The Detroit Hydroplane Museum is the first museum to join our Vintage & Historic Division!!  Dave Bartush is the curator of the museum.  The grape vine works fairly well in this area, we understand that Fred Alter and Dave Bartush have acquired a 19ft Arena limited hydro hull from Lee Dixon of Santa Ana, CA., that was stored in Detroit since 1952. This is the boat, which we talked about in our last months column that had never hit the water. Dave Bartush has many Unlimited hydros at the Museum on St. Aubin in Detroit.  This definitely should be a stop on your way through the City.
For our readers who may be looking for an old 135 Hydro complete with a V8/ 60 Flathead, Racing #C12, Duane Patterson of Warsau, IN. has one looking for a new owner.
Bob Walters dropped us a letter, he felt that the Committee that put on the Clayton Regatta should be congratulated and commended.  It was just great...  He is already looking forward to the next one. 
Bill Northrop from Alexandria Bay, NY. contacted us regarding our European collectors from Switzerland and Italy.  Seems they are doing the same thing over there that we are doing here.  There has been a great resurgence of restored hydroplanes ... 30 completed so far and more restorations are underway.  Indro Manzoni corresponds with Bill and he has been keeping Bill updated as to their vintage activities in Europe. 
Just a reminder to our members, the Propeller has a great classified ad section.  It is an excellent place to sell your equipment or request vintage equipment that you may need to complete your restoration project. 
Bill DuGranrut is looking for his vintage 135 hydro which was sold to Dr. Tripplet from Corpus Christi, Texas in 1957. Never to been heard from again.  Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of Dr. Tripplet or the Hallet hull please drop us a line, so that we might be able to reunite this racing craft with it's original owner. 
Tom Townsend of Phoenix, AZ has supplied us with the pictures of his father's 7 Litre, Eight Ball which was one of our challenges from a previous article.  We will be forwarding these on to Guntersville, AL. Thank you, Tom, for your response.  Tom also tells us that he is very interested in tracking down any information and especially photos of the Italian hydroplanes of the 1950's and 60's, such as Verga  Selva  Guidottz  Castoloi Marchisio.... Surely someone out there is a storehouse of information.
We spotted "APBA Vintage & Historic Division" painted on an exhibitor's trailer at the Clayton Antique Race Boat Regatta 1994, in New York.  Do you know who this is?  Sure made us feel good! 

FAMOUS NAMES OF THE PAST:
On a sad note, Charlie Dunn of St. Augustine Florida passed away in September.  Charlie was well known in the Miami area.  He was a National High Point Champion and Competition record holder in the 266 cu. class. Charlie drove Gene Henderson's Miss Washington D.C. and the unlimited Miss Madison.  He also raced his own 280 Hurricane.

REPORTS: 
Clayton, New York. It was nice to see that Joseph Frauenheim and Ike Kielgass from the Pacific Northwest make the trek all the way to New York, with their beautiful boats a 1936 Minett Shields Shadow II and a 1948 Ventnor built Mercury respectfully.  Ed Thompson of Baltimore, MD restored the T.M. Special to perfection.  There were over 130 restored racing craft of all kinds at this event.  So many that we cannot list them in this article, but there will be a separate report published in the Propeller.  It was wonderful to see such perfection and detail in the restorations of these Vintage & Historic racing boats.  Every exhibitor deserves a round of applause! 
Believe it or not, I did finish the WA WA Too in time. We had a great reunion with driver Henry Lauterbach, Marion Ritner, Bill Ritner Jr. and his wife, and Daniel J. Murphy, Jr.  One of the highlights of the event was the awarding of the Daniel J. Murphy trophy to an individual who most exemplifies the romance and flavor of powerboat racings past.  This years recipient was Henry Lauterbach.
It was certainly nice to see Charlie Strang and his wife; Barnett Bartley, the former "Wildcatter" from Pittsburgh; Lois Tabor came up from Fort Lauderdale with a collection of newspaper articles.  Lois' late husband Roy used to race in the 48 ci hydro Class; Skip Gilliam from Hialeah, Fl.  Skip has just purchased the old Rowdy 150 ci hydroplane, which was a National High Point Champion.  We also saw Don McDonald, the Canadian 150 ci hydro former National Champion.; Freddie Brouse former 280 Pilot of Miss Valleyfield. Dick Sooy and his wife from New Jersey.  There were so many famous and notorious boat racers, officials and announcers in attendance that it is just impossible to list the names of all.  You know who you are... It was great to see your show of support for the V & H Division and the Clayton Museum.

VINTAGE HOT BOAT OF THE MONTH: 
This was a 1951 Rich Hallet design and built 135 hydroplane, that ran in excess of 100 mph at Salton Sea, CA. in 1954 while owned by Bill DuGranrut.  Photo courtesy of Bill DuGranrut from Del Hi, CA.

©1994 Tom D'Eath