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Thread: Life at Lake X in the '60s
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01-11-2013, 09:03 PM #1186Member
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"His jeans were a tad short and he was wearing penny loafers with white socks."
Mr. Willabe - you are correct on all accounts except the pants. Dad did not wear jeans nor did he allow us to wear jeans. He told our mom, that jeans were all they could afford when he was growing up and no boy of his was wearing jeans. I think Dad associated jeans with being poor. I didn't get my first pair of jeans till I joined the Navy.
As for the "shorts" comment, if Dad wasn't skiing or swimming, he was in long pants.
Thank you all for the great stories and photos, miss him all the time. Life at Lake X was great but I would have to say, best years with dad were in Italy, I used to love working on the Twister I and II with him. It sure beat him traveling back and forth between Europe and Florida.
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01-12-2013, 05:22 AM #11876000 RPM
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Remember you all lived in that massive great house next to the factory in Torriggia with a huge great balcony that jutted out into lake Como.
Roy and the kids and your mum who used to have gallons of coca cola shipped in with the parts truck.
Remember brother Bobby being over there---but i don't know in what capacity he was there.
Wyrabeck [Becky] lived in an apartment on the other side of the road.
We used to go to JOHN'S for breakfast-----i had to show him how to do eggs "over easy", after a coupla weeks he managed to get the hang of it.
My kids used to think it was utopia playing with real live american kids who talked "funny" and had gum and coke !!!!!
Wasn't all harmony though, remember my middle daughter aged about 10 getting into a rumble with one of Bobby's boys and Angelo grabbing them both and shaking them down in his best Italian/English.
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01-12-2013, 11:07 AM #1188
[QUOTE=GrewuponLakeX;2424208]"His jeans were a tad short and he was wearing penny loafers with white socks."
As for the "shorts" comment, if Dad wasn't skiing or swimming, he was in long pants.
Grewupon - I just spent the last hour searching my computer for a photo of you Dad and Jim Harkins leaning against a pickup truck. I might even have posted it somewhere on this thread....Bottom line...Your dad was wearing shorts - Steve Sirois
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01-12-2013, 11:16 AM #1189
[QUOTE=jackie wilson;2424266]
Remember brother Bobby being over there---but i don't know in what capacity he was there.
And here they just a FEW years later
Bobby & Jackie
Last edited by seeroy; 01-12-2013 at 11:30 AM.
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GrewuponLakeX thanked for this postGrewuponLakeX liked this post
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01-12-2013, 11:29 AM #1190
Kid & Grewup - Not only was your Dad a great person, engine expert, outstanding racer, and many other things, he was also a great instructor. I took these photos in Curtis Johnson's shop two or three years ago. As you can see in one photo, the other is prominently posted on the wall next to his Master Mechanic plaque. Curtis was very proud to have been trained by your Dad. Unfortunately, Curtis passed away last year.
- Steve Sirois
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01-12-2013, 02:19 PM #1191
Speaking of Roy here is an link to an interesting artical with picture of Roy - http://www.powerboatarchive.co.uk/Ma...oat%20base.pdf
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01-13-2013, 08:13 AM #11926000 RPM
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In the first picture----looking very dapper in his yellow Merc jacket is "WILLABEE"
Outside on the lake is Carlo Bodiga [Mr. Black and Decker we always called him] always had the best boat and engine but would always bottle out in a tight corner.
Great archive material. !!!!!!
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01-13-2013, 11:12 AM #1193
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01-13-2013, 05:25 PM #1194
Looks like the boat at the bottom is waiting for two more motors to be installed.
Mark N"I'ma motorboatin' sonuvabitch!"
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01-14-2013, 06:24 AM #11956000 RPM
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The Torriggia factory was originally the home of the Torriggia tunnel boats made by Jeremiah Cetti-----I bought a 16' V bottom------a 15' Tunnel and the 18' 1964 Paris boat. Put the Big cat on the roof of our Commer Campervan and Jeremiah welded supports on to the trailer, then piggy backed the other two boats. This was January and thick snow from Sussex to Como and all points in between. Nightmare journey , but no damage to anything. That was the very first tunnel hull to come to the UK.
John Merryfield had raced a Powles power cat with a pair of 35hp mercs in the boatbuilders trials earlier on in 1964 ?????? i think.
This is where the archive material the RYA in it's wisdom chucked on the bonfire would have come in handy.
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01-14-2013, 08:06 PM #1196
Two more motors .....
Unless I've got this totally screwed up, that article is 1971 and the boat you are referring to is one that Renato had built for himself to run in special events as a dual or triple. It was being rigged to run in Paris as a single!
There's a little more info about it and the race on Hot Singles, page 7.
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01-16-2013, 03:35 AM #11976000 RPM
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There was a wonderful race in Italy called 'THE RIVER PO RACE'-----you run what you brung.rules were simple-----there weren't any --no biting,spitting or gauging, if it floats-------you could run. The Italians and Swiss used to bring the most exotic machinery in the world to take part.
Renato used to run some very strange equipment indeed in this event, am pretty sure willabee would have been involved somewhere along the line.
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01-16-2013, 09:28 AM #1198
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01-16-2013, 12:53 PM #119920 Foot Switzer Wing 2 X S3000 (Dust'n the Wind II)
!6 foot Wood Eltro Vee (2X Merc 1500's) (Dust'n the Wind IV)
15 foot Powercat 15C (2 X Merc 1500) (Dust'n the Wind III)
(Single engine boats are lacking something)
15’ Wooden Switzer Shooting Star...
16 foot Lee Craft Merc S 3000-(Gold Dust II)
(The exception proves the rule)
Obsolete and Proud of it
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01-16-2013, 01:52 PM #12006000 RPM
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Find it hard to believe that you did not help Renato sort out one of his legendary raceboats.
After the 1970 Berlin race i hotfooted it down to Como and put the hydro that he had run in the river po race----strapped it on the top of the Ford station i had at the time with the idea of running up at Windermere , but sadly ran out of time, Mercury even sent one of their hot engines for the attempt.
The average speed for this event is over 100 mph and has been for many years.