Treasure Trove of vintage boat pictures

[old rigger]

When I was a kid my dad would always take me to Service Center which was a performance parts and machine shop place, I think it was on Atlantic Blvd. They had one of these little plywood jet boats on the floor to the left as you went in the door. Briggs and Stratton type engine coupled to a tiny Berkeley pump and I wanted that fucker so bad! I’d sit in it every time we went there until I either gave up or it was gone, I don’t remember which. I can remember getting so excited that this might be the visit we’d come home with that in the back of dad’s 56 ford pickup.
What a great time to be a kid.

 

[old rigger]

Few more for @rvrrun...

 

[old rigger]

no caption needed except one of these engines is a Ford Flathead V8

 

[old rigger]

This guy deserves his own spot in the thread...Rich Hallett.

 

[old rigger]

A lot of the pictures were under the heading 'Aggie races Long Beach'. Couldn't figure out why until I saw this picture. J.C. Agajanian is on the right side. He campaigned cars at Indy, his cars won the pole three times and I think he got 2 wins too, dirt track cars, owned Ascott speedway and more (like sponsoring boat drags I guess).

His brother was a pro football kicker, Ben "Kickin' Ben' Agajanian who had 4 of his toes on his kicking foot amputated after an accident and his football shoe was flat in the front and he could kick the shit out of the ball. He played well into his 40s. I went to school with his son and we called him Aggie too.

Way too much info I know.

Cute girl.

 

[old rigger]

Last one today, I promise.

Engine on the boat is a 75 hp Evinrude Starflite, same engine dad had on our first boat.

Ours never got that loose.

 

[coolchange]

They sure liked oldsmobiles back in the day.
I'd like to know the story behind that mister pleats boat. It's even got tuck and roll paint job.
. I've seen flatheads in boats, but never an ardun.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Arduns, Nailheads, RedRams...Potvin blowers and McCulluch's...Wow...very cool stuff.

There was a gentleman in Burbank that had a Mandella Mickey Thompson ran in the Salton Sea deal. I was kind of tasked with making it look like it could run, but just a static display on the trailer. Thing looked like a rum runner. It had at least 5 gastanks, and the coolest looking Cassale I'd ever seen, big fins! After being around that boat, decided I'd like to have

 

[Rajobigguy]

View attachment 784712 When I was a kid my dad would always take me to Service Center which was a performance parts and machine shop place, I think it was on Atlantic Blvd. They had one of these little plywood jet boats on the floor to the left as you went in the door. Briggs and Stratton type engine coupled to a tiny Berkeley pump and I wanted that fucker so bad! I’d sit in it every time we went there until I either gave up or it was gone, I don’t remember which. I can remember getting so excited that this might be the visit we’d come home with that in the back of dad’s 56 ford pickup.
What a great time to be a kid.

I used to do a lot of business with Service Center. The one you're thinking about was in Compton and yes it was on Atlantic. There was also another one in Downey that was owned by Ray and Pam Zeller. It was on Firestone originally in the old Norm Reeves Honda Dealer building (back when Norm Reeves sold motorcycles rather than cars).

 

[old rigger]

I used to do a lot of business with Service Center. The one you're thinking about was in Compton and yes it was on Atlantic. There was also another one in Downey that was owned by Ray and Pam Zeller. It was on Firestone originally in the old Norm Reeves Honda Dealer building (back when Norm Reeves sold motorcycles rather than cars).

I remember for a while there was a Service Center in Bellflower, I think on Alondra right before the 605.

The old Norm Reeves on Lakewood Blvd, now Mid Cities, was one of our old hang outs. Had a friend that worked there and we'd buy important things like spark plugs, fork oil, sprockets.

 

[old rigger]

Arduns, Nailheads, RedRams...Potvin blowers and McCulluch's...Wow...very cool stuff.

There was a gentleman in Burbank that had a Mandella Mickey Thompson ran in the Salton Sea deal. I was kind of tasked with making it look like it could run, but just a static display on the trailer. Thing looked like a rum runner. It had at least 5 gastanks, and the coolest looking Cassale I'd ever seen, big fins! After being around that boat, decided I'd like to have

There's a Packard in those pics too. Kinda rare even then I'd think.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Really dig the Potvin...be real slick in a 2 seat with a molded engine cover...

 

[old rigger]

I'm thinking that this boat hooked to the 'vett is a Schiada because of the target on the side? I think that was a Schiada thing.

At any rate the mini flats next to it, one with matching target, are unbelievably cool!

 

[rvrrun]

Few more for @rvrrun...

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So much want! Thanks!!

 

[old rigger]

These are for @Wheeler, his dad's old boat.

 

[monkeyswrench]

Wheeler's Dad was a badass!

Was that running methanol, gas...fuel

 

[Wheeler]

Wheeler's Dad was a badass!

Was that running methanol, gas...fuel

Gas. Best speed was 130 in the 1/4 back in 65 or 66

 

[Wheeler]

These are for @Wheeler, his dad's old boat.

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I'm trying to figure out the change in cf numbers. My brother just pulled up, maybe he'll know.

 

[old rigger]

Wheeler, who's wearing the D&H Marine jacket in the pic?

 

[Wheeler]

Wheeler, who's wearing the D&H Marine jacket in the pic?

I can't answer with any certainty. Looks like the back of my old mans head but dont recall him ever white pants.

 

[Rattle Can Lou]

Those D&H boats were fast..The boat behind the Vette I believe is a Spico..the flat center deck was a bolt in item if I remember. The stripe deal was popular with many builders...I remember Hallett had one real similar to that. Sometimes I get the Buck Smith mixed with Spico..and it could also be a Guasti..but I don't think so...

 

[old rigger]

Those D&H boats were fast..The boat behind the Vette I believe is a Spico..the flat center deck was a bolt in item if I remember. The stripe deal was popular with many builders...I remember Hallett had one real similar to that. Sometimes I get the Buck Smith mixed with Spico..and it could also be a Guasti..but I don't think so...

You might be right. I had a Buck Smith and actually had dinner with him one night at Knott's for a CRA event. Spico and Smith were the same.

 

[old rigger]

Miss Suran, a ton of pics of this boat but no info on the builder. Similar but not exactly the same target.

 

[old rigger]

Clean looking Kindsvater. I'm liking that super flat deck.

 

[old rigger]

Amazing amount of pictures of this little thing, a Mosher. 1959.

 

[old rigger]

Long Beach, '62.

 

[Rattle Can Lou]

Miss Suran, a ton of pics of this boat but no info on the builder. Similar but not exactly the same target.

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I would first guess a Patterson...just because of the aft deck..JMO

 

[boatdoc55]

I remember for a while there was a Service Center in Bellflower, I think on Alondra right before the 605.

The old Norm Reeves on Lakewood Blvd, now Mid Cities, was one of our old hang outs. Had a friend that worked there and we'd buy important things like spark plugs, fork oil, sprockets.

Wasn't there a Service Center in Orange on Tustin Ave near Selman Chevy??

 

[Wheeler]

A lot of the pictures were under the heading 'Aggie races Long Beach'. Couldn't figure out why until I saw this picture. J.C. Agajanian is on the right side. He campaigned cars at Indy, his cars won the pole three times and I think he got 2 wins too, dirt track cars, owned Ascott speedway and more (like sponsoring boat drags I guess).

His brother was a pro football kicker, Ben "Kickin' Ben' Agajanian who had 4 of his toes on his kicking foot amputated after an accident and his football shoe was flat in the front and he could kick the shit out of the ball. He played well into his 40s. I went to school with his son and we called him Aggie too.

Way too much info I know.

Cute girl.
View attachment 784763

Have you met Art Agajanian yet?

 

[old rigger]

Have you met Art Agajanian yet?

Yep. Funny thing is he knew almost noting about his cousin who I knew, said there’s too many cousins to keep track of.

 

[Wheeler]

Yep. Funny thing is he knew almost noting about his cousin who I knew, said there’s too many cousins to keep track of.

His cousin Chris or Jay?

 

[Blow It Up]

These are for @Wheeler, his dad's old boat.

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Looks like the first CP ever.

 

[old rigger]

His cousin Chris or Jay?

Louis. We went to military school together.

 

[Wheeler]

Louis. We went to military school together.

Dont know anything about him either.
My mother threatened me with military school. What did you do to deserve that kind of punishment?

 

[Taboma]

Dont know anything about him either.
My mother threatened me with military school. What did you do to deserve that kind of punishment?

That's causing me to chuckle, my dad, on numerous occasions used the threat of shipping my young ass off to that military academy up at Lake Elsinore

 

[RodnJen]

Thank you for this thread, really enjoying it.

 

[Rajobigguy]

This guy deserves his own spot in the thread...Rich Hallett.

View attachment 784760

Rich had a shop in Downey on site with Darrel and Larrys Autodynamics. He built a boat for Larry Droke. Since Larry was a factory ford sponsored drag racer he had a lot of leftover parts from his racing career and ended up putting a 427 Sohc motor in the boat. I was helping him do the finishing touches on it and when he fired that sucker up he asked me what I thought and I said that I wouldn't race him on dry land with my car.

 

[old rigger]

Rich had a shop in Downey on site with Darrel and Larrys Autodynamics. He built a boat for Larry Droke. Since Larry was a factory ford sponsored drag racer he had a lot of leftover parts from his racing career and ended up putting a 427 Sohc motor in the boat. I was helping him do the finishing touches on it and when he fired that sucker up he asked me what I thought and I said that I wouldn't race him on dry land with my car.

Dad took me to Rich's shop when I was a kid and he was just finishing up Lee Taylor's first boat. I don't remember it being a shared space with anyone else but that was a long time ago. I only remember the boat and meeting Hallett.

I use to moonlight at a friends body shop in Bellflower and block sanded Taylors VW bug back in the late 70s. Linda Lovelace's bug too.

 

[old rigger]

Dont know anything about him either.
My mother threatened me with military school. What did you do to deserve that kind of punishment?

Whatever I did I was sent there twice, then after that place it was off to a absolutely horrible school for 2 years that I've almost blocked entirely from memory.

 

[old rigger]

Few more shots for @Wheeler...

 

[old rigger]

Rich Hallett again in one of his hydros. He was one of the few guys that bridged the gap in boating from WWII to the post war boating boom. He was a pretty successful hydro builder/racer before the war.

 

[old rigger]

Howard Brown and his wife Mary. This was when he lived across the street from us and about a year later rented a house from my parents. His 'How 'Bout That" set the drag boat world on it's ear in I think '64 running a 138mph, upping the record from 118. (again, I think that's what the record was, I don't wanna look it up. At any rate, he shattered the record.) He broke the record with a blown Kieth Black Hemi, not this injected engine.

Last pic shows his boat next to the Coors boat.

I wish I had that '64 El Camino in the corner of the first pic.

 

[old rigger]

Some chicks at the races.
I'm 99% sure that's Rudy's wife Frankie in the second pic in the polka dot suit.

Couple at the picnic table littered with Coors cans is LeRoy "Tex" Smith, famous writer for Hot Rod magazine, among others, and I think his wife. Her name slips me right now.

 

[Taboma]

Some chicks at the races.
I'm 99% sure that's Rudy's wife Frankie in the second pic in the polka dot suit.

Couple at the picnic table littered with Coors cans is LeRoy "Tex" Smith, famous writer for Hot Rod magazine, among others, and I think his wife. Her name slips me right now.

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Isn't that Mike Wallace getting the Champagne hair wash after winning the Salton City 250 ? Haven't seen or spoken with Mike in over 50 years. First flat I ever rode in and never forgot was with Tim Wallace in an early Tiny Tim up at Lake Arrowhead. Then I ran some parts for them back and forth to Louie Unser's in Santa Ana. Tim and my Dad were good friends.
Seriously digging this thread --- !!!!

 

[old rigger]

I honestly don't know. Never met those guys and only knew the Tiny Tim boat from magazines. Pretty cool you have history with them.

Someone sent me this pic, 1969 somewhere in Tennessee is all I know.

 

[old rigger]

Peggy, Tex Smith's wife's name was Peggy. Not that it matters but I'm happy it popped into my head. He talked about her in many of his articles, especially when he published his own magazine.

whew.

 

[Wheeler]

I hear that Banzai might make it to Long Beach this weekend.

 

[Taboma]

I honestly don't know. Never met those guys and only knew the Tiny Tim boat from magazines. Pretty cool you have history with them.

Someone sent me this pic, 1969 somewhere in Tennessee is all I know.

View attachment 787498

Tim and Mike sure loved their Fords Great pic, thanks for sharing it. Here's one with Mike Wallace and Rudy
and a couple of Ford ads featuring Mike and Tiny Tim.

 

[Wheeler]

Few more shots for @Wheeler...
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What page did you find these pix of the WoodPecker?

 

[old rigger]

What page did you find these pix of the WoodPecker?

The pages constantly change as they add more pics. They don't put them on their site in any order, I think it's under the event? I dunno but there are almost 25 more pages of boats than the first time I went on the site. I just happen to find those 2 today.

That your dad behind the wheel?