggie being in-charge as the company visionary, the company could end up staying in the red.

The way I see it. Most any boat company can build a fast boat. What made Fountain's different was the race heritage and subsequent technology improvements lead by Reggie.

SR-71

I think that there is a market for "Reggie" modified, tweaked or restored Fountains just as there is for AMG Mercedes and Lip Ship Cigarettes. Good Luck Reggie!

I was at the factory last thursday....they were rollin.....they had 32 boats in production......it was pretty impressive to see Fountains, Donzis, Bajas and Prolines all at one facility in different stages of production.....in the service shop there were at least 7 Fountains with different projects going on from repowering to new upholstery to getting prepped for paint.....mangement said there were no plans to change build components or quality of contruction of the Fountain lineup....everyone seemed pretty upbeat

Gotcha. I was thinking you had other expectations.

Ignorant comment. His boats have been updated over the years just like any other and the interiors are state of the art in the boat industry.


And why should he change? They are proven and last time I checked they were number one in the industry. How many other performance boat manufatureres use Mercury? Hello?

He's number one in speed and handling and that's all he's got? Maybe you should tell Porsche or Ferrari they have the same problem.
Comical.

Let's recap. A 2001 Baja owner criticizing late model fountains. IMHO that conjures up HATER. Not putting down Bajas. I have owned two of them. I like all boats from pontoon to Fountains. But when you own a boat one notch ahead of a bayliner when it comes to craftsmanship. Should you be putting down one of the premier boats? I think not. Hater, nuff said.

That's great news!

SR-71

Good to hear. Thanks for the heads up! I do believe if the new folks just keep on doing things right that it can work.

Personaly I am a huge Reggie fan, lots of respect for what he has done over the years, love his product. He was the one that courted these guys to invest in Fountain to save it. Seems a little odd that he has this, whatever it was over, hissie fit and walks. I would have thought the product his name had been on for so many years would have been worth a little compromise of some sort.

It will really be interesting now since Shogren will no longer be stocking their new inventory. I think Shogren will be fine.. Liberty Investments on the other hand....not looking good.

It's like one of your favorite sports team gets a new owner . To me that shouldn't mean you change teams if your a true fan of the franchise . Besides at his age , it was bound to happen sooner or later anyway . By the way I own a 42' Fountain now , and also had a 33' Turbo back in the 80's . So I am a long time fan of the product

Reggies out, so is Shogren, I would love to hear how that conversation went, to run off your biggest dealer

May have gone something like this:

Liberty: In order to maintain your Fountain Dealership you must floor plan a mininum of (fill in the number) of 2011 Fountains.


Shogren: ummm, Cya.

Hmmmm
 

!!!!!!!!!

Regards,

Team Shogren

www.teamshogren.com

Scott I wish you and your crew the best of luck in the future. Would not hesitate to do business again.

Tom