SEABUDDY
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Posts Tagged ‘gar wood’

GarWood speedboats first built wood runabouts as a triple cockpit boat in 1922. She was a 33’ long speedboat that used the hull shape and design from his race boats. This model was the famous Baby Gar. By 1927 Gar Wood added a second Baby Gar triple cockpit in a 28’ length. By 1930, these were joined in production with a 22’ speedboat. The 18’ and 25’ models came along in 1931. All these power boats were cockpit runabout speedboat models.

Wood was the boat building material of choice for all boat builders back then. Mahogany was used for planking and often oak for the framing. GarWood Boats were no different about the wood choices, just in the specific boat design details and the quality of the finished product. He and his company wanted the highest quality in all the boats that wore the Gar Wood name.

In 1935 GarWood added a 20’ utility (or open) runabout to its line of boats. This was its first utility design. More utilities were added in a 20’ length in 1936, a 18’ in 1936, and a 24’ utility in 1937. These power boats were all made of wood also.

Gar Wood, the boat racer…his first racing boat was his Miss Detroit. He bought that boat.

Gar Wood set his first boat racing world record in 1920 in the first race boat he caused to have built, Miss America. The new boat racing record was at 74.870 mph.

Wood then had a series of race boats designed and built and named II through X versions of Miss America.

These racing boats took Gar Wood to five Gold Cup race wins. Gar Wood also won the Harmsworth Trophy nine times.

In his Gar Jr. II boat, Wood beat the train up the Hudson River and another beat the Havana Special train from Miami to New York by making the run in 47 hours and 23 minutes. The train took 12 minutes longer.

Gar Wood was the first boat racer to break 100 mph on water in Miss America IX. That was in 1931.

Gar Wood, in his Miss America X, was also the world’s fastest boat racer at over 124 mph in a timed straightaway.

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The first record for this race boat, Miss America IX, was to break 100 mph barrier on the water. With its owner and builder driving, Gar Wood, she topped out at 102.256 mph in early 1931.

She then did 103.069 mph at another date in later in 1931.

In February, 1932, Gar Wood set another record pace of 112.434 statute miles an hour over the measured nautical mile in his Miss America IX.

The Miss America IX was powered with two 12-cylinder Packard motors, developing 1,200 horsepower each when first built. After about mid-April, 1931, superchargers were added to the motors that hopped them up to approximately 1,600 horsepower each.

Thus, Miss America IX set a best of 103 plus mph naturally aspirated and 112 mph plus supercharged

Pictured here is Miss America in March, 2010 afloat on Lake Dora, Fl.

Mr. Wood died in Florida  in 1971 at the age of 90.

It was a great boating experience for seabuddy to photograph such a historical race boat.