Oh Crap! Now I Want To Collect Fleetline Boats.
Fleetline Thunderbolt
This very cool Fleetline Thunderbolt caught my eye and heart. No Winterizing, Last gasps, just shelf boating. And those little outboards will never let you down. Unless your Batteries die!
Great graphics and names. It really doesnt get any better than Thunderbolt and Hurricane.
I have been collecting other boats and do lust after Lionel boats and other one off ones. But this Fleetline Brand seems to have some very cool designs and they can be found in their original boxes. Of course thats because they were never used.
Very cool
THIS ONE IS ON EBAY WITH AN OPENING BID FOR $99
Hurricane box as well. Buying one in perfect box shape is the better buy since these hold value better.
And this one above which is in flawless shape is about as nice as they get . Its On EBAY for a Buy It Now $300
Then there is THE SEA WOLF. Love the boxes as well.
THE SEA WOLF IS ON EBAY AS WELL. HERE
This cool Fleetline Dolphin
YOU CAN SEE THE DOLPHIN HERE ON EBAY
The Zepher race boat. this sucker will het the wall of your tub fast!
And as things evolved in the boating universe so did Fleetline. with the Zepher Above and HERE ON EBAY
As you can see it goes on and on. Even into the plastic years. Thank god no Pontoon boats or Jet Skis!
And if you have the time and LOTS of coffee cause its rather PBS style here is a video of a Fleetline boat show. YES They have shows. It’s like a LilACBS!
Smart Boating 207 from Smart Boating on Vimeo.
I had the Fleetline Marlin outboard cabin cruiser as a kid with a K&O Evinrude. It took 4 D cells when you carefully removed the cabin top. I took exceptional care of it bringing it to Sebago Lake every weekend in the summer boating out to Frye Island where my grandfather rented a lot along with several other weekenders who set up tents on wood decks all summer. Can’t figure out what happened to that boat that I was so careful with. It was my pride and joy. A friend bought me a replacement from a vendor at the St Michael’s Show 20 years ago without a motor for $90. Still looking for the matching K&O V4 Evinrude. Not sure I have enough $$$ now as they are real expensive last time I looked.
The K & O toy outboards were the most detailed and the most expensive. I think my dad paid an outrageous $5.95 for my very own 1957, 35 horse Johnson Sea Horse to compliment the real thing at the dock. They were the same scale as the Fleetline models so you had endless combinations to choose from! I have several K & O outboards sitting on my desk. Assuming you are talking about one in very good to excellent condition the prices range from a couple of hundred dollars to thousands. It’s been a few years since I checked the most wanted K & O was an Oliver six horse from the mid 50’s. The reason being Oliver made tractors including toy ones which just happened to be in the same scale as the Fleetline/K&O combo. The six horse Oliver fetched over Three grand because it is also in demand by toy tractor collectors. Floyd I can give you some reputable K&O collector folks who buy and sell these if you’re interested.
wow, a whole world I knew nothing about. I recall having a couple of those outboards in my youth…like valuable baseball cards they slipped through my fingers I guess.
I have an early steam engine model boat from ages before….mostly broken and in parts…but cool.
John in Va.
I was at the Boat House in Disney last winter. I saw some excellent examples of v4 Evinrudes on display, and for sale. They are expensive but cool.
Big and Little Sisters.
I remember having the cabin cruiser (on models sheet, bottom row far right) when I was a kid (mid-’50’s). Played with it in wading ponds in the neighborhood. I would never have tossed it, but don’t know what ever became of it. This 6-stack Merc was on it at some point — luckily it got saved!!! It lives on my old SpeedLiner model now.
That tower of power Merc you had/have is also one of the more sought after ones. I believe it’s a Mark 75, the first 6 cylinder which is the reason.
I have a Fiesta Queen in my waay too cluttered office. Your Webb site is a DAILY stop for me, I truly enjoy it. I hope the picture I took shows up. I’m an incompetent!
You know, not to be a downer but, I do not know anyone under the age of 65 that collects anything. Especially little battery powered outboard motors for hundreds or thousands of bucks.
What is gonna happen to all of these collections when the Ok Boomers head off to the big dock in the sky? Is collecting stuff an Midwest or East Coast thing?
You know Briant, you are kind of a downer. I feel sorry for you. It’s not about the money or the possession, or the find and purchase of anything. It’s about finding something that evokes a memory, a pleasant memory, from somewhere back in your lifetime. Yes, I am over 65, but not by much, and quite frankly, I won’t give a damn what will happen to my collections when I go to that big dock in the sky. I’m living for the enjoyment that I get from these things today. The only outlay here is the investment in my own satisfaction. And incidentally, my daughter will enjoy my collections just as much as I have. She learned at an early age to appreciate the things that I have shown a passion for in my lifetime. Why don’t you try to search back in your life and see if there were any pleasant times or things that made you happy and try to re-connect with them? I think that if you really took the time to analyze what is going on here and realize that there are people that find comfort in collecting miscellaneous boating related things, and that is kind of what this blog is all about, the woodyboater lifestyle, you’d be more likely to find your own happy place with others. Why do you continue to come here if you are so inclined to be negative towards the chosen subjects? I just don’t get it. Just because you have a wood boat, doesn’t make you a woodyboater.
On the other hand, and on a brighter note, I’ve had these things since I was a small child. They were neat then, and they are neat now. Fleetline, I.M.P., ITO, they were all my favorites. I haven’t gone nuts about them, but have accumulated a nice collection over the years. They are fun. And they do evoke memories.
Ok Boomer. I am a downer because none of my buddies collect something? If you want to blow wads of cash on stuff to rekindle your childhood, then by all means knock yourself out. The great things I did as a kid we still do by continuing to do those great things with our kids, like boating and camping, so there is no need to “re-connect”. And frankly, I think the “Woodyboater Lifestyle” is a heck of a lot more than just collecting toy boats, or gas pumps, or old signs, as you implied above.
Kinda neat…Never had a model boat but I watched the entire video.
Happy to say that I have the entire collection of Fleetline toy boats, and even though I am too young to have owned any as a kid, I still think they are super nostalgic and fun to display and enjoy !
This is my Fleetline Marlin.
I’d have to disagree with you Brian. I have a 33 yr old daughter that collects and paints vinyl nation characters to match the personalities of her friends and her 11 year old son has started his own collection. My 26 yr old son collects expensive BMW wheel options and non running BMWs apparently along with pro hockey jerseys, players sticks and team logo pucks.
My 28 yr old daughter collects Maneki-neko (which means beckoning cat in Japanese, a good luck symbol) figurines along with vinyl records of 70’s, 80’s, 90’s groups.