By Tom Oncken
The Southwest Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society was once again invited to provide an exhibit of vintage boats at the 2019 Houston International Boat, Sport & Travel Show held in the NRG Center next to the Astrodome. As has been customary for every year since taking over this annual exhibit, the Southwest Chapter of ACBS invited members of the Texas Chapter of AOMCI to provide outboards for the display.
John Platou, a member of both organizations, volunteered last year to take over preparation for the annual boat and motor display, and he did a remarkable job of setting up the exhibit this year. One change from the past several years is that the exhibit was moved from the front lobby to a big space within the boat show just inside the main entrance to Hall D.
John worked very hard to put together a slightly different exhibit than in past years. This year’s display not only included vintage boats and outboards, but also included “Kids Build A Boat”, “Kids Paint A Boat”, “Kids Build An Engine”, a couple of vintage automobiles, and an area for the City of Houston Lake Patrol. In prior years, John and his helpers held the kids events inside the show while the vintage boats and outboards were out in the front lobby.
John Graf once again volunteered to bring his large trailer containing his exquisite collection of restored antique Mercury outboard motors. John also was present during the entire show while he allowed unknown individuals to freely walk through his collection. Unless you have personally worked the entire 10 day show for every hour of each day, you probably do not realize the extent of John’s contribution to this show. I fully understand the amount of effort it takes and I would like to offer my special thanks to John.
John Platou and Alan Bischof created the Kids Build-A-Boat exhibit many years ago and have become legends at the Houston boat shows. John and Alan subsequently added the “Kids Paint A Boat” and “Kids Build An Engine” which has given them even more to supervise. I was very pleased to see that John and Alan received some much needed help with the kids exhibits. Robert Taylor, Darren Baird, and the Norbeck/Urban-Norbeck clan volunteered to assist.
There were a variety of boats in the display this year. A pair of nice wooden inboard boats were shown including a nice Chris-Craft runabout and Bob Germany’s 1948 Higgins Deluxe Runabout 19’. Shaun Boardman displayed a homebuilt wooden sailboat with its mast and sail extended. Adam Finn displayed his 1958 Rexcraft 15’ aluminum boat powered by its 1959 Johnson Sea Horse 35HP. Bruce Miller displayed his 1973 Sea Ray 17’ fiberglass boat powered by its 1973 Mercury 115HP outboard.
As has been customary over the past few years, wooden outboard runabouts overwhelmed the exhibit again this time. The following eight wooden outboard boats were displayed: Robert Black’s 2005 Aristo Craft Torpedo 14’ with its 1957 Johnson Golden Javelin; Darryl Hurst’s 1963 Proske 15’ with its 1964 Johnson V-4 60HP; Morten Lovstad’s hand-built Flats Skiff 18’ with its 2016 Evinrude 60HP E-Tec outboard; Robert Macaluso’s 1957 Crosby Capri 16’ with its 1963 Evinrude Lark 40HP; Jim Norbeck’s 1960 home-built boat with original 1959 Evinrude Lark 35HP; John Platou’s 1960 Cruisers Inc Holiday Runabout 16’ powered by 1960 Evinrude V-4 Starflite 75HP; John Platou’s 1950 hand-built hydro with a greenhead Mercury on the back; and Jack Toole’s hand-built Mini-Most 8’ with its 1984 Evinrude 6HP. Actually, Darren Baird and his family displayed their hand-built Mini-Most 8’ as a work in progress. Darren and his sons are still in process of building the boat and hope to have it available for display at a future boat show. Now all they have to do is find a motor for it.
A new look that John Platou added to this year’s exhibit included two vintage automobiles. It is my understanding that a couple of past “Wheels and Keels” participants supplied the restored 1949 Ford Convertible Sportsman Woody and the 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air Convertible that were staged to appear as if they were tow vehicles. Very nice!!
There were quite a few nice antique outboards on display on individual stands. I wish to thank Mark Betner, Adam Finn, Morten Lovstad, Jim Norbeck, John Platou, and Louis Rothermel for taking that extra time and effort to haul those motors to and from NRG Center. I apologize for not getting a photo posted of every outboard motor, but I did the best I could with the information that I had at my grasp. I only made one brief appearance at this year’s show and I failed to take my camera.
I encourage all members to contact John Platou now should you have an interest in helping him out in the 2020 boat show. Your participation can lead to some great acquisitions of cheap, if not free, old outboard motors. Ask Darren Baird about the new boat he acquired as a result of being at the show. I bet he is going to have a big smile on his face at every meet he attends.
To view the other pictures from this event, please click the link below and you will be redirected: http://www.texaschapteraomci.com/gallery/2019-houston-international-boat-sport-travel-show/