1960's Speedliner

[Roy Conklin]

Any of you old geezers gonna make it to Raleigh for the "Pete Hellsten Memorial" race??

Kristi
(the oldest Hellsten)

Sorry Kristi,

I won't be able to make it. I am on a 6 month cruise. Right now I am at Martha's Vineyard, leaving tomarrow for Nantucket. We won't return to Fort Lauderdale until late
October.

Roy

[A/B Speedliner]

Pete Hellsten

Kristi,

I would love to be there with you. I ran into Chris last winter down here in FL. Your dad and I were officers in EORC at the same time. Pete worked at Grumman at the same time as my brother and co racer worked there, he still does. Pete and my son taught at Embry Riddle at the same time also. A real small world.

If you remember my daughter Mary Ann, you were growing up together in Oakdale and Sayville we will visting with her and the grand kids while you celerbrate the life of one of the nices racers I have ever know in the last 40 years.

Best regards from Patty and I.

[Kristi Ellison]

Being the oldest I remember all of you guys as does Chris not so sure about Curt but we never are

We will be in FL racing in March if the USTS schedule works out as planned hope to see you there!

Kristi

[oldracer]

Eorc

Looks like we are having a EORC cyberspace reunion . Talk about
being scattered all over the country.

Roy, have you made it to the Mesa area lately?

See if a couple of other of the Long Island crew of yesteryear and current
will chime in.

Ye Olde Desert Geezer Al Lang

[Roy Conklin]

Looks like we are having a EORC cyberspace reunion . Talk about
being scattered all over the country.

Roy, have you made it to the Mesa area lately?

See if a couple of other of the Long Island crew of yesteryear and current
will chime in.

Ye Olde Desert Geezer Al Lang

I was out to Scottsdale last Xmas visiting my sister. Went to Vegas then flew onto Phoenix. We were only there 3 days. I can't believe how fast the eastern part of Scottsdale is building. We went to Cave Creek and could not believe my eyes. The last time I was there it was a podonk town. Now it has shopping centers and lots of homes.

Roy

[A/B Speedliner]

Aeroliner construction

Here are a couple more shots with the boat a little further along. We hope to be able to install the sides this weekend.

[A/B Speedliner]

One more

This shot should show some of our engines.

[bill van steenwyk]

My first real race boat

These pictures really bring back a lot of memories, 50 years worth in fact. I bought a Speedliner "Typhoon Jr." in 1957 when I lived in Little Rock, Ar. The complete purchase price, boat finished with 2-3 coats of varnish, all hardware, crated in a nice wooden crate and delivered to my local merc dealer in L.R. ready to race was 325.00, fgt included. As the saying goes it "was the best of times, and the worst of times", but substitute the word boat for the word times. The boat was absolutely beautiful and was very fast compared to the competition, but is was very demanding to drive and you never knew what was going to happen when you got to the corner. Everything could be exactly the same as it had been all previous laps, water conditions, driving style, etc., and all of a sudden you would find yourself pitched 30-40 feet out the right side of the boat and have no idea why. The only thing I was able to figure was that as the boat never acted that way with a 20H on the transom, but only with a B merc powerhead on a club foot (fishing unit that we had a class for and I ran for an additional class to run) that required a built up transom some 4-6 inches higher, it maybe increased the center of gravity enough that the boat would slide around the corner and then hook and pitch you in the drink. I swore that was not going to happen any more, and the next time it bucked me out I held on as long as possible to the throttle, accidently locking it wide open in the process, and after the boat unloaded me it continued on about halfway down the straightaway and then turned right and ran up on the bank about 30 feet and wedged itself between two trees, showering the person trying to shut the motor off with rocks, gravel, dirt and leaves. Shortly thereafter I found an unsuspecting buyer and finished the balance of my racing years in a various supply of hydroplanes.

Thanks for publishing the pictures, it brings back a lot of memories. Four or five years ago when USTS had a race in St. Joe, Mo. a bunch of us went to a resturant on the outskirts of town, right across the street from the Speedliner factory. Hanging above the bar was a perfect replica of my first boat and it was great to see it along with a lot of other memorabilia from the earlier years of boatracing.

[A/B Speedliner]

Photo's from Saturday

We took the frame out of the jig today at 6:30PM EDT. The next generation of Aeroliners (Speedliners) has been born. Here are a few of the latest pictures.

[A/B Speedliner]

Building the boats the same way

Yes the lighting has gotten better but look, we still use the same methods, even the five gallon cans. The boats may be fast due to the light but the old guys that hope to drive them have gained 40 to 50 pounds. So we bought a 6 cylinder stacker to equalized the equation. You can see it on the rack behind the boat.

[bill van steenwyk]

Beautiful

Absolutely beautiful craftmanship and workmanship. Any one should be proud to own one of these boats, especially with all the history the brand has in boat racing. I imagine one is a little more than 325.00 these days? Thanks again for the pictures. I especially like the way you built your jig.

[Ray Hudson]

Plans

Looking good fellas. Ray

[Guest]

The good old days

It's been so long since we have been building the old Speedliner that we forgot all the tricks of building the boat and have to relearned them again. This time were taking notes and tons of photos.The boat is being built like we build the a few decades ago. We will be bringing them to some races in Florida and hope that we will have three done buy net winter seasons. With a bit of luck we will make it back to New York and run an EORC race.The second one has been started and now its time to start making them for anyone that would like to own one. We think that they will be priced around $3450.00 with full Keller hardware finished in natural. If anyone would like them in red with the white pin strips as the 510 were built we can provide that for an additional $250.

A few weeks ago I found the original Mercury tag that cam with my first 20-H and my first Speedliner. The date was octobler 31, 1955 and I still have the engine, be it a conversion now but will soon bring it bact to the original as I still have the cowls that came with it along with the carter carb. I do need a choke assembly for the carb.

We hope to have the boat skined within the next 2 weeks so it will be ready for a water test within a month. We will run it with a whole series of A and B engines, to include a Martin 200, Champ HOT Rod, Merc 20-H, KG-4H, KG-7H, 25SS, 25XS and a couple A & B mod engines.

Were also thinking of building the boat in a 12 foot version and a 9.5 foot model. Like to run my C on it for kicks.

Alan

[A/B Speedliner]

Aeroliner construction

We finished the fram for first continuation boat built in nearly 25 years or more. The frame came in at a little over 70 pounds. We hope to save a little weight when we plane off all of the surfaces needed to match the ply wood. Here a a few of recent photo's, Alan is in purple shirt and I am in the tee shirt.

[A/B Speedliner]

Aeroliner construction

Here are some more Pic's