Live-ish From The Minnesota Lakes Classic Boat & Car Show in Alexandria, MN

An elegant and rare 1941 21′ Falls Flyer.

The classic boat show season is well under way throughout the country, and thanks to our many friends and contributors, we have some great reports coming in over the wireless. As we reported yesterday, classic boaters and car collectors gathered at the Arrowwood Resort and Conference Center at Lake Darling for the the 26th Annual Minnesota Lakes Classic Boat & Car Show on Saturday.

Fellow Woody Boater Dane Anderson was on hand on Saturday to capture some great photos of the event, and with some help from noted historian & writer Lee Wangstad we hope to have a full report from the show in the next few days. In the meantime, we thought it would be fun to share just a few of Dane’s photos from Saturday with our viewers today. (And don’t forget that you can click on the photos today to enlarge them for the FULL effect – Texx)

This years show featured Larson boats and the iconic Falls Flyer model (shown above), so we will start out with a few more shots of Larson boats to give you a feel for what was there.

Roger Moberg’s Larson 14′ Deluxe Runabout, winner of “Most Original” at Lake Dora this year.

When I was first introduced to the Larson Cabin Special at Paul Mikkelson’s museum a few years ago, to me that particular model presented itself to me as the perfect boat for the mid 1950’s Minnesota sportsman with is functional design and outboard motor – perfect for the smaller, shallow lakes of the area.

A spectacular 1953 Larson Cabin Special owned by Denny Van Berkum.

Dane captured these photos of another period correct Johnson outboard, this one on a later model “finned” Falls Flyer.

Note the cool Larson script on the dashboard, and the period instruments.

We will feature some more rare Falls Flyers originally from the Mikkelson Collection in our full story later.

As expected, there were also some very special (non-Larson) wooden boats on hand for this years show. The traditional Chris-Craft sedan is always an eye-catcher at any show. And this one looks wonderful.

A beautiful 1952 Chris-Craft Sportsman Sedan owned by Ann and Bryon Balusek.

A great shot of ‘S a Gem – a Scripps powered 1934 27’ Chris-Craft Custom Runabout owned by Russell Hagen.

“Garbo” is Carl Mammel’s very rare, and very cool 1930 21.5′ Dodge.

Combining the classic cars from the Motoring Journal’s Speed Reunion 2013 was a perfect fit for this event, and the Arrowwood Resort and Convention Center grounds worked well to display the cars near the lake & docks.

Dane noted – “The car guys were enthusiastic participants in the boat show today. They spent a lot of time studying the boats and asking questions. Seems like a good crowd to build interest in the hobby.”

It was fun to see this great looking Triumph TR3A on the grounds today.

And a nice range of Porsche 911 style cars were also on hand, I never get tired of looking at old or new Porsche 911’s.

Then Dane spotted this car – This immaculate MG J 3670 was built on October 23rd, 1933. (See – car guys no nuts for these details just like classic boat guys)

It has a 36HP twin S.U. Carb 847cc (51 cubic inch) engine and weighs 1,091 lbs. A very nicely restored car.

On Saturday during the show, Dave Bortner from Freedom Boat Service was donating boat rides aboard “Hornet” a 1932 28′ Gar Wood to benefit the Minnesota Lakes Maritime Museum. It’s not every day you have a chance to ride in a rare V-12 Scripps powered Gar Wood triple and many folks took advantage of the opportunity.

A cool shot from the rear of a Falls Flyer outboard on land display.

Thanks again to Dane Anderson for sharing his great images from Lake Darling with us today, and stay tuned for our full recap of the Minnesota Lakes Classic Boat & Car Show in the days to come.

As I write this it’s now 4:30 AM EST and my computer is chiming away telling me that another report from fellow Woody Boaters Karen & Paul Harrison is coming in over the wireless from the Sandpoint Wooden Boat Show in Idaho. Like I said at the top of this story, the classic boat show season is well under way – and we love it!

Texx
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