Mandella Restoration

[AzMandella]

Back in 1969 my father had a Mandella Shortdeck built by Eddies Inboard Marine here in Tucson, Az . It was rigged with a Hollman Moody 427 sideoiler . It also had what they refered to as butterfly plates for the cav. BUt in 1976 he had to sell it. Well about 2yrs ago I got a call from Eddie Jr. Telling me they had found my dad's boat . Turns out that the person my dad sold it to still had it and it had been in the back of his garage for the last 30yrs . Needles to say I jumped on it as I had sold my Mandella a couple of years ago and have regretted it every day since. Turns out the Sideoiler had been replace by a 468 Chevy . So now starts the process of totaly restoring to original.



Well I have been searching high and low for all the original Hollman Moody marine gear .Oilpan , oil cooler , timing chain , etc. Nothing . Absolutely nothing . And then all the sudden this popped up 6months after I got the boat .




Needless to say I jumped on it . Sent the seller a deposite and went to Reno to pick it up.

Now we are ready to get going to completely restore her to original .

 

[monkeyswrench]

That boat still looks really good. Should be a healthy SOB with the new motor.

Now, what intake setup is on that 468?! It looks tall, cast and pretty odd. Having been stored for 30 years, probably something I've never seen.

 

[AzMandella]

That boat still looks really good. Should be a healthy SOB with the new motor.

Now, what intake setup is on that 468?! It looks tall, cast and pretty odd. Having been stored for 30 years, probably something I've never seen.

Yeay the boat is in great shape . It was stored inside the whole time . The Gelcoat is faded in places and cracked on the deck . Goes into the shop this week to start sanding . Will be re shot in exactly the same colors . Floor and stringers are in excellent shape but will be sanded and flowcoated to look new . New engine will be built using BBM block and heads most likely . Crank in the engine I bought is STD/STD and should be good . Crower rods and undecided pistons will go in to make 12.5-1 .

Yeah that is goofy intake setup . It's a Edelbrock 2-R but has a single carb top on it . I have the dual quad top for it . It was never used and like new .

 

[AzMandella]

All right time for an update . Finally have the hull completely stripped down and getting ready to begin the sanding . I just purchased a Bear Block Motors 427 Side oiler block and a set of their bare heads with CNC porting last Fri. Should be her in a couple of weeks . Getting ready to tear down the engine I bought in Reno . Crank is supposed to be Std/Std and will use it as it is a steel crank . Hopefully it has the LeMans rods in it also as that is most likely . If not then I'm going to bite the bullet and get a set of crowers . Will start posting Pics soon .

 

[AzMandella]

So the boat is off the trailer and on the dolly for sanding .

 

[AzMandella]

Also here is another Mandella in for Restoration .

 

[StevieHops]

Is Scott doing the body work or Eddie?

 

[old rigger]

What's on top of the office?

I've never noticed that little black target on the gunwale before, do all Mandella's from that era have that?

Great story!!

 

[StevieHops]

He has a couple of old mandellas up there.

 

[AzMandella]

Is Scott doing the body work or Eddie?

No . Even though Scott is renting space from Eddie , Eddie does all his own fiberglass work and gel coating .

 

[AzMandella]

What's on top of the office?

I've never noticed that little black target on the gunwale before, do all Mandella's from that era have that?

Great story!!

That boat was actually mine for a while . It is a 21' Step deck Mandella . That's not a target . It is a Jack Daniels Logo . There is also the original Dr Pepper long deck up ther and two brand new Mandellas that have never been rigged . A 21' Step Deck and a 21' Sport . The Sport is like a 21' shrt deck . That's not the office they are on . It's the engine assembly room and next to it the machine shop .

 

[old rigger]

That boat was actually mine for a while . It is a 21' Step deck Mandella . That's not a target . It is a Jack Daniels Logo . There is also the original Dr Pepper long deck up ther and two brand new Mandellas that have never been rigged . A 21' Step Deck and a 21' Sport . The Sport is like a 21' shrt deck . That's not the office they are on . It's the engine assembly room and next to it the machine shop .

Both of the bare hull Mandella’s on dollies, yours and ‘Hooked on Speed’, have the same little target on the gunwale. Right where the emblem goes.
I was just curious.

 

[old rigger]

I can see the raised part of deck now on the 21 sitting on the engine room now that I know what I’m looking at. Spent maybe 20 minutes talking to an guy with a 21 while we were floating down at Bluewater last summer. Good looking hulls.

 

[AzMandella]

Both of the bare hull Mandella’s on dollies, yours and ‘Hooked on Speed’, have the same little target on the gunwale. Right where the emblem goes.
I was just curious.

Not sure what you are seeing .

 

[AzMandella]

Ok on my boat just to the left of where the emblem goes is a hole where the filler cap goes .

 

[old rigger]

Not sure what you are seeing .

Do you know where the gunwale is?
Can you find the Mandella emblem on Built for Speed? that’s a gunwale and both boats have a little target painted on them. They appear to be black but I’m color blind so it might be another dark color.

 

[AzMandella]

Do you know where the gunwale is?
Can you find the Mandella emblem on Built for Speed? that’s a gunwale and both boats have a little target painted on them. They appear to be black but I’m color blind so it might be another dark color.

Yeah the upper edge of the side . I just don't see any target . There is the black stripe on the gunwale . Maybe something weird with how the pic is coming in on your computer . Or I'm just blind . LOL

 

[old rigger]

Yeah the upper edge of the side . I just don't see any target . There is the black stripe on the gunwale . Maybe something weird with how the pic is coming in on your computer . Or I'm just blind . LOL

Yes! That’s a target, it and the emblem are on the gunwale.
I was just curious if it was a Brummett deal with every flattie or just coincidence that both boats in the shop at the same time have the same target/stripe/detail.
At any rate, I really like your boat, your engine and the entire story of your dad buying it new and I can’t wait to see more pics.
One of the best looking hulls tooled up from that time.

 

[AzMandella]

Yes! That’s a target, it and the emblem are on the gunwale.
I was just curious if it was a Brummett deal with every flattie or just coincidence that both boats in the shop at the same time have the same target/stripe/detail.
At any rate, I really like your boat, your engine and the entire story of your dad buying it new and I can’t wait to see more pics.
One of the best looking hulls tooled up from that time.

OK . I never new that was refered to as a "target" . I've always called them stripping When you said target I was looking for something round . Silly me . Yes those are a Mandella trait . Over the years they changed a little bit .

 

[AzMandella]

Here is a picture of my old 1966 Mandella in my avatar . I had this boat since 1998 I think until I sold it to eddies friend 4yrs ago . He didn't like the yellow so they tore it down and re did the gel and a few other changes . aside from the color and going to logs it is essentialy the same . Stroked 460 to 514 .

 

[KevinR]

That’s awesome. What a great story!

My dad had a similar gold and pearl short deck hull (copied the colors from Lou’s Rawhide long deck racer) up at Lake Arrowhead, probably 1968-73. BBC. We used it for the Ski Racing Club and a couple Lake Mead 50 Milers. Loved that boat.

Please keep us posted with your progress!

 

[AzMandella]

Well back to this . Covid and other things put this on hold for a while . But back on it . The V-Drive came back form Tom Bentley(Menkins) . The old halcraft was machined to accept all Casale gears and, bearings and shafts . So now it is a quick change with whirlaway .

 

[AzMandella]

Update . The deck has been capped and sanded down . We found a little delam in the floor in the tank . So ground out and reglassing . Got the new pistons in and waiting on rods . Bought T&D rockers . Heads are getting a CNC polishing . Heads wil be done with inconel ex valves . I als managed to get some Holman Moody logs for it .

 

[Zeke27G]

What a neat story and build!! Really enjoying the progress photos!