• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!

    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

Not British, not a car, but car related - sort of!

Country flag
Offline
I want to share with you the pictures of an amazing boat we purchased last summer. It is a 1957 Glasspar Lido Club. I say it is amazing because when we bought it, it had last seen the water in 1966. Everything about the boat is original, with 2 or 3 minor exceptions (parts that had expired and needed to be replaced. This model was only built for 2 years. If there ever was a time capsule case, this is surely one! I say it is car related because there were also Glasspar cars for s short time!

https://s280.photobucket.com/albums/kk174/SilverghostBrits/My Classic Boats Adventure/

How do I make that link "live"?
 
Re: Not British, not a car, but car related - sort

Like ~this~

In the Full Reply menu. The box with the globe and chain link. Follow the prompts.
 
Re: Not British, not a car, but car related - sort

What a neat find. Very classic lines.
 
Re: Not British, not a car, but car related - sort

That is one sweet boat Peter, in beautiful and original condition!! I have a couple of friends into older boats and find them very akin to old cars!!

Here are a couple of pix of my friends boats. the wooden one is a 1954 Chris Craft. It is all original, including the 4 cyl. flat-head engine! The fiberglass one is undergoing restoration since the pic. was taken. I do not recall the manufacturer, but it is of 1960 vintage (even though the styling details are all reminiscent of a '57 Chevy!!)
 

Attachments

  • 12169.jpg
    12169.jpg
    33.5 KB · Views: 117
  • 12170.jpg
    12170.jpg
    59.7 KB · Views: 119
Re: Not British, not a car, but car related - sort

I can say I actually REMEMBER those things. Had an Evinrude 35 similar on beck of a 14' "skiff" we'd ski with. Hull was "lightened" of all but steering and "Simplex" control. Pulled our skinny butts all OVER Lake Erie. :wink:
 
Peter !!

Some details of this time machine boat, if you please?
For instance; how did you acquire it?
How and where was it stored all these decades?

How much restoration was required to get the boat wet.

thanks,

d
 
Re: Not British, not a car, but car related - sort

Sorry for the delayed response, spent the weekend on the water! :laugh:

Pictures will be coming, once I download them from the camera!

Dale, I found the boat on Craigslist here in Chicago. The guy we bought it from bought it from the widow of the original owner. Apparently when the owner died, the boat was just left in the garage, under a cover. When he went to see it, he said there was so much stuff piled on and around the boat, you could hardly tell there was a boat there. When he went back, all that was left in the garage was the boat, a lawn mower and a ladder!

He bought the boat, intending to use it with his kids in the summers. Life got in the way and that never happened. So he put it up for sale.

When we went to see it, it was so clean I felt it would start just by putting gas in it. I wasn't too far off. My brother-in-law is a mechanic and we took the boat to him. He looked it over and said the water pump impeller would have to be replaced as it is rubber and after all these years would be hard and not pump. We did try starting it and it did start, but ran very roughly and as predicted, did not pump water. The rough running was caused by two bad coils. Over time the coils had swollen and cracked their housings. Those were replaced, the water pump was replaced and because the lower unit was apart, he put new bearings in. The original leather wrapped ones were still there!

The only other thing we had to do was clean the gas tanks and replace the gaskets and diaphrams. The tanks have a self pressurization system and the pickup tubes have check balls in them. These were stuck, but a soak for a while in an acid solution and they were good as new!

Ran the boat this weekend, Friday afternoon and all day Saturday. It's a blast!

I am going to an antique boat show with it next weekend, that should be fun!
 
Back
Top