Barrel Back Racer – It Just Gets Better!
She is in her new barn now. Welcome to Woody Boater HQ in Reedville.
What a weekend of cleaning and discovery, and another 5 gallon bucket of rodent turds. And I bet not one of you would have changed a thing about it. Our disease is universal.
Dr, I can’t sleep, and all I see is turds? Am I sick?
The good news is she is cleaned up and lots of goodies are found. Like her hull number which had been glassed over in all the usual areas. We found out she is the 25th in the line of 167 made. Hull number 42025 which we think makes her a 1937 the first year.
Also found under a floor board as is the number 16
We also discovered that she has a very rare Factory Aluminum Head. Not rare, more like a carpaccio rare. So much sweeter. Making this an H-A the predecessor to the K-A. WOW!. Is this the only one left out there still on the engine. These are well known to self destruct. But not here.
As a reference, Dave VanNeess sent us this shot of a Regular K head. Its much thinner! I like a fat head! OH, I smell a boat name…
Her stern pole was buried in turds, But man oh man the bee hive globe is perfect.
Wrong flag, right pole!
Her bow flag pole though got gnawed on. We are leaving it that way.
Yummy wood pole.
Fuel tank is old, dirty and needs to go away!
Some extra guages, and a cigarette lighter? Thats not stock!
not a hammer mark on that elbow nut!
Made in Algonac!
Cool search light that fits onto the windshield! Ivalight?
The bilge is getting better, we removed the fuel tank and ordered a new one from Rayco. She does crank over and catches on a little starter fluid! Woohoo.
Look Ma, No Turds!
Wrong color, right engine!
Her bottom and glass is very clean and was done very well, so I smell a water test for sure after some small patches are made while she is bone dry.
Out in the fresh air at her new barn in Reedville Virginia. And so the circle of life continues!
Great find, great story, but wish my “toy box” was that neat…
Fantastic! Patina perfect! Get it running and Go Boating!
It just can’t get any better!! Can it??
… not for all those newly ‘homeless’ rats — they indeed had a good life for a lot of years.
At least they kept the raccoons out!
Looks to be well preserved and a great find — amazing these treasures are still being found out there!!!!!!
Now I am glad you did not buy that replica.
I knew you would find one of these out there, but I had no idea it would be this COOL!
Stay in shallow water, and call Hagerty first! The glass may be in good shape, but no telling what strength is left underneath it.
No kiidding. I have been poking around. ALOT.. There are some weak areas and I am sure the second the bottom is removed it will be a mass can of worms. So right now, we are just going to see how she does. And go slow..ish
With an HA you have no choice!
We all dream about finding a boat like this. What a find! Enjoy this all the way!
I rebuilt a KA engine in a red, white and blue about 5 years ago. It still had the aluminum head on it. We replaced it with the later prewar cast iron head. As the corrosion around the coolant holes was getting excessive.
Be careful with that carb. It is the original one. But the throats were not angled up so if the carb gets fuel in the throat it will run out into the bilge.
Your elbow is a postwar replacement.
That carb gives me the ebee jeebies!
Yes, i was going to mention that about the elbow. the pre-war elbows have, i think, 4 corners, like a standard nut, rather than the multiple projections of the post war design.
But be that as it may, a great find.
Your correct the nut on the prewars looked like a nut. Also the postwar script is casted in it. I could not tell from the picture but if its a bronze elbow it would be 1950 or later.
This is a great story. The patina on the special racer is outstanding. They are wonderful boats, I am lucky to own a 1939 16′ special racer with the original KB
HA! I was thinking of nameing mine “Hot Mess”
so sweeet!!!
what are the guys on ladders doing? looking for more boats?
HA, I love leaving fun stuff in images for people to be confused. Thats Ralph Walker Electrition and his side kick Mike installing new LED shop lights. WOW! What a huge difference
That is a find. In June of this year a friend and I pulled his 1938 Century Thunderbolt 16 out of a barn he had stored it in since 1987. There is no record of how many years before that – that the boat had been on the hard. Restoration had been started but stalled. Wherein the similarity in the stories here is confined to “coon poop”. I found grilling tools especially useful in removal of the animal waste. Even though most of it was removed several months ago now…….with the right wind I can still smell that stuff and hope to not go thru that cleaning process again.
Thats a bucket list find for sure. WOW! Proof that no matter how cool something is, there is always someone out there with something cooler. Dang! Thunderbolt Lust! Send in a story
Amazing Matt, simply amazing.
What’s up with the post war script you think??
The boat in this article is actually the 26th boat made. Not the 25th as the number suggests. Though the Mariners Museum is unable to confirm, due to a fire and loss of some records at Chris Craft years ago, it is common knowledge among the old timers around the Great Lakes on how Chris Craft numbered their boats. Example: My 1941 44ft Double Enclosed Cabin Chris Craft was Hull #440000. The last digit designates the first hull built and so on. Therefore, the last “0” in this sequence equals “Hull #1”. The second boat built would have had the hull serial # of “440001” and so forth. The boat in this article shows the last two numbers as ’25’, therefore she is the 26th hull built (again, considering ‘0’ as the first hull.
Well, there ya go! You learn something new every day! Thanks for the info. Its now the 26th one built.
Most smaller boats by 1941 hull numbers started with 01 but I believe cruisers continued to start with 00 until after the war. I’ve never heard of this said fire but in the essential guide it shows that Chris Craft did do that to every runabout up to 40/41. There should be no reason Mariners Muesem couldn’t confirm this as it is in the essential guide. There was a half restored red white and blue for sale the seller thought it was 100th built but he didn’t know that they started with 42000 making his boat hull 101.
Congrats on a great discovery….leaves hope for the rest of us. Spot light and cigar lighter could be OEM. Spot light for sure was an accessory item. Hope you will publish the hull card.
Waiting on the mariners museum, which is closed for renovation. So it could be a while. Although Brian Robinson and Don Ayers has a list with options on it. So we may know some more soon.
Great fun….Just reading about it…Looking forward to more as the story develops…
Wow. just WOW!
agree with the comment about being careful with carb…those were the bomb…..as in leaked into the bilge.
do Go Boating…..then get to the real work.
John in Va.
I have learned the hard way on WECATCHEM to always cut the fuel off everytime I stop. Its only happened once, and thats enough. Getting fuel out of a bilge is not a fun job, and thats if you are lucky enough to catch it. YIKES!
Matt,
How about “Fat Head”?
I can’t stand it! How muck luck can one barn find generate? So, what does it have for seats? You should CPES that gnawed up bow pole, tho.
how much?
MAUS PÜP
Most Zenith carburetors of that era, had a drain hole in the bottom of the goose neck. This drain hole is sometimes threaded to 1/8″ pipe thread (NPT). You could simply thread a drain tube into this hole-and put it into a ‘catch can’ with an oil absorbent mat. It may, or may not work for you. Which is better than the fuel going into you know where.
And…you’re boating not (ahem) exploding. Sorry 😉
Maybe this helps. Great find!
Did it come with the original key?
And for a name… “Rodent Eviction”
Or better yet..
“Rat Rod”
Rat Row ?
Or better yet, Rat Racer…
If you found a rat skeleton in it. You could call it Rat Trap
Interesting on the 2heads. Spark plug placement is different. Location in combustion chamber cause more power?