|
The official web site of the APBA Vintage and Historic Division is run by webmaster Phil Spruit. Phil dedicates many hours to his web site as well as his beautifully restored 7 Litre MOONSHINE BABY, H-54. If you haven’t paid a visit to this wonderful and informative website you truly are missing the boat. www.vintagehydroplanes.com CHALLENGES:
EVENTS:
It all started with opening an envelope in my mailbox sent to me by my friend, Don Edwards. In it were photographs from the Lake Tahoe Maritime Museum’s July 2005 exhibit which included beautiful launches, woodies and Don’s own 1966 Hallett dragster, GOLDEN KOMOTION. The last photos in the group showed a badly wrecked 280 inboard hydro. It was a boat I knew only too well, having spent four racing seasons getting tossed about in the cockpit. “Wait a minute, this can’t be”, I said out loud. She’d been sold, crashed by the new owner and sent to the scrap heap almost thirty years ago! Staring at those glossy photos was a shock, like seeing an old friend you thought was dead and gone! Curious, I gave Don a call. He assured me that yes, the old hydro was at the 2005 exhibit, and it was considered a mystery boat. She was donated to the museum without any history and Don told them it looked like an old Rich Hallett built hull. He was tickled to hear that it was a boat I’d once raced. He suggested I give the museum’s director, Dottie, a call. I had to wait three long days until the museum was open to call Dottie. In the meantime, I was reliving those golden days of my youth during the early 70’s, racing that 1964 built Hallett. She was lightweight, fast, and pretty - a 280 in which I racked up some wins, a flip, and a hard crash. It was a very surprised and moved Dottie who heard about the family history of the old 280 hydro my late Father and Grandfather once owned. She referred to it by the faded name currently painted on the deck - the ORANGE BLOSSOM SPECIAL, but it was still QUICKSILVA aka QUICKIE, as far as I was concerned. The info Dottie shared with me about the boat was distressing. The hydro lived outdoors behind a Lake Tahoe garage for 28 years, exposed to the sun, rain and snow. The good news was that the museum wanted to part with the boat for a monetary donation. I eagerly made arrangements to see the hydro in person and drove eight hours to Lake Tahoe. Seeing her condition was a real eye opener! The right side of the hull was gone, along with the sponson. The fiberglas had peeled-off the deck and much of the running hardware was corroded or rusted. The rudder and prop were missing. But the rest was there – the orange and blue aluminum cowling, the gauges, seat, the blue anodized skid fin (with my Dad’s name stamped onto it).The 273 Plymouth, built by my Dad’s long time buddy, Hillary Govia, still had the “City Garage” decals on the valve covers. It was all sitting on the trailer my grandfather built 36 years ago. I phoned Hillary’s son, Skip Govia, and told him I’d found the boat, and saw the decals that he and his Dad had applied years ago. I was about to purchase a classic, “a racer’s dream” – the vintage boat they once drove. But, there was one more phone call I knew I had to make, and that call changed everything; to the point that I passed up that racers dream. Rewind the dream back to 1955. A brand new boat is being built by my grandfather Al Silva in his Hayward, CA. garage. Bob Denny is the hull’s designer. Bob’s plans for a 136 hull are based on his 48 hydro, MIGHTY MIDGET, designed for California’s popular single buoy turn race courses. Featuring birch plywood skins, cowlings modified from a 1950 Kurtis Kraft midget, using blue and red racing colors, the hydro is named after the family Schnauzer, SCRAPPY. The custom built racing hardware and V8-60 Ford Flathead is being built by Jim “Red” Pierson. Jim is a noted engine tuner for gas model racing planes and cars (the McCoy “redhead” was named after him). The SCRAPPY racing team will be facing a flotilla of production Halletts, which includes fellow APBA region 11 competitor and 136 class straight-a-way and competition record holder, Bob Boehm in JERKY. Fast, right off the trailer, SCRAPPY is tough to beat on single pin turns. After four years of racing hydros that were back markers, my father, Eddie Silva, finally has a winner. Now its fifty years later and I can still hear my Dad’s words, “Bobby, I wish you would have had a chance to drive SCRAPPY, she was the best handling hydro I ever drove”. Dialing the number of current owner Don Sea, I was excited at the thought of having my late Dad’s hydro, SCRAPPY, back in the family but also apprehensive Don Sea wasn’t ready to part with her. Don is the forth owner, and the one who saved the hull from a chainsaw death over 30 years ago. Following several seasons of racing her (with partner Allan Ford’s Falcon-Six replacing the V8-60), Don retired and stowed her with his other hydro, a 1947 built Tommy Hill hull, EIGHT BEAT. The stars must have been aligned and the timing right because much to my delight and Don and his wife Pat’s generosity, a deal was made- SCRAPPY was coming home! But no sooner did I get off the phone with Don Sea than I received an important email from Dottie. Another buyer was interested in the ORANGE BLOSSOM/QUICKSILVA and I had less than 3 hours to reply! I called Skip Govia and told him the situation. Knowing it was his Dad’s favorite conventional 280, Skip spoke of the memories and emotions connected with the boat, and recalled his late Dad’s words, “That hydro could still give those cabovers a bad time”. Skip knew, he had to have that boat. A call to Dottie followed and QUICKIE was coming home to the Hayward City Garage. Veteran racer and boat builder Bill Walti is doing the hull restoration, and there’s no doubt it will be a beautiful job. Skip is looking forward to building another Plymouth for the hull and once again, placing his Dad’s decals on the engine. So, the next time you casually open an envelope with some boat photos in it, remember you too may be shocked to find out that your dream is still alive, and it may lead to not one but two boats coming home. Don’t scoff; I never thought it could happen to me, either.
|
