1966 Magnum-Donzi In Back Yard, Need Help!

[Strike]

A friend has a 27' Magnum-Donzi that we think was owned by John Mecom Jr. It is a rare single engined boat and possibly one of the first built by Don. We think it is the one on page 67 (bottom) of his book. I have a restored photo, but don't see a way to post it.
Can anyone give us more insight on this boat?

[Robert Geoghegan]

I believe there were only 4 or 5 produced. Some members of this board tracked one down in Michigan, however the owner did not want to sell it. If this is "Satin's Chariot", it's too bad someone bottom painted it!! (just saw the photos on Offshoreonly.com)
Is this boat for sale?? Please post photos!

[turbo2256]

Is it the red one in Mich?

[HyperDonzi]

Robert Geoghegan:
I believe there were only 4 or 5 produced. Some members of this board tracked one down in Michigan, however the owner did not want to sell it. If this is "Satin's Chariot", it's too bad someone bottom painted it!! (just saw the photos on Offshoreonly.com)
Is this boat for sale?? Please post photos! one of those only on OSO... :rolleyes:

[CDMA]

Could some OSO capable individual get us the photos?

C

[Marlin275]

Here it is. http://www.donzi.net/photos/cgabeler255.jpg


Sean wrote this there
"This boat is the infamous Satan's Chariot. I think only 5 were built and it's got a 7' beam. The boat was a handful at speed and that's why it was given the name. I think there are only 2 in existance today...

Very nice find!

This boat has been a hot topic on Donzi.net. In a post there, "according to Michael Aronow, Don built two for himself, two for Kiekhaefer and one for Ed Kendall. John Mecom Jr bought one of Don's Banana boats and raced in local texas races in 1968"

I thought they were all twin engine boats though..."


__________________

[Strike]

Thanks for getting the photo! The upload page had an error when I tried it. I also e-mailed it to Scott here.

[Robert Geoghegan]

Satin's Chariot is an I/O, this boat is an inboard. If this is a different boat, that means 3 of 5 have been found. 1) Satins Chariot 2)the red hull in Michigan 3) this boat.
The best information on these boats is in "Thunderboat Row", perhaps Brownie may know more???

[Strike]

Can anyone post photos of the other boats?

[RickSE]

Here's some of the old posts, from searching under "banana boat". Pictures of the other two boats have been posted in the past.

http://www.donzi.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000975#000000

http://www.donzi.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000863#000000

http://www.donzi.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=000821#000004

[seano]

well, i stand corrected...i thought they were all I/O boats...

:)

[Cuda]

When I went to check out tman's 22, there was a yellow boat at the lot that the salesman told me was a banana boat. I didn't really check it out, but I may have taken a pic of it. I'll check. It was about the right lenght.

[Greg K]

Cuda,
That boat is gone now after making a few calls. The only thing they could tell me is they sent it back to the owner and something about they didn't want to handle. So who knows where it went?

[Cuda]

Greg, did you see the boat?

[ToonaFish]

Here we go again...

http://www.donzi.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=000080#000005

and again...

http://www.donzi.net/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=002056#000000

Bunches,

Celene 'thinking the Chariot could have her own section on the Donzi.net'

[Greg K]

Cuda,
No I didn't see it, but talked to someone at the Nio Yacht group about it and that;s all they would tell me.

[Barry Phillips]

WOW thats as rare as they get, a real live Banana boat. Don only used the name Magnum Donzi for a year as part of a deal to get Magnum up and running useing the Donzi name he had already made famous. Later became Magnum Marine, the hull has only a 6' beam and a little hairy to drive, all were race versions. The current Magnum 27 used a wider beam and was closer to the Donzi 28 in concept. Now that I think about it so was everything else.

SO-SLO

[Barry Phillips]

I'm not sure if this means anything but the Banana boat pictured in Thunder Boat Row has 16 for a raceing number, hum! The beam is 6.5', just wan't to be accurate. Acorrding to Thunder Boat Row, Don built five hulls 2 for himself, 2 for Karl Kiekhaefer and one for a friend. He sold one of his own to John Malcom Jr.

SO-SLO

[Cuda]

I searched around on my computer and couldn't find any pictures of the one I had seen. I'm pretty sure it was outboard powered. Maybe Tmann saw it too.

[Sagbay32]

I was just sent 15 pics of Satan's Chariot from the seller. Asking price is $65,000.00

The boat comes with all documents and a history folder of some sorts.

Mike

http://www.donzi.net/photos/chariot.jpg