![]() Ventnors go out the door anywhere from the high 60s to the low 90s, the average being in the high 70s to low 80s bracket. Production capacity stands at 12 boats per year, and there's a 7-month waiting list.īecause each boat is a custom, prices vary depending on how it is equipped. The 3000-pound runabout will hit about 55 to 58 mph.Įach boat takes about five months to build. A small-block Chevy or Ford direct inboard resides where the old Gray Marine or Chrysler flathead Six or Eight abided. The driveshaft angle is reduced to 12° so the boat planes dead flat. Thede uses a more current design: a modified V hull custom designed by a leading naval architect for a smooth, dry ride with responsive handling. They also rode nose high because of the steep 19° driveshaft angle. The old Ventnors had a flat bottom that beat you up pretty badly. The more than 700 exterior screws and bolts all are hand polished. The mahogany rim is made in Mexico, the steel banjo spokes come from Italy, and the shell of the hub is produced in California. To get the exact look of the original, with the horn button in the center, he uses 32 separate components, many of which he has to have cast. Thede's attention to detail borders on the fanatical. The massive 60-pound chrome-plated, solid-brass bow breastplate alone costs $1360 to cast and plate. The others use standard-length molding strips with butt joints. Thede points out that the exterior trim is one piece-that means 20-ft. Castings and patterns for all the hardware are made from the originals. ![]() Thede's improvements include $8000 worth of leather for the seats. The seats, gauges, steering wheels and the like used in boats of the 1930s and '40s did not hold up well because they were automotive components not designed for the marine environment. ![]() What originally was mahogany (deck, dashboard, interior trim) remains so. What was formerly a painted plywood hull is now gel-coated fiberglass. Play icon The triangle icon that indicates to playįrom the waterline up, today's Ventnor looks like an exact copy of the original, but with upgraded materials. Runabout in both finned and finless versions. A 50-year veteran of the marine industry, he decided to revive the Ventnor name and recreate its signature 20-ft. That would have been the end of the Ventnor story had it not been for Dick Thede. Ventnor, which had been in business since 1902 and had dominated virtually every major class in racing from the 1920s through the '40s, folded in 1968. More than 800 finned runabouts alone were constructed before the models were discontinued after 1950. A year later, a finless version of the Runabout was introduced, and both models were hot sellers. The finned fantasy captured the show's "Boat of the Year" honor, and popular demand literally forced the company to produce it. A radical, art deco-inspired craft with a distinctive dorsal-finned, beaver-tailed, torpedo stern, the boat was meant to be just a "teaser" to draw attention to Ventnor's conventional models. The original version made its debut at the 1945 New York Boat Show. ![]() One of the nicest and visually most faithful to the original is the Ventnor 20-ft. Restoring one of these vintage speedboats can cost upward of 100 grand. And, like the Stutz, these striking, hand-built wooden runabouts have become prized collectors' items. They were the Stutz Bearcats of the water in their day, with names like Garwood, Hackercraft and Ventnor.
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