![]() ![]() Of course, you can't do that with a car, either. ![]() "We'll restore a boat and the owner may win the next show but, when you add it all up, he can't sell it the next year for what he has in it. Dick Clarke warns that an investment in a boat shouldn't be considered on a short-term basis. At the end of 1987, a tatty 21' Cobra sold at auction for over $30,000, and there is another presently on the market for $75,000, although it will probably sell for somewhat less. In 1955, a Chris-Craft Cobra sold new for under $6000, even with the optional Cadillac V-8, and you could still pick up a good Cobra in the 1970s for well under $10,000 in good condition. They also marked the beginning of the end for wooden runabouts, since they had large tail fins made from a new-fangled material called fiberglass. On a more realistic level, Chris-Craft offered a line of mahogany speedboats in the mid-1950s called Cobras, which were a waterborne version of the Chevrolet Corvette: powerful two-seaters with rakish lines. The boat remains in the same unrestored and ragged condition, but Schinnerer has several interested buyers for the boat.at an asking price of $75,000! Of course, that's an example of an expert finding a diamond in the rough, and the buyer will probably spend another $200,000 in restoration, but the result will be a one-of-a-kind investment. The stern had been sawed off, an ungainly cabin was bolted to the peeling deck, but it had once been "Miss Dee Wite II", a powerful runabout that had competed in the prestigious Harmsworth Trophy Races as well as setting the 1936 world speed record of 76 mph. Several years ago, Al Schinnerer bought a rotting mahogany speedboat for $100. I sold every one of those boats within a year to people who wouldn't ever own a plastic boat, and I wish I still had some of them to sell!" But, you ask, how can such an enjoyable acquisition provide a reasonable return on your investment? Well, let's look at some instances. "When Century Boats switched from wood to fiberglass back in the '60s, I bought up all the remaining wooden boats that I could find from other dealers, who were happy to see them gone because they thought fiberglass was the answer. Dick Clarke, manager of Sierra Boat Company on Lake Tahoe, is the leading restorer of wooden runabouts in the world, with hundreds to his credit, including more show winners that he can recall. Gar Wood ceased production in the late 1940s, Hacker survived into the 50s, and Chris Craft and Century built their last wooden speedboats in the mid-1960s. Like dinosaurs, these builders faded from the scene, some from financial woes and others bowing to the inevitability of fiberglass. Chris-Craft is synonymous with the style, and they certainly built more of the varnished mahogany speedboats than anyone, although they had literally hundreds of competitors across North America including companies such as Gar Wood, Hacker, Century, and Dodge. There is some dispute amongst collectors as to what the differences are between a classic and an antique, but any pre-World War II runabout is a collectible, as well as many that were built long after the war. Bob Speltz, whose six-edition "Real Runabouts" series of books serve as bibles and catalogs for this growing field, now sees "a lot of antique car people getting into boats, because they're still affordable." Long, lean and growling with power, these are the traditional mahogany speedboats that you probably remember from summer days at a mountain lake when they left sparkling white wakes while towing water skiers across the blue waters. Because there are far fewer classic boats available, and because ownership and restoration relies on less common skills, such as woodworking, it's no surprise that vintage runabouts took so long to catch on as a collectible product. According to Al Schinnerer, whose California company provides replacement metal castings for classic speedboats, "Collecting vintage speedboats is about where old car collecting was 15 or more years ago, and we all have tales of the cars we should have bought back then". But if you want to live grandly, you might consider the antique and classic boat field, where there is still money to be made at a rate that makes it competitive with more mundane choices. More and more investors, however, are finding ways to make investments that give them pleasure such as fine art, stamps, coins, or even baseball cards. The very word brings to mind the dispassionate purchase of stocks, bonds or mutual funds which, no matter how cleverly you manipulate them, still aren't much fun. There are investments, and then there are investments. ![]()
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