A Very Rare 1938 Pre War Something or Other Boat On eBay. Daaang!
OK, to be honest, whenever you see that I have an eBay story, it’s a slow day in the Classic Boat universe. But this week has been a strange week on eBay. I have other stories backing up. But these two deals, the Whirlwind for $500 and now this, have compelled me to give a shout out to fellow woody boaters. So here it is. What ever it is? Looks like a HAL. Yup, a HAL….It’s custom made by a master boat builder in Massena NY in the late 1930’s… OK wait, it gets better… His… the builders wife was Eleanor Roosevelt’s secretary when FDR was Governor of New York State. He visited Massena and was hosted by the builder. More to this story is coming, But apparently FDR rode around in this boat….Every part of the boat is hand made, Every single part. And each part is signed. Dear god! Dig that crazy steering wheel… Batman would be proud to zip around in this bad boy! Here is the link and more of the story and some more photo’s…. My guess is that if you can score a shot of FDR in the boat, you can retire early. Like this one I just happened to find! 
It’s a great story, and that’s half the the battle with these boats. Come on, it’s a better story than, It sat in the back yard of my aunts house for 60 years! Or 400 cats have been born in it while sitting in the barn….
Great Boat that HAL, Matt….or are you Hal and the boat is Matt???? Wasn’t that the name of the rogue computer in some flic?
Anyway, I think I know how MATT got FDR into the cockpit, but with all respect and sympathy, it would have taken a CRANE to get FDR into it for real.
The Whirlwind is a good buy too….thankfully I am long on boats.
John Rothert