Rare, Rare, Rare, 27 Foot Chris Craft Barrel Back For Sale! Only $359,000
Ya thought the essential guide books are rare, at least there are some of those on folks book shelves to be found. This rare Barrel Back is only one of 14 made, and only 8 known to still exist. That’s rare.. This could be one of the most ultimate barrel backs out there, and its a fresh listing with our trusty pals at Antique boat Center.
That is one loooong Barrel back
All ya gotta do is click here and move some of that inventory of Meth you have been cooking, cause your gonna convert that stuff into some good, snnnniiiiiffff varnish! Can ya tell I have been watching the Breaking Bad marathon on TV? Anyway, its cool, historic, rare and has a very nice modern engines it will giddy up! So giddy up and get this thing. I call shotgun! Get Antique Boat Center to throw in an Essential Guide to make the deal happen.
Al Schinnerer’s is a pretty cool 27. what ever happened to it? it had green upholstery, i think the original engine, and was one of the 14, i believe that was a special racing version.
Looking at those seat cushions…..makes me just want to sit in it. For a long time.
Was $399K last week. If it drops that much every week I can afford it by Tavares!!
Asking people in the know… Does this design work as well at 27′ as it does at 19′, or does it lose that natural balance a great design seems to capture?
Btw, love the composition and lighting of today’s header shot, which I’ve copied here so archeologists will know what I’m talking about thousands of years from now.
Thanks Alex, iphone at its best. That quansit hut is an amazing photo set. Especialy with the rounded edges of a barrel back. The coolest part of this shot for me was the floor and the over spray texture that seemed to keep the energy of the shot moving in a circle. The combination of metal and wood, the contrast of plastic and fresh stained mahogany also come into play in this perforamce. Its got it all.. Can you tell I went to art school? HA
A barrel in a “barrel”, I wonder how many made the visual connection before reading it? I would predict that particular model of steel quonset would outlast a direct nuclear blast as well as any attempt to make it more palatable to a traditional looking shop.
Richard Arnold’s “modified quonset” is the man cave shop to die for. Wish I had a better shot.
nice boat for sure but for that price, jane can keep on runnin’.
Dana Mecum now owns my 1940 27′ Racing Runabout. It sold for a little less than 300K. Got my investment back but zero for my labor, which included building the A-120-A race engine.
Thanks, Al. I think yours was the coolest one around. Birdseye maple interior trim, and all the rest. I had forgotten it had the cc v8.
Not to get all technical, but the ABC is shorting this boat on the rarity numbers a bit. The first true 27′ barrel was #27054 which was also the very first 1940 model. The last 27′ barrel was Runaway Jane #27061. That makes the total production of true 27′ Barrels at 8. Of those 8, five are known to exist.
Perhaps they were counting the 6 mid-1939 “torpedo deck” 27s built which were kind of a transition boat, but have no more of a “barrel” transom than a postwar 17-deluxe, more like a transom with heavily rounded corners.
I tried to spell this out along with all the 27′ hull card data in an article I wrote for the Summer 2007 Brass Bell.
Here is a ’39 27′ like I’m talking about, not a barrel back IMHO.
Who needs the Essential guide when we have the “essential Robinson”
Fascinating. This boat, just because there are only a few remaining, has a value of over $350k. And with this boat one can pretty much only take it out once in awhile to go for rides and to be flaunted at boat shows.
Ya cannot fish with the thing like “Mr. David K. goes 27 miles out into the Atlantic to fish and jump into the water to snap a photo.”
I doubt that it was snatched from death and painstakingly rebuilt to near perfection like Mike and Troy did with Barnwood so that many could enjoy her floating about waiting for some petrol to arrive during a hair raising photo shoot!
And this boat will never pull my kids tubing, and fishing- all the while making memories for many lifetimes – like Zoomer has done and she is only worth $5k.
I find it very interesting that just these three above examples of boats that are providing countless fond memories have less value than a boat that does little but look pretty. Correct me if I am wrong, but is it not the memories of our families and of summers past that got most of us into this hobby?
Is that not where the real value lies ?
ok, now let me have both barrels…. (ha, pun intended)
You are referring to sentimental value not monetary value. Apples and oranges.
And yet both are fruit.
Just like anything else, its worth whatever somebody will pay. I think on a per foot price its just just a little more than the 16′ hydro, Miss Step. I’m so glad I don’t have that kind of money to spend on this stuff….it would be so hard to choose.
I rode in my 1940 27′ C-C “Miss Arrowhead” when I was 16 yrs. old, so I have some fond memories of her. She was snatched from death, as Brian T says, and restored twice in the 32 yrs. that I was her caretaker. I have taken many passengers on rides during boat show weekends, participated in lots on-the-water events, enjoyed time on the water with friends and family at Tahoe, Bass Lake, Lake Arrowhead, Newport Beach, San Diego, Long Beach, Big Bear Lake, was a “parade boat” at speedboat races, and have towed a skier. Did not do any fishing, but I have lots of good memories.
yes dave and rudy at nw classic boats did a great job for you with the last restoration. the boat really looked super the last time it was at tahoe.
Actually, it was a combined restoration team the second time around, initially with a restorer whom I won’t name, next Tony Brown (Western Runabouts) doing extensive rework, and then Tony plus Dave and Rudy (Northwest Classic Boats) and myself finishing it off.
Brian
What was the original engine for this boat?
Chris-Craft A-120
There is another “Flying High”
I had the good fortune of riding in and doing a photo shoot with Al and his 27. The torque of the A-120-A was incredible. I’ve not riding in anything like it since.
All the best to you Al and Happy New Year!!
I think I enjoy my Carver much more that I ever could this boat. And the price was the same , just take 2 zeros off and your close!
The only thing that limits usage and the creation of memories is the person responsible – not the vessel itself. No matter the boat, it will go wherever you point it, seat whoever gets in and run as fast as you’ll let it.
They are meant to be used and will take just about anything most of us will ever subject them to. It’s the owner who creates the moment, determines the journey and secures the enjoyment. The boat is just the tool.
A well chosen, good tool is invaluable, no matter what one pays for it.
Al:
Good to hear all is well with you…I well remember Miss Arrowhead when I saw her in your shop…As I recall you gave me a poster of her…and it is framed and hangs in our beach house today.
As for the memories… I have fond ones being with you and Ed Alexandert out your way…That’s what life and boating is all about.
“Runaway Jane” is another beautiful restoration by Morin Boats. The previous owner who passed away had boats in his collection from 19′ to 57′, all boathouse kept. He had boats done by Mayea’s, Van Dam and Morin. This is a very rare boat and it is too bad it has been misrepresented. In the original add (Antique Boat Center), along with the production numbers and the number of these known to exist today being wrong, it stated it had a “west no soak bottom”. Maybe the ABC meant to say W.E.S.T. (wood epoxy saturation technique) which is a registered trade mark of Gougeon Bros. Inc. If this boat had an A-120 engine it would have a value similar to “Hornet”, which recently sold for just below $400,000 with commissions.