Howard Pipkorn Hustler. Looking for more history.

[Michael J Giesler]

My dad's 1971 15' competition wildcat hustler v bottom

[CUDA]

I Shure would like to hear more story's about Jim and Howard and this boat. My hull is more like a Switzer Shooting Star.
Attachment 301809Attachment 301810Attachment 301811

Never saw that one

Howard Metal Flake Pipkorn

[DanUmbarger]

Hi John, My dad says he only sold Howard the wood boats...never sold him any glass models. The Venger looks identical to our Victor looking at the pics you have on your website....looks like you could take his Hustler name plate off his and put ours on and it would look like a Victor...all the way down to the raised hump on the deck and the bulge on the transom so I believe he just splashed a mold off our victor and started making his Venger. The Pipkorn Wildcat looks to be his rendition of a flatbottom/tunnel that had its starting from a Victor deck which he removed the hump down the middle and removed the hump for the windshield,redesigned the drain well and made a new bottom. My dad said he made a flatbottom/tunnel in the beginning but I have never seen one and didn't even know about it until we were talking last week. Really...I have no idea where Howard got his Wildcat design but can say for sure the Venger came from our Victor. As for the Boat house bulletin...when I was showing my dad your picture with Pipkorns name as the manufacturer he was surprised and said he had one with our name on it at one time...now I can show him your pic . I think I'm bringing back many memories for him lately

[DanUmbarger]

Hi Bill, That was a cool color...I think we might even still have a little bit of that flake left! We still have a little of quite a few colors. You are correct about the 14 footer being the first one made then stretching it a foot for the FJ class. It's funny...we seemed to change things periodically on several models then have to make new molds each time. We went through 3 changes on the Victor and 2 on the Wildcat. As for the chine walking...I think there were a couple of guys that put pads on the bottom of there boats to cure that. Kind of like the Hydrostreams and Allisons. Do you still have the boat? Post a pic if you have one....Dan

[DanUmbarger]

Nice pic!

[Hippie459MN]

I dont mean to chime in a little bit OT but here is a picture of my dads old Hustler Wildcat Comp with a Merc 850 that we had when I was a kid. Was green metal flake. I dont remember when my dad bought it but I remember him always having it and he sold it in the late 80's to my cousin and according to them, it ended up on the bottom of a river and was pretty trashed. I would LOVE to track down another one. Here is a link to a video from 1987 of us having some fun on the lake with it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgSWdPfVLOo



Love the info here and cant wait to see the boat when you start working on it.

[silverfox]

Dan
I am searching for some pictures of the boat. I will scan them and try to post if I can find. We did add some "ride plates" on the transom and that helped a lot. My cousin Joe Rainear in NJ was a dealer for the boats. He had a blue metalflake with a 100 BP on it. I think he later ran a tunnel version of the 15 footer.
Bill

[DanUmbarger]

Yea Bill, A lot of guys ran the after planes ( as we called them) and that helped stabilize the boat a bunch. I'll ask my dad if he remembers your cousin which I'm sure he will. At 83 his memory is still very sharp. The last boat I raced was a 15' tunnel with an Evinrude X115 in the UI class. That boat was a blast to drive.

[DanUmbarger]

Hi Kevin...I saw this pic along with a couple others when going back in the archives along with your video...very cool. I also spent hours last nite going thru your rebuild posts....and boy I hope my project doesn't take me as long as yours has...LOL...my dad put a 15 footer together many years ago with twin stacked Chryslers that was your green color. Was going to attach a pic but S&F won't allow .tif files so here is a stock photo.

[Hippie459MN]

All I remember was that Hustler would turn like it was on rails and it was smooth as heck going across the lake. Im sure if we had the knowledge and parts we have now back then, that boat would have been something else. All we had was an 850 bolted to the transom and it had no trim on it so you put the motor down and thats where it stayed. lol That was my first taste at performance boating. I grew up in that boat. My dad bought it in the early 70's a year or two before I was born and we had it until like 88 or 89 and then my cousin bought it from us. My dad sold it so he could finish our basement at the house and he told me for years he wished he never would have sold and he still talks about it today.

As for my vulture, I bought it being told it had the core and stuff replaced and of couse it didnt but I had my first (and only) child about 3 months after I bought it so with baby, house payments, all that good stuff, it sat for a long time then I moved twice, dealt with work stuff a few times, gotta love the trucking industry, and finally this past winter early spring I farmed it out to a good friend just to get it done and im close now but I have had some other priorities with work and buying equipment so the boat is moving slow. I have 95% of everything to get it in the water, its just the matter of finding the time.

[CUDA]

The Vulture is a GOOD family boat , safe , good over ruff water, lots of room .
Give me a Venus (had two) or Vulture V bottom, over any other stream .

I like going fast in ruff water, those two are the only streams that will cut it, safely.
Make sure you blueprint the pad.

[Hippie459MN]

The Vulture is a GOOD family boat , safe , good over ruff water, lots of room .
Give me a Venus (had two) or Vulture V bottom, over any other stream .

I like going fast in ruff water, those two are the only streams that will cut it, safely.
Make sure you blueprint the pad.

Now worries, the bottom of the boat has been all taken care of.



Ok, back on track here. lol Sorry for the OT here.

[W2F a V-King]

I dont mean to chime in a little bit OT but here is a picture of my dads old Hustler Wildcat Comp with a Merc 850 that we had when I was a kid. Was green metal flake. I dont remember when my dad bought it but I remember him always having it and he sold it in the late 80's to my cousin and according to them, it ended up on the bottom of a river and was pretty trashed. I would LOVE to track down another one. Here is a link to a video from 1987 of us having some fun on the lake with it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgSWdPfVLOo



Love the info here and cant wait to see the boat when you start working on it.

Great Video!! Better than a lot of current day videos on youtube, and that one was made almost 30 years ago!

Ha..high speed bail outs...remember those all to well. Was a good way to get an unwanted weggie...

James

[Hippie459MN]

Great Video!! Better than a lot of current day videos on youtube, and that one was made almost 30 years ago!

Ha..high speed bail outs...remember those all to well. Was a good way to get an unwanted weggie...

James

Thank you. Surprisingly I uploaded that video like 6-7 years ago. I try not to upload bad quality videos. Plus I have a really nice deal for taking old VHS and converting to digital. I have HOURS of old home movies safely stored on hard drives and my server so we dont loose them.

[FUJIMO]