Just Wild About Woodies

By Cristina Garcia/Sarasota

They were the waterborne roadsters of the jazz age, built of mahogany, bedecked with nickel-silver fittings, powered by rumbling six-cylinder engines and capable of slicing nose-down through the chop at a brisk 40 m.p.h. But during the late 1950s and '60s, the arrival of lighter, carefree fiber-glass hulls persuaded many boat buyers that the rot-prone wooden models were a thing of the past. Gary Scherb, who spent his summers back then working in the boatyards on Lake Hopatcong, N.J., sadly recalls the time when one of his bosses ordered 40 of the wooden craft sawed into firewood.

Today that collection of "woodies," if restored, would probably be worth as much as $1 million, and Scherb, 44, is making amends -- and profits. As owner of Old Time Boat Co. of Sarasota, Fla., he specializes in lovingly rehabilitating the now precious powerboats of the 1920s through '50s. Scherb is currently restoring 18 old runabouts, for which he will charge as much as $500 a foot. At the same time, Scherb maintains 40 woodies in varnished and polished condition for their owners and conducts a growing business as a broker of the vintage craft.

As investments and status vessels, antique boats have come of age. The most sought-after models are runabouts of more than 24 ft. in length, which often contain three leather-upholstered cockpits. In mint condition, a runabout built by a prestige manufacturer such as Chris-Craft, Gar Wood or Hacker is worth $60,000.

For boats of that quality, prices are rising at least 10% annually. At the first-ever auction of antique powerboats, which took place in May in Newport, R.I., a 33-ft. Baby Gar, once owned by Chewing Gum Heir P.K. Wrigley, fetched a bid of $95,000; the current owner, Milton Merle, was asking $140,000 and declined the offer. "It's a one-of-a-kind collectible," declared Merle, a New York marketing consultant who has amassed a fleet of seven vintage runabouts.

A good, unrenovated woody is hard to find. The frame must bear the original manufacturer's number if it is to be considered vintage. Boat brokers and their scouts comb through the backwoods of Michigan, New England, Canada and even Scandinavia in search of suitable craft. The cold freshwater lakes and the long, dry winter-storage seasons in those areas make them prime hunting grounds for well-preserved hulls.

Many prized vessels have been found, dust-covered and forgotten, in old barns and boathouses. Scherb, for example, paid $750 for a 1948 Chris-Craft Racing Runabout that had become landlocked inside a remodeled tavern. (The sellers used the money to pay for a new door to the bar.) Today, in pristine condition, the Chris-Craft is worth $20,000. The competition to find such abandoned treasures is becoming increasingly fierce, since the number of still undiscovered boats is estimated to be only 8,000 to 10,000.

Nostalgia is part of the attraction. Richard Tobin, a Miami market-research executive, fondly recalls how he spent his summers speeding around a Michigan lake in the wooden craft. Nowadays he keeps several old runabouts at the same lake so he can take his family on rides and picnics. Says he: "It's a trip into the days when our cares were a little bit different." The most fervent of all collectors is probably Alan Furth, former vice chairman of the Santa Fe Southern Pacific Railroad, who has acquired 61 boats. Over the years he has sold only one.

Old-boat buffs are growing in number. The Chris-Craft Antique Boat Club has tripled its membership during the past six years, to 1,500, and owners of other brands have organized their own groups. Chris-Craft Industries, which switched from wood to fiber glass in 1968, sold most of its marine division (new name: Murray Chris-Craft) to private investors, who have set up a clearinghouse for collectors in need of old parts for their boats.

The price appreciation of antique boats, however, prompts some collectors to fear that they will be priced out of the market. Already foreign investors are bidding heavily for such boats, and manufacturers have begun building vintage- boat replicas for people who do not have the time or money to care for originals. Old-timers hope the classic boats never become too valuable to take for a spin. Says Don Price, a collector and restorer in Clayton, N.Y.: "Let's not forget that these boats are not just to look at, but to go out and have fun with!"