A note that I got from Mr. Strang a few years back. RIP.


From: (Strang)
Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 8:34 PM
To: greg
Subject: Re: Quick OMC - Donzi Prototype Question?

Hi-
No, at OMC we never "teamed up" with Donzi in the 1970s --- but we bought the company! As CEO I got a new boat from one of our divisions every week or two-- to try it out and comment. Fortunately we lived on the waterfront!

As I -- or my wife -- recalls , we were sent an eighteen foot Donzi with a V8 outboard mounted on a Gil Bracket. I recall getting a dyno power curve for the engine showing 315 hp. The rig ran beautifully and my hot-rod wife ran the daylights out of it!

I forget what replaced it at our dock. It may have been a Fourwynnes runabout with a Cobra stern drive and a 460 hp Ford--- a NASCAR race engine of the day detained to run on pump gas. I had the boat tested and certified by the American Power Boat Association at 82 mph. My wife beat hell out of everyone on our chain of lakes with that one!
But I never saw or heard of any participation in the development or testing of any of these boats by Gerry. Jeff Titus of Florida ran the tests on the 18 footer mentioned above.
A thought --- Rick Sandstrom of Seattle knew Gerry well and may know if he ever participated in factory testing of production boats.
Good night!
Chas Strang

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