Yep, Magnum did make a little outboard tunnel hull back in the 1960's. I think it went by the name of "Missile" and maybe at one point "Maltese" as well. In fact, when we were building our 28' Maltese race boat in 1975 we visited the Magnum factory and saw several of the old tunnel hulls, or plugs, stacked in a field behind the building.
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Old performance boats gathered
- Thread starter Scotty B
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Yep, Magnum did make a little outboard tunnel hull back in the 1960's. I think it went by the name of "Missile" and maybe at one point "Maltese" as well. In fact, when we were building our 28' Maltese race boat in 1975 we visited the Magnum factory and saw several of the old tunnel hulls, or plugs, stacked in a field behind the building.
...smokin' pot.:sifone:
ChiefApache
Contributor
:rofl::rofl::rofl:
Oh, thanks Scotty. So what, you want me to relive a childhood nightmare? Thanks buddy, reeeeeeeally appreciate it.:kiss:
Back in the day of our little Missile, the biggest engine Merc built was the 125,
known then as the 1250, but the decals then were red. What engine is on the back of the one in the pic?
Here you go:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=14804296
And a short history copied from another site:
BIG BAD DONZI 02-22-2004 12:04 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Lenny: The following is the best recollection I have of the Magnum Missile saga:
When my dad came back from Europe in 63-64 he spoke about these great Molinari cats that he had seen and how great they looked, ran and handled. Fast forward to the summer of 67 when we were racing in Europe. During that time, Don once again had the opportunity to watch the Molinari cats in action and this time he ordered two to be delivered to him in North Miami Beach, either at Magnum or to one of his little work/test shops. He had spent the day with Francesco and/or Vincenzo and they had introduced him to Angelo Molinari.
To quote from the Fort Lauderdale News, January 26, 1968 by Johnny Wilson, Outdoor News Editor who had interviewed Dad - "Take one of the finest Italian-designed and made outboard racing runabouts, revise it a bit and put it through the American production gamut and what do you have? You have the new Maltese Magnum 16, a fiberglass blending of the best qualities of the world's finest racing catamarans- the original race-winning design by Molinari of Italy with improvements and solid fiberglass construction by Magnum of Miami, as proven by Don Aronow, the current world champ in offshore powerboat racing.
Aronow's newest creation (which was just released at the recent Miami Boat Show) will have it first Broward showing today, tomorrow and Sunday at Everglades Marina, where selective demonstrations will be given all three days by factory representatives.
The first American showing of this three year old Italian design was old number 888 which Roy Ridgell of the Kiekhaefer Mercury team drove to a smahing sixth overall with a single engine in the last Miami-Palm Beach version of the Gold Coast Marathon.
But Aronow saw the boats in action while he was touring Europe last summer on his way to the world driving title, and bought a couple for study. The Molinari had won the rugged 6 hour Marathon of Paris two straight years, and even Aronow was impressed. He and the Magnum development team analyzed them from stem to stern and after months of testing, revising and re-designing the twin-keel Maltese magnum 16 went into production.
Of one piece laminated high impact fiberglass, the hull has an aerogynamically designed tunnel from bow to transom and the typical "droop snoot" silhouette configuration of the top European racing rigs.
Aronow says 'She's an incomparable ski boat, a thrilling personal boat and a born to win racing boat - a finer boat than any of the champions from which she was created' ".
This article was titled MAGUNM 16: SUCCESSFUL BY-PRODUCT OF ITALIAN HULL and was printed below two black and white pictures of the Missile, one in our driveway on a trailer and one running with its Merc 125 (the 1250) outboard.
Lenny, the picture you have posted looks exactly like the Magnum Missile 16'.
A year or two later, Glastron's Bob Hammond put Art Carlson and Mr. Molinari together and they began building the Glastron-Carlson-Molinari line of small outboard cats. All three men - true powerboating legends.
To my eye, the Magnum was the winner. It was built with all of those little extras that always made Dad's boats special. It was carpeted and had those 4 comfortable back to back bucket seats and so on. Jim was not involved with Magnum at that time.
Dad had this idea of using the Missile to get from our home in Coral Gables to Magnum on 188th Street in order to avoid the daily traffic. He tried it a few times but decided a comfortable car trumped the pounding and the wetness.
I have these great shots of the Missile including my favorite with Don and Vincenzo running in the bay behind our home when Vincenzo visited.
Dad sold Magnum to Apeco (the American Photocopy Equipment Company) owned by friends Bobby and Clayton Rautbord with Clayton in charge shortly thereafter. The Missile never really got off the ground after the sale. (Socialite Sugar Rautbord was Clayton's wife)
Hope this has helped answer a lot of Missile questions.
(and Ranman, did not see your post, but thanks for the help)
Michael
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=14804296
And a short history copied from another site:
BIG BAD DONZI 02-22-2004 12:04 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Lenny: The following is the best recollection I have of the Magnum Missile saga:
When my dad came back from Europe in 63-64 he spoke about these great Molinari cats that he had seen and how great they looked, ran and handled. Fast forward to the summer of 67 when we were racing in Europe. During that time, Don once again had the opportunity to watch the Molinari cats in action and this time he ordered two to be delivered to him in North Miami Beach, either at Magnum or to one of his little work/test shops. He had spent the day with Francesco and/or Vincenzo and they had introduced him to Angelo Molinari.
To quote from the Fort Lauderdale News, January 26, 1968 by Johnny Wilson, Outdoor News Editor who had interviewed Dad - "Take one of the finest Italian-designed and made outboard racing runabouts, revise it a bit and put it through the American production gamut and what do you have? You have the new Maltese Magnum 16, a fiberglass blending of the best qualities of the world's finest racing catamarans- the original race-winning design by Molinari of Italy with improvements and solid fiberglass construction by Magnum of Miami, as proven by Don Aronow, the current world champ in offshore powerboat racing.
Aronow's newest creation (which was just released at the recent Miami Boat Show) will have it first Broward showing today, tomorrow and Sunday at Everglades Marina, where selective demonstrations will be given all three days by factory representatives.
The first American showing of this three year old Italian design was old number 888 which Roy Ridgell of the Kiekhaefer Mercury team drove to a smahing sixth overall with a single engine in the last Miami-Palm Beach version of the Gold Coast Marathon.
But Aronow saw the boats in action while he was touring Europe last summer on his way to the world driving title, and bought a couple for study. The Molinari had won the rugged 6 hour Marathon of Paris two straight years, and even Aronow was impressed. He and the Magnum development team analyzed them from stem to stern and after months of testing, revising and re-designing the twin-keel Maltese magnum 16 went into production.
Of one piece laminated high impact fiberglass, the hull has an aerogynamically designed tunnel from bow to transom and the typical "droop snoot" silhouette configuration of the top European racing rigs.
Aronow says 'She's an incomparable ski boat, a thrilling personal boat and a born to win racing boat - a finer boat than any of the champions from which she was created' ".
This article was titled MAGUNM 16: SUCCESSFUL BY-PRODUCT OF ITALIAN HULL and was printed below two black and white pictures of the Missile, one in our driveway on a trailer and one running with its Merc 125 (the 1250) outboard.
Lenny, the picture you have posted looks exactly like the Magnum Missile 16'.
A year or two later, Glastron's Bob Hammond put Art Carlson and Mr. Molinari together and they began building the Glastron-Carlson-Molinari line of small outboard cats. All three men - true powerboating legends.
To my eye, the Magnum was the winner. It was built with all of those little extras that always made Dad's boats special. It was carpeted and had those 4 comfortable back to back bucket seats and so on. Jim was not involved with Magnum at that time.
Dad had this idea of using the Missile to get from our home in Coral Gables to Magnum on 188th Street in order to avoid the daily traffic. He tried it a few times but decided a comfortable car trumped the pounding and the wetness.
I have these great shots of the Missile including my favorite with Don and Vincenzo running in the bay behind our home when Vincenzo visited.
Dad sold Magnum to Apeco (the American Photocopy Equipment Company) owned by friends Bobby and Clayton Rautbord with Clayton in charge shortly thereafter. The Missile never really got off the ground after the sale. (Socialite Sugar Rautbord was Clayton's wife)
Hope this has helped answer a lot of Missile questions.
(and Ranman, did not see your post, but thanks for the help)
Michael
MOBILEMERCMAN
Founding Member / Competitor
In the 80's when I started working on boats there was on of the Magnum tunnels in the boatel. It never moved I wanted to by it. I ended up buying an STV instead..
MOBILEMERCMAN
Founding Member / Competitor
if you jumped two more fences to the west you could have got some bales:sifone:
THEJOKER
New member
I saved that for the milling area - haha.
tommymonza
New member
When i 1st moved down to Naples in 84 from Michigan i was cruising around the Gulf in my little 18 vee when a guy came screaming up to me in a missle with a 235 Johnson.He wanted to run so ran we did.I was shocked he was able to stay with me when the going got a little rough.
Afterwards we BSed and he was a cool guy and than he asked me if i wanted to switch boats for 10 minutes.I said sure since my boat would only run 60 and was indistructable and i had never driven anything wild like his.
We ended up driving each others boats all afternnon and had a ball racing around.Reminded me of the early little 18 Skaters only couldn't take as much rough stuff as they could.
The name of his Missle was T.F. Awesome. the Missle also had the plywood insert fordeck like the 27 Sports had. Neat boat probaly was running 75-80 with the 235 with an undersized prop.
Afterwards we BSed and he was a cool guy and than he asked me if i wanted to switch boats for 10 minutes.I said sure since my boat would only run 60 and was indistructable and i had never driven anything wild like his.
We ended up driving each others boats all afternnon and had a ball racing around.Reminded me of the early little 18 Skaters only couldn't take as much rough stuff as they could.
The name of his Missle was T.F. Awesome. the Missle also had the plywood insert fordeck like the 27 Sports had. Neat boat probaly was running 75-80 with the 235 with an undersized prop.
lucky strike
Charter Member
littlenige
Charter Member
tommymonza
New member
Strakes say Cougar or Bertram or some othe Euro boat.
MOBILEMERCMAN
Founding Member / Competitor
MOBILEMERCMAN
Founding Member / Competitor
Scott sorry about the hiJack.
Did Still Crazy have power in it. I would like to see more pix of it. I recall a video them running it 20 years ago. The name was fitting. They ran it loose and fast.. They had to be crazy to run that thing at 90 mph in the ocean. The video showed a bad hop { not so bad they stopped} and they just stayed in it.. and marched on. Nearly every other team I witnessed running a 30 plowed the thing and they would not let in lunge like they did. Very Cool boat.
The middle pix above the boys are in a 30 race boat.
Did Still Crazy have power in it. I would like to see more pix of it. I recall a video them running it 20 years ago. The name was fitting. They ran it loose and fast.. They had to be crazy to run that thing at 90 mph in the ocean. The video showed a bad hop { not so bad they stopped} and they just stayed in it.. and marched on. Nearly every other team I witnessed running a 30 plowed the thing and they would not let in lunge like they did. Very Cool boat.
The middle pix above the boys are in a 30 race boat.
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