Tom Lange, Woody Boater Of The Month.
Tom Lange – Boulder CO. Rocky Mountain Classics ACBS
So there I am in Boulder Colorado sitting around my sons house wondering what we are going to do for the rest of the day and a comment comes in on the family first story. The comment was from fellow Woody Boater Wayne Spaulding. Telling me that there is a cool couple there in Boulder. Tom and Kathy Lange has a cool shop loaded full of cool stuff. I hopped on the phone in a nano second, and in about 20 minutes we all were in Woody Boater heaven. And best yet, it was right next to Avery Brewery. So the boatress and my son had plenty of stuff to do while I drooled all over Tom’s shop floor.
Tom and Kathy also have some very very cool canoes. This one is very old and in fantastic condition.
Here is the nice sign for the above canoe
1946 16′ Ensign utility Gar Wood in Boulder! Hull number 6980 THE FIRST PRODUCTION MODEL. ! of 650 made.
Even the conference room table has a cool center piece.
In the shop were all sorts of interesting items including vintage bikes, radios, and of course boats. Toma says he works on about one boat a year, so there is a support system there in Boulder for those of you that need a good sniff of varnish from time to time.
Some very cool vintage bikes and a pedal car plane. From the Universal film prop dept!
You can click and blow this up to see the price tags
It was clear that he was prepping for a big fund raiser for the local Rocky Mountain Classics Chapter of the ACBS. So not only was the place full of cool stuff. But it had price tags on them. If you want some fun stuff, emil Tom at tklange@msn.com Cool stuff. Posters, parts.
Sorry, Hank and I scored this very rare NOS Chris Craft 1968 Dealer sign. It’s twin sold in Tavares FLA at the auction. They were in a box as a set. It’s now on our garage wall in VA..
A ton of cool stuff with Chris Smiths signature on them. WHAT? Well it turns out that Chris is a big supporter of the Rocky Mountain Classics chapter. And is in Boulder often. Who would have thought? And further more, they go boating in…. WYOMING! So basecly everything I think is WRONG. You can live the Woody boater lifestyle even in the Rocky’s. DANG!
What a great sign!
I am always in AW of anyone that can keep a shop or garage looking like a museum.
Here is another one found in the attic of an old marina in SW Florida. Rare indeed!
Matt :
thank you much for the article ! it really was a pleasure meeting all of you last week and having you in the shop. I just wanted to mention that our club fund raiser is may 25th starting at about 9:00 in the morning. if any non club members want to stop by please do use my email. besides a fundraiser it has historically been an event to attract new members. there may not be enough food for extra people attending but there are always plenty of good times , good music and lots of stuff you didn’t even know you couldn’t live without. and as always our wonderful club members to meet and greet.
Have a great summer and see you on the water !
Tom & Kathy Lange
You could have joined me! This was Wednesday in Loveland Pass. 11000+ feet
32 here in VA this AM WTF!
great sign indeed!
John in Va.
20 minutes later??? Traffic must have been bad!
Prices are very reasonable! Not what i am used to seeing.
Cool collection .
Chris Smith frequents the area to visit his daughter Chris Ann (Smith) Braff who lives there. Bob & Chris Ann have a beautiful 28-foot 50’s Chris-Craft cruiser that they trailer all over the USA. They and Chris’ Craft were at Table Rock Lake in Missouri for the ACBS International Show last September, in Wisconsin the year before and in Michigan before that. We might just see them again at Coeur D’ Alene this coming September.
They haul that cruiser aroun like it’s a 15′ runabout! It looks so easy. Really nice people too.
It’s giving me a Rocky Mountain High….more varnish, it’s the season.
i could really use one of those gar wood hull cards.
I love your web site here with all the dates of upcoming events and articles on “woody boaters”. I have just acquired a 1952 14 ft Seaking in great solid condition and plan to restore this boat and continuing researching who built these for Montgomery Wards. Please feel free to contact me if anyone has any info. This is the start of my “woody boater” story….
David “Woody Boater” Carnachan