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I could write a thread just on Jack, he's quite the character. I'd finished engineering school and was not yet gainfully employed after working a summer internship. My friend had built a lakester as his senior project, and I got to know Jack at Bonneville when I went with my friend when he raced there. I started wrenching on Neb II, the liner that got jack in the 200 mph club, and he said we should build a new car to get him in the 300 club. To get in the 200 club you have to set a record over 200 mph, the 300 club a record over 300 mph. I think we started coming up with design ideas in Sept of '92, but Oct we started cutting steel. I'd show up to his shop around 8am, get to work and he'd be home from work around 4, then we'd work til about 9 or 10. The car was ready to race the next year. As Jack said, I'm probably the only guy that could put up with him, so it was a good partnership.

He more than anyone else showed me that if you have drive and vision you can accomplish anything. He didn't have much $, no fancy shop, no sponsors but he had the aritistic vision and drive to do things different than others. As he said, I can't outspend my competitors, so I have to out think them. That he has done from his early days of racing karts in the 50's, and drag racing in the 60's. Eventually NHRA rules got to the point that you couldn't be inovative and it came down to a $'s game. Bonneville was the perfect outlet for his creative energy, you have to follow safety rules, but asside from that you can be as creative as you want in the unlimited class's.

As I recall the specs on the car we built are 28' long, 28" wide and 24" high. You sit so low in the car you have to look through a parascope to see out the window. The cooling system is a tank of water that is integral to the chassis and placed behind the front wheels. We ran the water through the frame rails. I built the chassis, machined the quick change gear box and built the trailer. Also helped on glassing the body and a zillion other small tasks.

The plan was that I'd drive the car and get in the 300 club, but I managed to meet my wife shortly after we finished building the car, and while my wife was supportive of me racing, I just didn't have the time.

Jack has offered me the car, it's just I can't see competing at B-ville from AK, and I dont' have a place to park a 28' race car.

I likes it.....but of course theres not too many Fountains I dont like.

Fountains are good North Carolina boats :-). George HW bought one quite a few years ago too.

Fountain declared for bankruptcy just a few months ago, not sure whatever came out of it.

Happy b-day dude.

Thx, you rock!

I want this Fountain..

I've been thinking a skater 32 would be a pretty good way to reduce the commute to my fishing grounds.



Over 100mph with twin 300 o/b's, which actually makes for pretty good fuel efficiency. But I'm thinking my next boat will be a 28' cabin cruiser w/ twin o/b's.

Current boat not a hot rod, but I did build it myself.

it aint his damn berfday!

he was just part of the berfdays-fools gang.

april fools.

That is an awesome boat- you should be especially proud since you built it with your own hands.

The scenery in the background ain't too shabby either......

Nice looking boat! I've ridden in a lot of them on L. Michigan. They are fast, but suffer a little in the ride department in big water. They also sit VERY low in the water when sitting still, and a few of them have sunk from following wave action because of it.

I still think the best ride comes from a Cigarette; I've only owned one, a 31 Bullet. It wasn't too fast; 64 with a pair of 454's, but it was a wave crusher. If I could find a great deal on a 38' Top Gun Cig, that would be our next, and final performance boat. For the time being, I'm plodding along in the Formula cruiser at 30 knots, and fishing out of my old Starcraft and Herter's fishing boats.

If you're really serious about getting into a Fountain, I know where there's a helluva deal on a repo- it's a 42 Lightning with twin blown and intercooled 556cid's/#6 Speedmaster Racing drives. I believe they're running around 950hp a piece as set up right now. That could go up or down with a blower pulley change. I'm sure the boat breaks 100 easily, probably more like in the 120 range. Just remember that boats like these are measured in gallons per mile, not the other way around....not for the faint of heart at the gas pumps.

that's way cool!

Yeah... I checked this first this morning before I looked in the campfire.

had me, until I saw it was your befday too.

Suckered me in.

458 Lott;

Is that a Tolman Skiff? It looks very familiar. I am hoping to find the time to build the open 18 footer.

Nice work on the Jumbo with cabin. That takes LOT of man hours and dedication to finish. Kudos.

Adam

Yes it's a Tolman, but a stretched widebody w/ pilothouse, not a Jumbo. I shoulda built a 24' jumbo, but my garage is only 22'-9" long, and building a 22'-6" long boat with 1/2" verticle clearnance was a big enough squeeze. I didn't keep an accurate tally of how many hours or how many dollars (I still don't want to know). I figure 1000 hours of labor, my workspace was less than ideal which made for less efficiency.

My plan is to sell it and build a Great Alaskan, which will be 28' long with a 2' swimstep extension, so effectively a 30' boat. The current boat just isn't big enough for the 5 of us to do multi day trips and sleep on the boat, and PWS is too wet to effectively camp on the islands.

If possible I'd say go with the 20' standard, basically no additional labor, minimal material costs, and I think you'll find the added length makes it a better boat. You should be able to bang out an open skiff in a winter no problem. It's the cuddy cabin, pilothouse and all the accessories you add that triples the time over an open skiff.

Thanks for the advice on the 20' Standard. Have heard the extra length makes it ride better also.

Need to get my Hot Rod, a 1972 BMW 2002 tii out of the garage first. Just finished putting a 5 speed in it.

Take care.

Nice truck! I like.

.

Gotta love the Cruisers, My 33 year old beauty is running great but needs a bit of cosmetic work, and I'm gonna add power steering this summer. Still running all stock power, but the entire suspension has been replaced with Old Man Emu. The whole interior floor is line-X and Most everything in the engine is new. Those 410 axles are begging for a set of 33X10.50s too! The rear has an ARB so I guess I'll have to do the front, hopefully before the snow falls.

The interesting thing about a cruiser, is that if you can find a frame, you can buy all the parts to build it brand new from the frame up. I've learned over the time I've had this one, that Cruiser owners are kinda "cult like". Who would think you could buy every single part brand new. Every connecter, lock, latch, rubber moulding, gasket, sticker, screw, everything to build from the frame up brand new to this day..... for a vehicle that is as much as 50 years old!

Sweet.

el pollo loco.

the crazy chicken.