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Boat Information

11K views 54 replies 21 participants last post by  DougBallance 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi my name is Steve, I am looking for info on a Hondo that I baught. The previous owner told me it was a speed record holder in California during the early 70's. It was previously named " black power" or "Blackpower". Does anyone in here have have any info on this. When we purchased it from a friend named Frank Vonderwall it was named "Midnight Special".

Thanks for your help.
 
#5 ·
Black power

Wencome & cngrats on your new toy! Chris [church mouse] would be right! Sonny was a top competer & in the 70,s & 80,s i think a hondo dealer in reno nv. I also think your toy would value if restored like mike is doin with ray casellis,s panic mouse with the help from dave sammons & billy b! & sonny,s son racing a taf [back in black] hope this helps! Andy:)
 
#14 ·
Man....I cant find nothing about the Black power boat on the internet. The is alot about Sunny's boat the "sis"
Are you kidding me??!!! I googled "Black Power" and came up with a whole bunch of crap.... Yellow Green Facial expression Smile Emoticon
 
#31 · (Edited)
according to greg jones there was 4 black power boats and the last was a t deck. the first went to australia , the second crashed and the third which was also a straight deck was also thought to go down under but not sure on that one as the boats were sponsored by hondo and given back to them, to the best of his memory and info . I goofed at the start of all of this as I was thinking of the last one until I saw the pictures
 
#33 ·
Ok guys, I have some more pics and info.  Dave requested several pics, I hope i got what he wanted.  The boat was brought to KS by Bob Morgan, he was the distributor for Hondo in the Midwest.  Bob braught the boat here for Frank Vonerwall, the guy we baught it from.  After frank bought the boat he renamed it "********" and ran a 426 in it.  Frank raced the boat in the "unblown Fuel" class for several years.  After racing the boat he repainted again as you see it now.

Dave;

If my uncle understood what you wanted the measurement from the transom to the v drive plate is approx 94 1/2 inches.  The boat currently is equiped with a Nicson shaft log and throttle plate. The Cav plate is 1 piece.















 
#37 · (Edited)
Ok guys, I have some more pics and info.  Dave requested several pics, I hope i got what he wanted.  The boat was brought to KS by Bob Morgan, he was the distributor for Hondo in the Midwest.  Bob braught the boat here for Frank Vonerwall, the guy we baught it from.  After frank bought the boat he renamed it "********" and ran a 426 in it.  Frank raced the boat in the "unblown Fuel" class for several years.  After racing the boat he repainted again as you see it now.

Dave;

If my uncle understood what you wanted the measurement from the transom to the v drive plate is approx 94 1/2 inches.  The boat currently is equiped with a Nicson shaft log and throttle plate. The Cav plate is 1 piece.











Lots to digest here...
Thanks for the detail pictures I asked for and the measurement...
Based on what I see here, the boat was almost certainly rigged by Hondo...
1 piece plate with dumps and pick ups in the right place, wide rails, strut support with bulk head fittings, inside steering, rubber dipped battery box...throttle mounted to the floor...all identical to other Hondos I've seen from the early 70's(and exactly like the Panic Mouse)...interesting addition is the transom supports running off the stringers...the early boats had a piece of large angle bolted from the bottom to the transom...
And an early Caselli up/down pedal...
Check the open holes in the stringer under the passenger seat...one under the mount(the other one used for the seat bracket) and the 2 behind the v drive brace...bet if you measured them they would fit a 7 gallon Moon tank just about right!

94 1/2 would put the strut angle right at 8degrees(prop is a little further back than what we run now).

So...sounds like there is no question that this was a California Raceboat brought back to Kansas by Morgan(Just like the Panic Mouse)...the question is, of course...is it the "Black Power"?
Hard to believe there were too many black gelled race boats with silver above the cap and darts on the deck to match!!
The last piece of the puzzle here would be to talk to Mr. Morgan...he would surely remember what the California history would be. I will ask 540MIKEY to give him a call and ask...More info to come!!!:wink2::wink2:
 
#38 ·
Thanks Dave, my uncle is also personal friends with Bob Morgan. Maybe I can get some more info from this side.

(Side note) My uncle worked for Bob and did some work on the "Panic Mouse" while it was here in Wichita. Some of the other boats he witnessed Bob bring back was "Hot Damn", "Hurry Round".
 
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