Gongrats! Keep us all posted on the progress. I hope you are planning on spending the night when you come down to pick it up, cause jeff will talk your ears off. :)

Cool pictures!

If you are a 50's and 60's Merc expert the picture on page viii is a very good puzzle. Look closely at the side emblem on that motor and you see: "Turbo Hydro Four".....the Merc designation for the 30 cubic inch motor. Supposedly Merc only made 298 of the Mark30H racing motor back in 1956. But this motor has the "square" top cowl and the stamped aluminum front cover that began in 1959. It also has the black/striped wrap around cover that would be correct for 1962.

Here is the answer: apparently there was a 1962 batch of Mark30H racing motors as well. As yet no one has come up with any documentation of the availabilty and sale of them from that era. One little clue we have is that these motors are pretty rare, I only know of 5 or 6 of them in existance.

The little that there is regarding the 1962 30H's also indicates a third batch of Mark55H 40 cubic inch racing motors also made in 1962. A few of them also seem to be in circulation, but experts had ignored the possibility of them being 1962's because a batch of 55H's had been made in 1959, probably with the same cowling.

Regarding the Dockbuster rotation: Don't sit up too late pondering it: The came in both right and left.....I can give you the part numbers for both rotation set ups.

Switzer Wing Steering: Dual Ride Guide...a separate cable from the steeting rack for each engine. This was a normal dual engine accessory available from the factory (but it would have only been used on a deluxe cabin cruiser or race boat with dual engines; customers considered it quite expensive back then)....I've never seen tie bars on a picture of a Wing, but tie bars go back to the 1930's on dual engine racing outboards

May I call you "T"? If I live to be 68, I will NEVER forget being in the pits at Pelican Harbor when Bobby pulled in with the Wing for the Gold Coast Marathon. I had never even seen a picture of it. They had a mechanical problem in the race, and didn't finish, but they won the hearts of everyone who could admire a fine horse or a beautiful woman. That picture is still in my mind.... The next year, Dave Craig drove the "Miss Skyways" in the same race. He had inline stackers, and made it from West Palm to Hallandale in 22 minutes. Three miles from the finish, the boat disintegrated in a ball of splinters from a big wake. They apparently don't slow down too well, either. I consider this boat to be the most significant single vessel ever built....

Brownie:

"I consider this boat to be the most significant single vessel ever built...."

Coming from you that is high praise. I wholeheartedly agree, and you have a date for a spin in the boat after restoration...........

Mark 75H:........ The "dockbuster" rotation question....was rhetorical........ There were, in fact tie bars on the Wings, Powercats, Stylecrafts, and other twin(and triple) engine boats of the era....correct call on the dual Ride Guide, there were two versions light and heavy duty. We also used pure cable steering on the single engine tunnel hulls........ They still do in most cases.

T2x

P.S. Flashback....... Thanks for the pictures...... Great job and I appreciate it....... I have a feeling that the main issue will have to do with the lack of a full width transom for stability

Now I gotta ask, do you happen to know of a set of t2x's for the wing?
Mark75H knows who Raceman is.

RT

What year was that particular boat built?

1967....It was one of the later ones.

T2x,didn't realize the wing was the one in the Nov/Dec 2001 Hot Boat Magazine. It was runner up for best wild paint job,page 78.Can't believe the owner would sell it. Keep us posted,I am envious. Magicfloat

Magicfloat:

Envious of the paint job?

T2x

Envious of the boat,hate the paint job. You realize of course that you have to paint it black,otherwise what would you tell Kenny Kitson?

"I see a red door and I want to paint it black"

---- M. Jagger.....1967

"Where black is the color and none is the number" Bob Dylan,1963

"I have a feeling that the main issue will have to do with the lack of a full width transom for stability"

Urethane foam poured liberally will stiffen just about anything.

DLG,

FYI, Unlimited Hydroplanes still use pulleys, cables and steering quadrants. No power assist of any nature is allowed.

T2X, do you recall when "Wild" Bill Beakbane rolled his Switzer Wing at the Marine Stadium, west turn? Lord knows how many ping pong balls were scattered over the race course. Apparently "Wild" Bill used them as flotation :)

T2x, you're still irrelevant. Will you be joing us at the annual gathering of irrelevants at that little Mexican restaurant in Corpus Christi for the holidays ;) :p

A little personal bit on BIll Sirois. In 1969 we had a local class racing at the Miami Marine Stadium and some other Florida venues referred to as funny boats. Ultimately became short lived APBA class known as Inboard Pleasure Craft. In 1969 I was docked at the stadium during an OPC event with my funny boat. A 69 18' Donzi, #B-57 (B class was 350 CI and under). This red head fellow driving a Pontiac Gran Prix comes down to the dock to ask some questions about the class.

About 2 months later he shows up in an S-18 hull with one of his and Doug Janisch's 350 CI Scorpions with a Merc Speedmaster outdrive. Not only cleans our clocks, but just about laps the entire field within 4 laps. Those so beaten included Harry and Gene Schoell in their new 19' Seabird Stiletto design, Boat was named Beep-Beep running a 426 Hemi, Roy and John Harmon of Bilt Rite manufacturing, makers of the seating for Donzi, magnum etc. in that era, George Auriemma of Holman Moody in Miami, The late Pete Van Kirk and Bill Preston in another Seabird Stiletto, the late Ed Bradfield in a 15' Checkmate converted to inboard V drive with a 289 Holman Moody, and me, 15 years old with a perpetual hard**, well never mind, I was pretty excited to be racing with these guys :eek: :eek:

As you say T2x, what the heck do we know, there were only 120 or so boats for a local race back then. The last year of the Roaring 100 (Miami to Key Largo on Saturday and back on Sunday), there were something like 150 boats leaving Miami Yacht Club for the start................ I digress, we're antiques:D

Best to Darren,

Steve

Steve:

Here's one back at ya. It's 1969 and I'm driving a single engine(16') Molinari with a "Stacker" at a race in Virginia. A guy pulls up with a brand new twin engine (20') Glastron Molinari sporting the latest Mercury Twisters on the transom. The boat has a unique Red and white Metalflake paint job.....and is towed by a matching Corvette.................which is definitely struggling to launch the boat etc......... He's a bit of a show off and talks incessantly.

The buzz in the pits is, basically, who is this character?....and does his daddy know how he's wasting the family's money?........ The boat runs.....okay.....nothing special....but looks terrific.

That was the day I first met Reggie Fountain.

What goes around....................

T2x

P.S. I keep telling you I'm the Obsolete twin.......You're the Irrelevant one........ and, you got the dimples.

That information regarding the cable steering systems in unlimiteds explains a lot about your offshore driving technique.............:p

You know who has or had one of those? Gene Lanham. Gene takes such beautiful care of his stuff, that it is probably still brand new. I'll try to find him. He is in Colorado, somewhere. Also, you can't forget the old "Flying Dutchman", Jan Schoonover. I will look forward to a ride.

Brownie:

I prefer you refer to me by my nickname "X".

Renowned Wing driver, Jan Schoonover, from Lima Ohio, produced a line of "Dutchman" boats. They were basically modified Schultz/Magnum tunnels and were available in 16 and 18 foot versions back in the late 60's early 70's. Peter Hledin's early full tunnel (non picklefork) hulls looked a LOT like them.... I'll have to ask Peter about that, one day.

Another guy you may remember is Bill Petty, from nearby Wapakoneta, Ohio who made his bones in a twin Merc powered Jones Tunnel hull. Bill later made a similar hull to the Dutchman in aluminum called the "PettyCraft"............. The problem with that design was a tendency to stuff and one pitch poled in a race in Euclid, killing the driver as it re-entered upside down and backwards. Bill ultimately drove single engine Moilinari's on the Merc Factory team......... He was great in rough water.

In those days Ohio was the home of a large percentage of the hot shoes in OPC: Jon Culver, Cliff Reif, "Handsome"John Keller, Stanton Stauffer, Tom Stickle, Schoonover, Petty, The Downards, Bill Combs, etc, etc...................... It always annoyed me that Long Island and New Jersey were separated from Ohio by the entire length of Pennsylvania which had few races and/or racers...................... Oh! those late Sunday nights on the Pennsy Pike....towing the "wreckage" home :(

T2x

"x", I hung out with Keller a little bit in those days, and he was fun! He drove a JJ or UU Dorsett or Duo Craft in OPC. He also raced a 24' Glastron Around Long Island one year. I recall him going through the side when it swapped ends. Ohio-wise, don't forget the Walthers. A couple of replies ago, you mentioned the old 9-Hour. Remember Jim Black and Bob Hammond leading the first few laps in a 17' Glastron with a 427 Interceptor?

Brownie:

I remember that Glastron well, it was based at K&K for the Around Long Island Marathon in 1965. When you compared it to Holocaust it looked somehow underpowered.

Those races were amazing, all of this big time power came from places like Florida and California and inevitably some guy in an outboard Eltro from Islip, wound up in front. Probably had a lot to do with knowing where you were going.

I remember you and Bobby Rautbord dancing a jig at the Laguardia Hilton post race banquet while Odell Lewis stood on the sidelines watching. He was wearing a blue suit and tie.....with no shoes or socks........

I also clearly remember Ken Kalibat, rest his soul, and Don Aronow, ditto, squaring off at the pre race driver's meeting at Guy Lombardo's over some minor starting procedure. Both of those guys were big, and I can tell you from experience that Ken was the strongest human being I've ever seen....with the possible exception of his old man, Pete. Regardless, thank God clearer heads prevailed or they would have had a fight that mere mortals could not have broken up.

The following year I co-drove a single engine outboard Eltro in the race, chaperoning a 77 year old gentleman, who raced well into his 80's. After our inevitable engine failure, (let's just say his throttle arm wasn't on a par with Saccenti's).........His somewhat senile radio'd attempts to explain our predicament to the Coast Guard leave me in stitches to this day.

" Race Boat in distress what is your number?"............
Reply.............." Area code 201-..........."

Ultimately he and his wife drove away and left me without transportation, dealing with the Coast Guard at a launching ramp in Long Beach...... unfortunately, forgetting that he wasn't alone in the boat......

I repeat...you can't make this stuff up.

Those were the days my friend............................


T2x


P.S. It was a Dorsett................. "Dorsett Tiger One"......of Four fielded by the factory.

T2x,

My obsolete twin, you are right, again,,,,,,,,,,,, I'm irrelevant. I cannot help but ponder what term would best define the person whom we give credit for our current dismal existence. If only we posessed their vision, imagine what we might have done :rolleyes: :D

Steve:

The only one responsible for any stages of my existence is me, although it is far from dismal currently. However, I do know the identity of the person you are referring to........

I prefer to address him as "HRH The Spoiled Brat, ESQ".

Fear not for he, like many before, and more to follow........ is a temporary annoyance.

T2x

APBA OPC(outboard pleasure craft) National Championship races,Lake Eufaula,Al,1972,or was it 1973,we were running an FG Checkmate and a SJ Kitson tunnel. The lake was very shallow,there were no piers or docks, everyone backed their tow vehicles far enough into the water to launch,left the trucks and trailers there and pushed the boats out. All of us(the drivers)would wade out and climb in our boats.My crew and I noticed a driver being carried out to his Mercury factory Molinari on the shoulders of a crewman who lifted him into his raceboat. We watched the worn out crew guy wade back and asked him why he had to do that. He replied " Reggie didn't want to get his shoes wet" You are right,you can't make stuff like this up. MagicFloat

Magicfloat:

Quote-"Reggie didn't want to get his shoes wet."

Either that or the knee deep water might have been over his head.

T2x

Man I love this stuff, THANKS:D

Zoomn:

Glad to hear that........

Steve David will be very pleased.;)


T2x

All is not dead on the Switzer section of the FIberglassics site! Here is a link to them so you can see some more pics!

Link!

click on "still in use" and "Brochures/ETC" when you get there

#108-T was stolen and its owner wants it back. The pics come from his posts looking for it.

Mark 75H:

Where and when was his Wing stolen?

T2x

It was posted on Scream N Fly sometime back. Their search engine is down with their current renovations, so I haven't been able to find the guy's name again. Seems like it was somewhere on the gulf coast, east of Texas. I think the guy had a temporary work transfer a few years back and when he came back home it was gone.:(



Should I turn my avatar around so we are going the same direction?

75H...... Leave it the way it is....we'll do flybys


T2x

I wouldn't be able to keep up with you anyway. I guess you are right, best left as is.:rolleyes:

T2x
 

Weren't you looking for an out board like your Avatar at one time.

Not sure of what your in need of but there is a 100hp just like that for sale down the street.


Cougarman

Re: T2x
 

Actually I am looking for two...but one is agood start...... The motor pictured is a 99.9 cu.in Merc race engine called a ......T2x

Please respond ASAP, if this is what's for sale on your street.

Thanks for your effort.

T2x

100 Hp
 

Not sure if it is a T2x.

Said merc/ Keikafer <(sp)
100 hp

Everything looked in tact and it is huge!
Paper on it said $200 parts engine?


Cougarman

Re: 100 Hp
 

Nope.... That's an old Merc 1000...nice motor, but not what I'm looking for..... If you note in my avatar...T2x engine has a complete plastic cowl....not metal wrap around...and a hydro short exhaust housing with a single thru transom trim cylinder...complete with a speedmaster...not thru hub exhaust lower unit...... all of these details are very important to the application.

Thanks again.

T2x

What's that? The stealth model? Heh, Heh.:D :D :D

Try this

A Switzer Shooting Star