CSI Solves On Golden Pond Question! AGAIN!

Here is the actual transom with the lettering on it as found last year.

One of the final details of the On Golden Pond Boats is the lettering. And when you do that with a very famous boat. You bring in the best in the country. Alan Johnson. And of course  art takes over science. Until Frank “CSI” Miklos gets involved as well. When we brought the boats back to the attention of the world, we were amazed at how original they were. Mariah was a time capsule never being touched after the filming. Frozen in Rotted bottom time. So the lettering on her is relatively easy.  So was the thinking on Thayer IV  U-22 1460 the main picture boat. I mention main picture boat because as it turns out the movie frame from one scene told a different story than the boat in its found state. Turns out through a keen eye and OCD the gang was able to figure out that at some point after the film,  Thayer IV 1460 was re lettered. Here are the images to back up the case.. Your honor..

Lets start with what the transom we found looked like.

This is the transom the day we found the boat. Un touched. Note the red lines and thier relationship to the snaps and exhaust.

Now, note the red lines on the image from the film. Note, the letters do not line up. AND the type is larger.

With the magic of photoshop one can see that just by reducing the type it lines up perfectly to what was on the screen. Snaps are still in place.

Insane you think.. oh thats just part of it. One question is, did the angle of the film and distortian of film being shot from a helocopter effect the transom image. .. The snaps dont lie.. Those crazy snaps! Never have some stupid snaps meant so much. But.. To just make sure. The folks at katz’s took a matching angle shot to line up and check.. Did they rent a chopper to do it. I would not put it past them at all.

Note the clip from the film at the same angle as the boat. Perfect match.

Now on to lettering. The following images are of Alan Johnson doing his thing. Science did its job.. It’s time for the artist to do his magic. MAGIC JOHNSON does lettering!

Alan doing his measuring thang

Here is the lettering all laid out by hand. Ready for leaf. Note the lines to make sure it all lines up.

The gold leaf goes on. I think Alan was listening to 80's music to make sure he was in the right vibe..

And the lettering and outline are done as of 15 minutes ago.

Stay tuned for more lettering as Mariah the US mail boat gets her day in court!