Hey Gemini, you can't post a picture of a boat like that here..........

[Raceman]

without spillin' the details. I know Louis Collins, (Boat Kitten's paw in law) bought one similar if not identical several years back. Is that the boat, or the twin? Tell the story.

[Doubledog]

I posted on the Reader Rides II about giving up some more info.

[JW]

I was REAL tempted to bid on it. About a year ago, maybe more, not sure time flies faster every year...

Was an early '80's Allison with twin 2.0 Mercs, wonder if this is the same one...

[gemini]

This boat was on ebay,if anyone had gone and looked it over they would have bought it. Its absolutely race ready and looks like its 2-3 years old. No cracks,spider webs or bad wood. Lanny Loman bought it new around 1979-80 and it still has two of the cleanest low hour,consecutive serial# 2 liter motors you could find. No power trim( none of the twins had it) but it drives great. Top speed is around 100mph with 14:15 gears and 17's. Its gone thru the NOA kilos with 18-19 pitch at around 106mph. Props are tough to find since you have to use OMC left hands and Merc rights. More modern power would be fun but I think props would be impossible unless you went to 1:1 gears. I still have a, new in the box, set of counterotating SSM 14:15 units and a few spare props. A few friends have driven it and they are all smiles when they get back to the trailer. Chuck Rutherford still has his "Big Orange Marine" 20' Allison with twin 200'S. Joe Burgess drove it and won most of the races. I also have Lanny Lomans 18' Allison that competed with twin C-6's and later twin V-6's. Not enough boat for the twin V-6's. Currently its not rigged and not near as nice as the 20. Jim Hunt and I always ran the SV single unlimited class. If I had known how much fun these twins were we would have probably tried them too..... No, I couldn't have afforded it at the time, but have several interesting rides now. Enough

[CompKing]

Very cool:cool: :cool: can I be your freind so maybe I could drive it:D Looks like the current driver could use a booster seat:)

[BK]

That is an awesome boat. Great picture! Those kids are absolutely adorable too. ;)

[6Killer]

Who the hell is Louis Collins?

Six

[Raceman]

Chris, Louis was very active in the racing community in the 70's when I first got interested, both as a driver and a boat owner for other notable drivers. His son is Brad Collins, former owner of Mirage Boats.

[woodco]

Love them Ally's !!!!!! ;)

[gemini]

Thats one engine apiece for the boys in this rig. I'll have to add another seat to be fair. Wonder who will drive?

[woodco]

That is Sweet !!!!!!!!

[6Killer]

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

Six

[Rodney Nance]

Go ahead 6 tell him.

[brianT2]

hey gemini you snuck a few in on me there. hope you enjoyed the old pics, i've got a few more. a million thanks for coming through on that powerhead for my "Just Rite Jr." project. i'm starting to get a bit antsy now and were coming into our busy season at the hobby shop. i doubt i get much time to play before the end of the year. thanks again i'll be posting to you later with some photos/performance info.
MY ALL TIME FAVORITE:

[gemini]

Looks like Jim is up over the wheel,must be Miami Marine Stadium the home of non-kilo water. Where's the other boats in the race?

[Raceman]

Six Killer, here's my definition of notable drivers: There were some heavyweights in the bunch, but my memory is too bad to remember who, so rather than screw it up, I just used a generic term.

Brian, that old "Just Rite" Allison that Jim ran with the T2 was my all time favorite and it inspired my decked over Allison with the T3.

[gemini]

I had four of these,3- 16's and a 15 I set the APBA kilo record with. Two of the 16's were built by Allison. The black and blue 120 was the first,we actually ran it without a cowl till we figured out the cowl helped alot. Jim set the NOA kilo record in that boat at 96-97mph with a stock T-2, the T-2x wasn't legal. The last boat Allison created for me was a 16'in 1981-2. It was two tone blue, had a wing and all. I was going to set a V-Bottom record but sold it to a fellow in Arkansas after he saw me win a few drag races with a 2.4 on it. Couldn't turn the money down. Steve Robertson drove it for him at the APBA Kilos in 1982 . His run around 107mph put him in the Evinrude 100mph club. This boat was blown over testing in Ark. by Tom Booth and the decks and wing were gone forever in 1983. It actually turned up in Austin this year painted all black with lots of spider webs and no cowl. Too bad. The black and blue 120 boat is in Pa. somewhere painted black and gold . The orange and gray Mariner powered 16' we decked over locally to run the 1982 kilos( I went 103 in it) is somewhere in Wisc. or Minn.

[Jack]

I'm setting up a GT-20 this winter. What set back did they use with a single engine? (200 merc) Was there a lip on the pad. I've heard some had one ? Up here in the northeast an old allison is very rare.

[Raceman]

Jack, back in the timeframe we're talking here (70's) nobody ran setback. The pads were delivered straight, from the factory. There were a number of people that put a VERY small lip on the very rear, causing a slight hook in the pad only.

[175checkmate]

And dam fast too. I'll bet it turns heads.