Takes me back...

**wireless** · 02-04-2007, 06:55 AM

Hello All;

I just came across "Scream and Fly" while doing a Google search. I have a Merc 1500 XS in my garage - stored away from my younger days when I had the Hydrostream Viper in the attached photo.

This picture was taken when I was 15 - I didn't even have my driver’s license yet! (What I did have were amazing parents that let me exercise my passions - although convincing them that this was safe was a challenge).

Now that I will soon be turning 43, I think I am going through some type of mid-life crisis, and I am looking to get that 1500 XS back onto a hull. Not so interested in being "on the edge" any more, what I would really like to set up is a nice nostalgic tunnel package.

I don't know much about the history of tunnels though - so I'm not sure what a 1500 XS may have run on. Wasn't there a "J" class tunnel that ran in this era?

If anyone can help me with my research, I would be grateful - thanks!

**Maureen M** · 02-04-2007, 07:02 AM

Wow! Great photo!!
Welcome to Scream And Fly

**pyro** · 02-04-2007, 07:19 AM

Greg (head honcho) and Raceman (part-time Admin) are going to love this.

You've come to the right place.

**beer30** · 02-04-2007, 07:21 AM

Welcome to the board.

Chuck

**robert jordan** · 02-04-2007, 07:54 AM

now that is a cool picture,looks like it is on the edge for sure!

**Frank Molé** · 02-04-2007, 08:51 AM

get another 15

very safe boats

have fun here

**rossi** · 02-04-2007, 08:53 PM

Not to take away from the real reason for your post but that is an amazing pic, probably one of the best I've seen here...and just so you know, your not going through a midlife crisis !! Boating is like a terminal disease, it never goes away.

Welcome to S&F

**wireless** · 02-04-2007, 09:15 PM

Thank you all for welcoming me to Scream and Fly - I never expected so many gracious comments on my first day in!

I also have video of my Viper - some shot from a friend in a 16' Baja (until he couldn't keep up!) and some from my cousin, who I convinced to sit on the center mounted gas tank and shoot over my shoulder (he thought it would be cool to shoot the shoreline wizzing past at 80+ MPH - until the force of the wind hitting the side of a bulky 1980's camcorder blew it out of his hands and into the splash well - nearly over the transom!).

It's on VHS, but spending time on this forum today has motivated me to convert to digital so I can post!

**Raceman** · 02-04-2007, 09:16 PM

Welcome to S & F. I think you'll fit in real well here.

There were tunnels runnin' 1500XS's in Sport J, but seems like you'd rather do it with a Viper again. There've been a couple for sale here recently if you look around in the Hulls under 20' section. Most of the SJ boats were wood and are long gone, although there were a few glass ones made.

CrazyHorse a member here has a Comp Viper that he bought new with a 1500XS on it. Jim Hunt aka Ole Gator on the board here set multiple national records in J Production and won the APBA Nationals in Miami in 1975 in a comp Viper with a 1500J.

I've got over a dozen of em myself with one on a 16 Allison and another on an old Magnum copy. They're my favorite engine.

**Fish** · 02-04-2007, 10:06 PM

he wireless, great pic!!! Welcome to S&F, you will love it here and no, there is no midlife crisis here, just a lot of folks that love to go fast and refuse to grow up. BTW, check out some of the threads in the racing history section, there are a lot of great articles on motors and racing from your 1500xs' era.

welcome,

fish

**Capt.Insane-o** · 02-04-2007, 10:35 PM

A viper/1500xs is something I have been wanting to put together for years. Have the hull, just have'nt found a complete and reletively unmolested xs. That's an awesome picture and can't wait to see the video. The viper is my all time favorite hull.

**Frank Molé** · 02-05-2007, 09:06 AM

i have a pic..was 83 viper bought it new....

had done up 200 on it went about 98

**wireless** · 02-05-2007, 09:21 AM

Very cool picture!

I heard stories of a guy who had a "Bicentennial" edition Viper (red, white & blue plus star decals, I think) and he ran often on <st1

lace w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Zoar</st1:PlaceName></st1

lace> with a alcohol burning MOD VP or some other very hot Merc V-6. I saw it once passing me on the road, but I never got a good look at it up close.

Supposedly, he was told by Howard that a Viper should never be pushed beyond a certain threshold (something like 104 or 108 MPH) because a serious and exponentially increasing imbalance of the aerodynamics would cause it to automatically blow over.

....And if memory serves me right, this guy actually did blow his over.

Do you know if there is any truth to these stories?

**wireless** · 02-05-2007, 09:22 AM

That was Lake Zoar - don't know how the smiles got in there!

**j_martin** · 02-05-2007, 10:01 AM

Wireless,
Dont't get a boat. You'll find it is way too much fun. Then you'll want to get it to go a little better. That hole in the water into which you pour all your money eventually leads you to the poor house......where most of us are, with big grins on our faces.

Welcome to the board.

John

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