William Black's Page

"Doug: Great Idea.  This sport is Entertainment....and there is currently an unused resource to fill in at the races...that being several "race ready" vintage unlimiteds including a couple of the dreaded Detroit boats that have the…"

"The photo was in Tri-Cities. I liked your blog about failing wood shop etc...as I am certainly NOT a pro wood worker or metal worker for that matter but as you can see with persistence and a lot of calls to the Thriftway crew we amatures in Joplin…"

"Phil,  Just as a little tease...here is the first picture of the Thriftway and GALE V together since 1956. Bill"

"Tim, As I found out taking one of these boats cross country is not cheap. I know the Seattle guys would be interested in coming to Detroit if their expenses were off set. Perhaps we could find a series sponsor for vintage unlimiteds and make the…"

"Tim, Not ALL of the vintage unlimiteds are in Seattle. The Miss US is in Detroit and my GALE V replica is in Neosho Missouri. The vintage unlimiteds have matured to the point that five or six could get together and put on a really good show. Bill"

"From what I see, the boat on the right is the 1954 GALE IV."

"That is indeed the 1954 version of the GALE V. The next year the sponson transom was changed to a more conventional configuration. I doubt this was the boat that "flipped" as that usually destroyed this type of hydro. This boat was…"