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My family has owned a Ford dealership since before the first

World War, but when I was a kid, I loved boats most. Even

as I took over the dealership and spent 40 years in the auto-

motive business, I completed a number of boat restorations

and builds. Years ago, my mother-in-law gave me a 1935 edi-

tion of a book from the Popular Mechanics Press called The

Boat Book: Everything of Interest to the Amateur Boatman.

Inside were plans to build a modified recreation boat prev-

alent in the twenties and thirties called a Gentleman’s Racer

(or Gentleman's Runabout). I loved the plans, and after a few

years of only imagining the build, I laid out a roll of paper on

the dealership’s showroom f loor and drew the whole boat,

full-size and full-scale, with a protractor, square, and com-

pass. No computer whatsoever.

MODERNIZING THE ENGINE

48 September/October 2020

THE BOOK'S DESIGN WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1931,

so I had to make a few changes. The book outfitted the

boat with a Ford Model A engine, but I had my eye on a

250 cid straight-six Ford, the same engine you’d find in

an early Mustang, Torino, or Granada.

All due respect to my Ford heritage, a Model A

motor is heav y, temperamental, and not particularly

safe in a boat—the carburetors tended to leak fuel. My

inline-six solved those issues and delivered triple the

horsepower, 120 horses compared to roughly the Model

A’s 40. However, it still fit well within the rpm range

in which the boat would be operating, and it struck a