Another Chris-Craft Model 99 Found In Norway – But Wait, There’s More…
Late Breaking News today of another rare Chris-Craft Model 99 found in Norway! At 2:00 AM EST today we received an e-mail from fellow Woody Boater Anders Værnéus in Sweden, to let us know that there is another 1930 Chris-Craft Model 99 located in Norway, named “Chrissie” . This boat has been added to our active and growing list of Model 99’s known to survive, now at 13.
Anders Værnéus owns a boat shop in Sweden named Anders Båthus (Anders Boathouse) where he takes care of some really nice boats and also does some restorations and new boat building projects. For the last five years Anders has been involved with countries classic boat magazine Klassiska båtar (Classic boats) in Sweden.
After exchanging about 18 rapid fire e-mails, not only did we learn about another Model 99, but Andres also shared some information about the wooden boat hobby and history in Sweden. Very cool stuff! We decided to publish his story as a raw, unedited version in Andres own words, to add some international flavor to the story today… Take it away Andres…
Hallo all you boat loving woodpeckers,
Thank’s for a great site regarding what we all love most. Sitting here on the other side of the Atlantic and read your articles about the CC Model 99 and must add number 13 (bad luck?) to your list. Named “Chrissie” and she’s today standing in my neighbour country Norway (the origin for Ole Evinrude for example). (Updated info from Bob Kays, Nov. 18, 2011 – It was owned by a fellow on Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey. When he was ready to sell in 1988, Wayne Mocksfield of Wayne’s Marine sold the boat for him to Hans Emron? in Norway and had the boat shipped there the same year.)
She’s in very good running condition with her four cylinder Chris-Craft still under the hatches. The funny thing with her, is that she’s unrestored with all original wood still there, and that’s quite fun when more and more original boats are being restored. I mean – a boat/car/chair or what so ever -is only original once. When all our beloved woodies are being restored – we don’t have a clue how they REALLY put the boats together at the Chris-Craft/Gar Wood/Hacker/Dodge or-what-so-ever-plant.
Here in Sweden we’ve got an always running discussion of whats original and when we would exchange parts to new ones. There’s a small number of totally untouched boats here, that’s totally original (I mean unrestored and untouched with everything still there – exactly how they came from the factory/yard). We use to call them facit boats – boats that in the future will tell us the real story from the past.
The classic boat culture here is BIG. Sweden has one of the biggest classic boat population in the world actually. We’re only 9 million people here but have a great amount of classics running around our lakes.
Over the years we have had some real big designers. The most well known are Carl Gustaf Pettersson, Gideon Forslund, Henning Forslund, Ruben Östlund and several more. These guys did a bunch of lovely boats over the years – from big yachts down to canoes. Via runabouts, cabin cruisers, real racers and a lot of more fun.
The classic boat business started here in Sweden in 1961 when some guys begun to take care of some of our biggest and most beautiful sailing yachts. The motor boat business started 10 years later when the club Motor Yacht Society started. Today we have some big clubs, some museums (one of them are Museihuset that I’m very involved in) and some really nice annual boat shows.
I have been working in this business for 20 years. Today I’m running my own shop Anders Båthus (Anders Boathouse) where I’m taking care of some really nice boats and running some restorations and new building projects. For the last five years, I’m doing the classic boat magazine Klassiska båtar (Classic Boats) and some other funny things.
Also have my own collection of approximately 35 classic motorboats in all types and in all conditions.. 😉
Here’s a few examples of some antique & classic wooden boats here in Sweden. We also have approximately 100 Rivas in and around Sweden.
Edi I: One of the biggest commuters in Sweden was the EDI, built in 1927 for the Swedish Engineer Torsten Kreuger. 27 meter’s (90.0 ft) long and she does 23 knots with two Gar Wood-Liberty V12’s inside. The yacht remains today in VERY poor shape.
Fiat X o Hydro: The very well known Swedish boat designer Gideon Forslund is standing in his racer Hydroplane while his wife Elsa running the lock decker Fiat X. The photo was taken just before the two runabout races in 1924 – one in Saltsjöbaden just outside STockholm where Gideon was disqualified while Elsa won her race in Södertälje.
Gri-Gri: A very special runabout was the Gri-Gri, designed in 1911 by CG Pettersson for the yachtsman Kurt Horngren. With a swedish built Penta engine under the lock deck, she reached around 16 mph.
Ikaros III: One of the many beautiful boats from the yard Sjöexpress (sea express) was Ikaros III, designed by Gideon Forslund for Adrian Florman of Stockholm, 1935 and powered with a Chrysler Royal 8 cyl.
Marara: One of the most well known Swedish runabouts is Marara. 9.9 meter long (32 ft) runabout designed in 1929 by Ruben ÖStlund for mr Nils Ahlström on Stockholm. With a Hall-Scott Invader she reached 39 mph and she’s still alive in a fantastic condition.
Cheers – Anders Værnéus
Thanks Andres for tuning in to Woody Boater from Sweden and for giving us a glimpse into the antique & classic boat hobby from your beautiful country… great stuff!
Texx
ahhhh crap! Now i need to learn Swedish…I am still working on English..
Hey Matt, I’ll give you free lessons at Tavares in March 🙂
You just need a WoodyBoater Sweedish dictionary!
Very cool story.
Do I see Peter Van der Hoeven’s XK in one of the photos?
Nope, but a sister called American Beauty – restored down to pieces…
Love Gri-Gri, just funky looking enough. Great story. Thing about Sweedish is Matt can pretty much do anything he wants with the spelling and the vast majority of us will have no clue. So now that we’ve gone from 3 known 99’s to 13 their value has now dropped? Gone from rare to Sportsman like? Time to trade it for a ÖStlund.
This story has gone from cool, to cooler to way cool. Whoda thunk!
Hey Paul and Karen H, have you calculated the postage to send that Swedish 99 to Western Canada? Better yet, have you calculated the fuel consumption to drive it transatlantic? Guarantee you Texx would accompany you on that trip.
Anders, do you still have your 1929 28′ Gar Wood sedan tucked away?
Yep, the 28-40 is still alive. But she’s really in need of a good friend who can (afford) to bring her beauty back…
The Woody Boater world never ceases to amaze me…
ah!
Nice boats….great meatballs. What a country!
IKEA needs to make a wooden boat kit.
Of course, it would probably be mahogany veneer over particle board. The instructions would suck. And there would be one crucial screw missing from the kit…
Ha! thats so true Chad.
That’s funny Chad… So if IKEA produced a wooden boat kit, I wonder what they would call it?
FURGEN SINKUN
ha – good one – except that would be the Canadian version, no?
WHOA – ease up on that throttle there Chad !
With all due respect – you’re dead wrong about IKEA. They have been around for decades and if they did in fact offer up a boat kit it the quality would surpass anything offered up by their competitors. The warranty would equal that of a KIA automobile, the choices would be vast, and the manufacturing process as environmentally as friendly as possible. And it would be a third of the cost.
Plus, given that it would be designed in Sweden, the design and style would be top notch. Something that our designers here could learn much from.
And with the directions comment – dude, there are virtually no words. It is like a children’s picture book – perhaps you can let Lily read them for you the next time you’re having a fit ?
Oh boy. Someone owns some ikea stock. Looks great until you actualy need to use it. I have been burned way to many times.. Good meatballs though. And one heck of a sr citizen hangout in china.. Huge issue there..
You never know how these things will drift from the topic. Makes it interesting.
The significance to me of the 99 is how much it reflects 20’s styling. After that model was discontinued, by 32 the design of the smaller runabouts changed pretty radically with more freeboard, elimination of the upswept deck, contrasting king planks and covering boards, elimination of the raised coaming, etc. And then later in the 30’s came the torpedo styling. What a change within the space of 5 or so years.
Good point Don, I suppose that by the early 30’s Chris-Craft realized that they had to produce smaller, less expensive models to attract average buyers. As we know, they were always willing to be innovative with their designs to do just that, while trying to survive the depression years.
Hmmmm……. smaller……less expensive… are we back to ikea again?LOL ………Sorry
IKEA stock? Whatchu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?
Anyways…. A few questions from a novice….
If the 99 sold for $1295 or so back in 1930, does anyone know what that would be in today’s dollars?
And, did marine/boat insurance even exist in 1930 and if so, what percentage of wood boat owners purchased this coverage?
Brian – According to our sources, (so please don’t shoot the messanger on this) $1,295.00 in 1930 had the same buying power as $16,502.14 in 2011.
Annual inflation over this period was 3.19%.
As far as boat insurance in 1930, not sure. Was Hagerty around then? Chris probably was… Just kidding of course, to get his attention.
Anders – We received an e-mail from a regular viewer here at Woody Boater to ask the following question;
The first photo in today’s story of the Model 99 (great series) shows the boat with a NJ (New Jersey) registration number.
Where was that shot taken and do you know the name that was on the boat when it left the USA in 1988?
Anders?
Yep, as far as I know it was named Chrissie when it arrived to Sweden in 1988. The pic is taken at the Stockhoolm International Boat Show in 1995 or something…
Brian, according to the inflation adjuster web site, $1295 would be about $16,700 in 2010. Seems low to me. I was trying to find on the internet what a model A ford cost in 1930 to give some perspective. didnt find the number. I am sure the average house price was not more than say $5,000 during this period. So it was a lot of money then, relatively, although substantially below what the triples were going for.
Interestingly enough, my 1938 deluxe with a 95 hp. motor was around the same price as the 1930. So they really had deflation during that time frame to keep prices constant, given the improvements to the model.
Yes, Texx, they were trying to reach a broader market, but my sense is that while the 20’s triples tended to be purchased by the “captains of industry” type, these smaller boats went to local bankers, doctors, lawyers, etc.–those still well up the food chain. No working men need apply.
if you count the same way on the prize for a baby gar 33 – what’s the “todau-prize” for her – recalculated?
Thank you all for the numbers.
My question about the insurance was a result of myself thinking about the times of the Depression and some of the same similarities as today. Given that so few of these boats survived the years can of course be attributed to natural decay and the fact that folks do not always care for their stuff.
But, I cannot wonder given the bleak times back then and if insurance did exist, how many beautiful boats were “accidentally destroyed” in order to collect the monies in order to save a struggling business or home/farm loss.
And I find it interesting that $16k will not buy a new boat that is in the same league as one of these beautiful 99s.
I guess progress got lost somewhere along the way.
Exactly,
And since we didn’t have ‘trailers’, or even any ‘highways’ to move said trailers on…,
The boats were delivered to Marinas, where they were prepped and towed to YOUR WATERFRONT BOATHOUSE,
where they were HUNG BY THEIR LIFT-RINGS.
NOT for the working man!
Looking into the insurance question. Since all personal insurance is based on inland marine policies, at first covering goods being transported by boats, I am sure there was coverage for the boats as well. Recreational boats may have been different. Even today, boat insurance is only required in 3 states, Az. Being one of them, go figure. If you could afford the boats back then, coverge may not have been an issue…
Sorry there were a few leters missing in that last one…. transportin “goods”. & “been” different. The bottons are way too small on this phone
Repairs done Chris.
Woodyboater style
What? There was a misspelling someplace?
Who is this Miss Pelling you speak of?
Fellow Woody Boater Bob Kays from the Lake Hopatcong, NJ area did some research today on “Chrissie”…
Bob commented – It was owned by a fellow on Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey. When he was ready to sell in 1988, Wayne Mocksfield of Wayne’s Marine sold the boat for him to Hans Emron (?) in Norway and had the boat shipped there the same year. Bob is also looking in to the Hull Number.
Lovely. The boat was first shipped to the town Kalmar in Sweden, and came after some years up to Stockholm from where the present owner in Norway bought her.
Here in Europe we have had a numbers of big insurance companies dating back in the 19′ century. Their annual list of boats with owners insured by them are really nice reading if you’re searching one or another more expensive boat (read from 22′ and up…)
anders, you can use the http://www.inflationcalculator.com web site. just plug in the cost and dates and it will provide a number for you in us dollars.
Tak sa mycket.
varsågod.. 😉