Banshee by Glass Magic

[Powercat]

Add for the Banshee

[Powercat]

Race version

[MN4V]

Race version

Does it have a Hemi under that scooparama?
Mark N

[mercboat]

Hi Danny.
Thanks for posting the Banshee ad and picture of the one with the twin 110's on it.
Mark,
It probably had an all aluminum Can Am big block Chevy under the hood from the looks of the Jim Hall Chaparral spoiler on the back!!!
Lakeracer99,
Yes, this is the same boat, the one Stray Cat posted. The black and white one. If somebody could move those pictures over to this thread, that would be great!!
(Listed under Glassmagic, one word, Banshee in search.)
The transom was a real bad design, not going all the way from side to side, and started to crack, so the previous owner, Scott Krutch, from Raliegh, N. C., took it apart with the intentions of redoing it right. He never finished it, so I am. I told Scott to come out and drive it at the AOMCI Tomahawk, Wisconsin event this year.
Willie's boat (The red one) has had the transom raised for a long shaft motor.
Boat72,
You have a picture of one of the E.C. Barbecues? WOW!!!. Could you post it?
I saw a picture of one of these in the book, "The Iron Fist." I wondered if there were any more out there. What is the rest of the story about these barbecues?
It will be interesting to see what this boat will do with some serious power. I am thinking of putting a nosecone on the motor because of the tunnel sponsons in the back.

[Powercat]

some photos

[Powercat]

more photos

[Powercat]

and some more

[Powercat]

last batch

[mercboat]

Thanks again, Danny.
Where did the pictures of the red and white Banshee come from?

[WATERWINGS]

why are there holes in the step?

[Powercat]

That is one that belonged to the late Beaver Tyler ..
Not sure where it wound up,
Danny Leger


Thanks again, Danny.
Where did the pictures of the red and white Banshee come from?

[mercboat]

Did Beaver Tyler have a Powercat Hydro? I thought I saw his name connected with one of those boats.
The holes are there to let the water out once the boat starts moving!!!!
There is a water chamber in the front floor of the boat, just in front of where you put your feet. It is about 10-12 inches square, and goes from side to side. It fills up with water when the boat isn't moving, and keeps the front down so the boat is immediatley on plane when you gun it!!!
Bizarre, isn't it?!!! I have some pictures in my email of the bottom half of the boat when it was split apart that show this water chamber. I'll see if I can post them.

[WATERWINGS]

Now that is some good ole fashion brain usage there........Once your hear the story, its so simple.....:thumbsup::thumbsup::cheers:

Thanks mercboat, look forward to seeing more about the boat.

[Boat72]

mercboat
I'll try to post pic, but I'll be tied up this week with boat show, not the best with scanning & such maybe I can get crewdog's help.

[Powercat]

http://www.powercatboat.com/Group/Beaver/beaver.html
There is a link that shows Beaver's boats on the page above.
He had asked me to list his Hydro for sale, and I did, then
later I found out that he had passed on. I do not know the
status of any of his boats. I do know that he had several
family members that were boaters as well so I suspect they
have ownership of what was not sold.
Danny Leger


Did Beaver Tyler have a Powercat Hydro? I thought I saw his name connected with one of those boats.
The holes are there to let the water out once the boat starts moving!!!!
There is a water chamber in the front floor of the boat, just in front of where you put your feet. It is about 10-12 inches square, and goes from side to side. It fills up with water when the boat isn't moving, and keeps the front down so the boat is immediatley on plane when you gun it!!!
Bizarre, isn't it?!!! I have some pictures in my email of the bottom half of the boat when it was split apart that show this water chamber. I'll see if I can post them.

[Backfire]

That black and white picture of 69L I posted years ago. The boat was rigged and run by Paul Hastings of Little Rock, Arkansas. He put the scoop on the deck-to force air out of the holes in the hull. He has looked for this boat for a long time, running pictures in papers, etc. The attached picture I took in 1963 at our launching ramp.
Backfire

[mercboat]

The Banshee in this picture, how did it run with the 100HP Mercury on it? How fast?

[Backfire]

Don't have a clue as to performance. Looking at the low pitch prop, I would quess more testing was in order. Also motor height has been raised (plugged holes). I do not think I ever saw this boat again-may have a few other pictures of this boat taken at the same time.
Backfire ;)

[mercboat]

Oh, I thought it belonged to you, or a friend. If you can find the rest of the pictures, please post them!!
Yeah It looks like one of those 3 blade, smaller diameter props, probalbly a 19" pitch. I have one of these on the 85HP 6 Cly Merc on the Stardust. Doesn't move that great. I need to put a 2 blade 19" on it, or go to a 2 blade 21. I think these 2 blade ones are at least 1" bigger in diameter. Make's a big difference.

[gemini]

My first race 1964 in Austin was in a Glass Magic 15' with a 100 Mercury. I also had a 14' Glass Magic but the big 15' cornered better. The factory was just south of Ft Worth and I was there several times. The Banshee had a bad rap for turning and was expensive so I never drove one. Here are a few photos of a Banshee laying in a field near me. No one around to ask the price. I did win the race, those Commando U-2's never could turn either.

[mercboat]

Yeah, there are 2 fins under the front of the boat that stick down about 2-3", separated by about a foot. That is all it has for a type of keel for turning. Probably not enough. After looking at the pictures of mine at speed (Page 1) it looks like those 2 fins are hardly in the water. I am thinking about putting 1 new adjustable fin in right between the 2 front seats that you can move up and down, kinda like a sailboat keel fin. Make the bottom of the boat surrounding the fin come up several inches in the air so water does not come in when the boat is not moving. This is far enough behind the step in the hull that it would not interfer with the water ballast system. I am also thinking about using a nosecone on a shorty 6 cyl. Merc. because the back of the bottom is a tunnel design. I wonder how the nosecone would affect the steering.
The U2 is a 3 point hydro, and needs some kind of fin to help it steer.
It does like to slide sideways, rather than turn.
It will be interesting to see how these 2 old boats handling can be improved with some more R+D, 50 years later!!!

[bentquarterpanel]

My dad Charlie Smith worked for Cook Auto in Little Rock for Charlie Cook. They sold boats and jeeps. They raced a Banshee with dual 80 hp mercs. The driver was a midget named Jerry Holland. It was red and white. They wrecked it and broke it in half. They built another one and it just would not run as fast as first one. They also built a tunnel through the front deck and even put 100 hp mercs on them. I still have a couple black and white pics of busted boat and replacement boat. I think they broke it in half at Lake Tenkiller. I also have some printed pieces out of newspaper.

[mercboat]

Let's see the pictures!!
I would like to see where it broke in half so I can strengthen mine in that area.
How did it do when it was raced?
Thanks.

[bentquarterpanel]

The boat was mainly used to run marathons. The day it got broke in half there was a cruiser out on the lake and he hit the wake and did a nose dive and it broke in half right at steering wheel. If I remember at one time they set speed record at about 65 mph with 2 engines for approx 1 week and then somebody else took it over. I don't know what class it was but I'll dig the clipping out and see if I can put it on here. I do remember they had speedmasters on it and to take off that little midget would climb up on nose to help break over.

[gratiot]

Saw your photos of the Banshee in Johnson City. It is sitting on my property and I am trying to get title the hull so I can get it off the property. The guy who "Owns" it hasn't paid any rent in many months and refuses to move it. If you know of anyone with an interest in it give them my email address

[texassix]

This may help http://www.its-titles.com/ (http://www.its-titles.com/)
looks like you need to start web site boats in fields like the cars in barns!
http://www.carsinbarns.com/index.html
Texas boy's need to help each other out.

[ironlake2]

In reference to carls barbacues ;after it was over he would start a fire under an omc motor hanging upside down from a homemade tower and burn the entire motor up to get everybody excited about selling mercs. this i remember as the funniest thing that was in the book the ironfist. if you are a merc fan and have not read this it is almost required reading. carl was quite a charcter. how many of you know about firing the coke man in the plant. that was funny too.

[Mark75H]

I had heard about the coke man about the time it happened, back in the '60's. I heard he got a week's pay in cash :cheers:

[Mark Poole ModVP]

And then.....other delivery people started just hanging around trying to let Carl see them doing nothing so they could get fired and a weeks pay!

[Bobcat Sniper]

I ended up with this boat who would be the best to tell me more I’d like to ride in one before I just start throwing parts on it

[Bobcat Sniper]

https://www.screamandfly.com/blob:https://www.screamandfly.com/2842a894-0b66-435b-9bbd-208982d24ad3
I was talking about this one (well I can’t figure out the picture thing) but it’s the red and white one that beaver had

[mercboat]

https://www.screamandfly.com/blob:https://www.screamandfly.com/2842a894-0b66-435b-9bbd-208982d24ad3
I was talking about this one (well I can’t figure out the picture thing) but it’s the red and white one that beaver had

i have the black and white one, and it is available F. S. for a G, OBO. 763-691-4598 joe.