Value of 1970 Carlson Contender?

[MercManEC]

Ive got a 1970 carlson contender...its the fancy model with windshields and chrome and all the other options it coudld of came with,ive never seen one with the windshields before...its in pretty good condition other than the seats themselves it has a turn fin on the bottom... how much money this thing is worth?...im thinking of selling it..would be with no motor.. thanks

[Islandmon]

Wish I could help you, try this website www.classicglastron.com. My guess someone there can help. Oh, just as an FYI I had the same boat after Ebko bought the molds from Carlson, mine was made in1972. Fun boat when your 16 years old .

Good Luck

Sam,

[sam]

The windshields were an extra cost accessory and are pretty uncommon, but the Contender is not extremely rare. There were a few pockets where they sold rather well.

Mine was stripped bare and needed a bunch of work and I got it for less than $200. A friend of mine got a better one for buying the motor that was hanging on the back of it. A like new Challenger (same boat in 16 ft instead of 14) with a 150XS Merc sold for $5,000 last year.

If you are willing to wait a year (or more), you might find a buyer willing to give you $3,000 or so ... quicker sale will probably require you to take half as much.

You might be able to sell the windsheilds to another Contender owner for half of what you could get for the whole boat.

There are 2 for sale within 10 miles of me.

I never heard that EBCO actually bought the molds, I always assumed they just splash copied the boat.

[MercManEC]

i forgot about that glastron site! thanks...yah fun for a 16 year old for sure haha...im more into hydros and dont have any interest in this thing anymore..i had a 1500xs to put on it but rather put it on a hydrostream...it came with a 115johnson with some weird lower unit on it couldnt figure out if its a gt115 or not...and yah im sure the windshields are worth some money but ive spent a couple years keeping the windshields safe so im not about to split them apart from the boat haha..

[LakeRacer99]

I agree with Sam, i thought Ebko was a splash. But they did have the Ebko Stinger tunnel which was a full tunnel but a differnt deck than Glastron's CT15. I think Ebko folks are still around Hastings NB if someone wanted to know.

MercMan, do you have pics of this carlson? Everyone loves pics. I'd like to see that gearcase.

[MercManEC]

heres a couple pics from when i first got it...its all cleaned up now and no motor but..as for the motor its not an electric shift sh*tbox but i wouldnt think its a race motor or anything...these **** motors dumped more fuel down the leg than they used..its cool looking though..and weighs about the same amount as the boat itself

[sam]

They definitely didn't come with tinted windshield. I would not be worrying about keeping that "original" unless its the stick on tint stuff you can pull off

[Islandmon]

For what it's worth here's a pic of my old 1972 Ebko Sprint. This was the semi-tunnel hull.

Sam,

[MercManEC]

yah i just found one for sale near me for 1500 and the transom is softer than a slug with a beer belly..no interior and it has cracks everywhere..someones dreamin up a storm on that one....but as for the windshield...it isnt a slap on tint its just that color and i think that it is original because i saw a blue contender and it had a blue tinted windshield...the same one..and in the 1970 contender ad it has that windshield as an option as well as everything else thats on my boat

[MercManEC]

For what it's worth here's a pic of my old 1972 Ebko Sprint. This was the semi-tunnel hull.

Sam,

how fast does yours go with that motor on? i thought i might put together a rat 44ci merc to atleast run the boat a few times this spring

[Islandmon]

how fast does yours go with that motor on? i thought i might put together a rat 44ci merc to atleast run the boat a few times this spring

Wow I had that boat alomost forty years ago. You have to remember GPS wasn't even a concept back then. I had a water pick up speedo and if I recall it read 46-48 mph.So my guess is that if I had a GPS on it it would be in that 45mph range.

Sam,

[MercManEC]

thats plenty fast for that boat haha....maybe do 35-40 with a 44ci on it...well see.i figure anything besides that 115 will be safe...the boat is still for sale though..dont know what to ask