60th Houston Boat Show, January 2 – 11, 2015
Once again, the Texas Chapter of the Antique Outboard Motor Club, Inc. (AOMCI) joined the Southwest Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society (ACBS) to co-exhibit boats and motors at the huge annual Houston International Boat, Sport & Travel Show held at the NRG (formerly Reliant) Center. This is a huge show – over 1100 new “for sale” boats were there accompanied by all kinds of outdoor gear, RVs, campers and ‘what all’. To see the gallery of Photos, click here:
The theme of the 60th show was, “That was Then; This is Now”. We sure played our role regarding the “…Then” part. By popular acclaim, the most appealing and crowd pleasing boats and motors were indeed our oldies. We wowed the crowds again in the main lobby area of the NRG Center where folks had to pass by us to enter the show.
All our exhibitors pulled some display booth duty during the 10-day show that spanned two weekends. During these sessions, we were asked every imaginable question about old boats and motors making our experiences really fun. After all these years, folks stop by our booth telling us of treasures stored in their barns and garages. We seek to help them fix up or find new homes for motors and boats and especially encourage them to join us in our hobby clubs.
This year’s exhibit was organized by Di Johnson and Adam Finn. This is the 29th year that the antiques and classics have graced the Houston show. In fact we were pleased to have on hand club member Tom Oncken who co-hosted the original oldies display in the Houston Astrohall in 1987. Among our boats, three impeccable inboards anchored the front and center spots of our display:
Ellery Andrew’s 1956 18′ Century Resorter. “Asolare” is a beautifully restored and repowered classic – all the engine work done by Ellery and family. Complimenting the big boat was a scale dingy crib hand-built by Ellery for his granddaughter, Madeline. A pedal boat styled after the old woodies was also on display.
Mike Friesel’s 16’ 1946 Chris Craft Special Runabout. “Current Affair” is always a popular boat at this show. All the restoration work was done by Mike and his brother Dennis showing excellent fruits of their labor.
Bob Germany’s 1956 17′ Higgins Sport Speedster. “Fiddlesticks” – What a head-turner this is with the red trimmed white hull and bright mahogany transom!
We had a variety of outboard boats and motors on display:
Adam Finn’s 1961 16′ Glass Magic runabout, made in Ft. Worth, TX and powered by 1963 Merc 650, 65hp. What a pristine rig.
David Coffey, Jr. and Sr. brought Junior’s impeccably restored red Arkansas Traveler with a 1958 Merc Mark 58. Besides being so well done, this rig had a few surprises including completely hidden ignition switchology and a motor-mounted folding stern light (an original accessory offered by Kiekhaefer Corporation).
Darryl Hurst’s 1963 15’ Proske with 1964 Johnson 60hp Super Sea Horse. The Proske is indeed a Houston-built wooden boat and Daryl did a beautiful job on the restoration.
John Platou’s 1960 16′ Cruisers, Inc., powered by his 1960 75hp Evinrude Starflite. John completely rebuilt the keel and hull of this boat as evidenced by a big pickle jar of the 4000+ bronze machine screws he replaced in the process.
Bob Macaluso’s 1957 16′ Crosby Capri powered by a 1963 Evinrude 40hp Lark. This boat is a hybrid with a gorgeous wood deck over a beautifully restored white fiberglass hull.
Di Johnson’s 1972 8′ Hydro. Little “Miss Merc” is a three-point hydroplane home-built from Glen-L “Tiny Titan” boat plans. It is powered by a Mercury KE-7 10hp.
Ed Slominski’s 15’ 1956 Lyman with Mercury Mark 58. This is an excellently preserved lapstrake boat, and another beautiful example of Ed’s skillful ability to make his wood boats gleam.
Darrell Beaulier’s 1969 Glastron Carlson. Made in Garden Grove, CA, it is powered by a 1972 “Super Strangler” 145hp Evinrude racer. This sparkling blue beauty is a very slick restoration brought back to life from an almost dead drive-by yard find.
Captain Emma Grace Bayless, when she was age 5, built this 8’ Minimost with her grandfather John Platou. The hydroplane is home built from plans in the 1978 Science & Mechanics Magazine. It is powered by a 1973 Johnson 6 hp.
We had a great turnout of free-standing outboards on display this year.
Mark Betner blew us all away with his triple whammy vintage Johnson and Evinrude collections. He brought his complete 1955 green Johnson line-up with the 3hp, 5.5hp, 10hp and 25hp. Mark’s motors were wrapped around a feature corner of our display, and included the entire 1957 Johnson line-up of the Holiday Bronze (red) motors, specifically the 3hp, 5.5hp, 7.5hp, 10hp, 18hp, and 35hp. “But wait, there’s more”…, Mark also had two beautiful 1957 Evinrudes, an 18hp Fastwin and a 40hp Lark.
Bruce Miller brought his favorite and “first” motor, a 1948 Johnson 5hp TD-20.
Di Johnson returned with his three childhood motors on display; Elgin 2½hp, Johnson 5hp (TD-20) and Mercury KG-4 complete with his dad’s photos of smilin’ Di using each motor on Keuka Lake, NY.
Tom Oncken wowed us all with his eclectic motor collection including his 1931 Indian Silver Arrow 10hp, 1938 Clarke Troller 1.3hp, 1939 Evinrude Mate ½hp, 1946 Sea King Midget 1hp, 1954 Mercury Hurricane 20H “Hydro-Short” 16+hp race engine, 1956 Sea King 5hp, 1958 Evinrude Lightwin 3hp, and last, but not least, an NOS 1976 Mercury “Merc 25ss” 25+hp race engine which has never been run except at the factory.
John Plato displayed the entire line of 1960 Evinrude outboards including the 3hp Ducktwin, 3hp Lightwin, 5.5hp Fisherman, 10hp Sportwin, 18hp Fastwin, 40hp Big Twin, 40hp Lark, and 75hp Starflite on his boat.
This Article was written by Di Johnson and edited by Tom Oncken
