We have the first photos of the 32 foot Cary that was donated to HORBA. This was the original Thunderballs as raced by Peter Rothschild in California. It is the last of the original 6 32 foot Cary's that Don built before he started the Cigarette boat company.

The boat was raced on the west coast and Hawaii. It was sold to an auto dealer in Hawaii and painted all red. It was brought back to California and painted white again years ago, and now has been donated to HORBA for restoration.

Our plans are to restore it as Don Aronow's 32 Cary...The Cigarette. White deck and bottom, black sides and red boot stripe. The added windscreen will come off and the engines will be replaced with modern ones. Period correct trim tabs will be added at the proper angle, as they were mounted back then.

HORBA's intent is to use the boat to educate the public about the history of offshore powerboat racing and to use the boat in poker runs and boat shows in the coming years.

We will be starting a donations fund to help with the cost of the restoration and are looking for industry partners to help us with product donations also.

Here are some shots of the boat as it originally raced as Thunderballs and of The Cigarette or how it will look after the restoration.

Some more photos of the present as is condition of the boat.

Obviously the scoop on the forward deck was replaced along the way with the Bomar hatch....that will be removed and the deck filled in solid again.

As we can see clearly, the under the deck bulkheads were a little lighter than we used later on in offshore race boat building, these will be strenghtened.

Fuel tanks under the deck for the long races as well as fuel tanks in the engine compartment as saddle tanks.

The unique gold anodized rub rail that was also used on The Cigarette.

The look at the stern shows where the number 2 speedmaster drives and the cutting edge 2 blade speed props pushed the boat.

That is an awesome piece. It's in very good hands; I can't wait to see updates as the project gets started!

Just noticed.... 'Thunderballs' turned into 'Hot Load'

Thanks....the boat is in California and is being picked up by Bobby Sheer with his semi rig in a couple of weeks. It will just ride right on top of his trailer...with the Cary trailer never touching the ground.

It will be going to Florida and the first stop will be the old racers gathering at OFF.

Someone is going to donate all the photography coverage costs of the entire resto from the arrival of the boat in Florida to the first splash.

I am sure that this resto will be the talk of the boards over the winter. That is why we hope some of the industry will help out with products. Everywhere the boat goes after that, they will get credit for providing the products we used in the resto....not a bad deal in this economy when regular marketing plans are dead.

That is a very cool piece of offshore history.

Looks like you have your work cut out for you Charlie.

Looks like a lot of work, but a very historically significant boat. Thank you for sharing!

Nice, were the tabs big enuff??

The tabs and the angle of mounting on there are not period correct....they were added in the 70's by an owner along the way.