Live-ish from the Coeur d’Alene Regional Show – Old Friends, New Friends, And A Famous Racer

Live-ish from Friday at the inaugural Coeur d’Alene Regional Boat Show at The Coeur d’Alene Resort. Friday was the day that many of the antique & classic boats arrived, prepared for the big show, while many folks attended the popular symposium on restoration and repair at The Resort Boatshop, a few minutes down the road in Post Falls, Idaho.

This new event is being held at the spectacular Coeur d’Alene Resort, which is a perfect venue for a show of this size, or any size for that matter. This is where the ACBS International show was held in 2008. Friday ended with a wonderful Welcome Aboard Party at the resort, where the participants were treated to some traditional Five Star Service from the nice folks at the resort.

Image Courtesy of the Coeur d'Alene Resort

Friday was spent going for boat rides on beautiful Lake Coeur d’Alene and the Spokane River, getting together with old friends like Robert & Susan DaPron aboard “Red Head II” and fellow Woody Boaters Janet & Tom Cathcart (below) the owners of “Huckledybuck” their very cool 1953 Shepherd 110S. We also had a chance to catch up with many old friends from the six Pacific Northwest ACBS Chapters, it was great to see everyone again.

We also made some new friends on Friday, like local legend Tom Addis – the owner of this huge twin engine Chris-Craft Continental named “Lynn”. Tom is a long time wooden boat enthusiast and huge Woody Boater fan, we spent some quality time together talking shop on the boardwalk.

One of the coolest things about these twin engine Continentals is the number a gauges on the dashboard, Tom says she has some real Get-up-and-Go with the twins…

And look what we found on Friday… One of our favorite Chris-Crafts, a stunning Post-War Red & White Express. Although we were aware of this boats recent restoration at the Resort Boatshop, this is the first time we have had the opprotunity to see “Katherine” outside and in the water. Tom Addis consulted on the restoration work with her owner Jim Busby and the Resort Boat Shop.

The original twin engine Red & White is simply beautiful in every way, and The Resort Boatshop did a outstanding job on the restoration, as usual.

Jim Busby is an accomplished road racer with numerous international wins to his credit including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and in the IMSA Racing series throughout his remarkable racing career. Jim Busby is still very involved in the motorsport community, and just last week went over 200 MPH in a blown 32 Ford at the Bonneville Salt Flats during Speedweek.

Jim Busby Image Courtesy of Pbase.com

Over the years, I have carefully followed Jim Busby’s racing career and accomplishments through the 1980’s & 1990’s, and I knew that Jim owned this Red & White Express. So to have the opprortunity to spend some time visiting with Jim on Friday was very special, as he graciously shared a few racing stories with me from his days road racing around the world. Jim Busby – A Fellow Woody Boater!

“Katherine” has a very cool search light which is original to this particular Red & White Express. Getting good photos of the search light against the white painted hull in the bright Idaho sun was a challenge, so we have included a few shots of the search light from a few different angles.

The search light is operated through the ventilating windshield and can be operated / adjusted both horizontally and vertically with the dual hand wheels.

“Cheyenne” a very rare 1929 28′ Gar Wood Runabout owned by Brad & Sandi Hill from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.

The vintage limited and unlimited hydroplanes from the Hydroplane and Raceboat Museum are also in town and are scheduled to do demonstration laps on Saturday and Sunday which everyone is looking forward to seeing.

Check out the cool period support truck with “Miss Thriftway”, very retro…

“Esperanza” a beautiful 1965 Century Coronado is here this year.

And last but not least, Woody Boater technical advisor Dick Dow has his ultra rare 1937 19′ Baalmann/Batchelor Split Cockpit “Sindbad” here this year. I had the pleasure of driving “Sindbad” on Friday and it is a truly amazing runabout. Dick also has some new information on the history of this boat which will be announced on Woody Boater in an upcoming story… Wait til you hear this story, it’s great!

Stay tuned for more Live-ish updates from Coeur d”Alene.

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