I just Bought an F233r out of a barn and know nothing about it Help!!

[Secret F233]

Now its no Donzi But It's Mine I hear that the Formula F233's of the 60's were racing legends & its very obvious that Formulas racing heritage runs deep but know one knows about it I just Bought an F233r out of a barn and know nothing about it Help!!
there seems to be nothing on the web is there anything in your minds or on your HD's about the F233 or just Formula History
i Have read that some of the greats Got there start on f233's of the 60's IM
currently searching the web and local dealers for any old info on the racing F233's
but no luck yet!
Any information about this F233 model or even older ones would be extremely appreciated and well preserved for I am looking to restore my F233 and one day hope to show it. Since this boat seems to have had such a long life span & rich History I thought info an history would be
easy to find but its strange there is none Whats the deal?

------------------
Secret F233

[Christian]

congrats!
i hope i am not the only one on this site who wishes you well, but we are a funny bunch.
as for the 233 a nice boat would love to see pics! What type of power is in yours
the 233s do have quite a history as they were one of the 1st hunt designed hulls, and pre-runner to the big offshore stuff if i am not mistaken. I was looking at one w/2 volvos that was left in a yard for a long time but they said it was worth more to them if they scrapped it. my heart broke in two. Tell us the story of how you came to pick this one up. I am sure we will make an exception on the grounds that if formula had not existed then we may have not had donzi (maybe a little far fetched) Even the Beatles rode in a 233 #16 aronows race boat, now that’s a rare boat!!

[PaulO]

Secret F233,
Congatulations and welcome. I am also a bastard stepchild since I am the owner of a 20' cigarette. This board is full of great people who are interested in the history of all classic deep vees with real pedigrees. I am only vaguely familiar with your boat. Please post pics as soon as possible.
PaulO

[This message has been edited by PaulO (edited 06-20-2001).]

[EricG]

Congrats on the new boat. If you haven't read King of Thunderboat Row yet, if I remember correctly, there is quite a bit of info about the 233 in there....Welcome to the board, I think we can safely classify you in the Paulo, Seano, Owen, and other's "cousins of Donzi" category..

BTW - Paul - why's the boat for sale over on Offshoreonly? Moving on already?

EG

[Formula Jr]

My craft was originally found in a smoking crater on a remote ranch in Roswell, New Mexico. Twenty years later, it turned up as a Pleasure Boat sold thru Thunderbird.

Brownie will deny this of course.

I'm still tracing down the history of the 233. My guess at this point is that it is a derivitve of the original Aqua Hunter - The Hunt Designed, Wynne raced boat that followed the Bertram Moppie in the Famous 1960 Miami- Nassau Race and was the very first boat to race it with sterndrives.


Owen


[This message has been edited by Formula Jr (edited 06-21-2001).]

[PaulO]

Eric,
I don't know. Getting a little burnt out on this stuff. Maybe I need a break. We will see if I get any real offers. I am not in any mad rush to sell.......unless something else comes up!!!
PaulO

[ALLAN BROWN]

I HAD THE THIRD RACE 233 EVER BUILT. WYNNE HAD THE FIRST, ARONOW THE SECOND, I HAD THE THIRD, BILLY SHAND-KIDD (LADY DI'S UNCLE) HAD THE FOURTH, LORD LUCAN THE FIFTH, ETC. MINE WAS ONE OF THE, IF NOT THE, FIRST V-BOTTOM BOATS WITH A VEE-DRIVE. IT HAD A 400 HP INTERCEPTOR, RAN ABOUT 55 MPH, AND WAS QUITE COMPETITIVE. MY BEST RESULTS, 2ND OVERALL 1964 W.P. BCH-LUCAYA, 2ND OVERALL MIAMI-BIMINI-MIAMI, 1964, 4TH OVERALL AND 1ST CLASS II, MIAMI NASSAU, 1964. THE '64 MIAMI-BIMINI WAS WON OVERALL BY JAKE TROTTER IN A TWIN RACING VOLVO (EX-WYNNE) 233. OTHER 233 VICTORYS WERE HOUSTON CHANNEL DERBY, '65 AND ST. PETE BEACH, '65

BROWNIE

[Christian]

does anyone know where some of these old race boats are? all sold? pieced out? A 233 would be a nice resto, and seems to take the rough stuff better then the 18. i was thinking 233 w/a 500+ to a bravo or spdIII ahh if i only had more time

[Looped]

I just left a message with a buddy of mine that knows someone down in FL that has almost a museum amount of race boats that he has collected over the years. Now I guess the guy is starting to sell them. I think one guy I know up here has bought one or is about to go down there and take a look.

I’ll keep you posted once I get a call back.

Craig

[Secret F233]

Man you Guys Are great this is the most I have learned about this boat since I got it.
A few months ago I got a call from my Bro that he had stumbled on to an old Formula when I arrived to this old dusty feild & Barn Out By the Missisipi I was stunned to find this Hull shape in Glass it seemed more like a wood Hull with the classic Wave Cutter Not jumper design. The Hull is immaculate I guess they never beached it or something & who knows how long it sat in that mid moussori barn but besides some hay & spiders & a few rabbit skeletons it was all in tact the seats are like new I guess the dirt encased them from the elements it's got a 5.7l OMC Chevy block & OMC drive that someone says is a stringer drive is that good? it wont go into drive or reverse I have tried by hand but still not someone told me the clutch wont engage if the oilpump in the bottom of the lower unit is not getting power Sounds Good But I guess I'll have to tear it down? over all this is a $8-&10,0000 boat after a clean up IM working on the photos today it came with a full enclosure bimini top window to swimplatform its so nice,potty, All original Interior NO Rips,VHF,Stereo, shorelander Trailer, Danforth, 2 batts 1 working & Cuddy mattress All for $1,500 o yes it was a steal the guy didn't know anything about boats it was there when he inherited the place so man that was lucky. if you check out boattrader.com search for formula 23' there are some there cuddys, interceptors, center console's & even a hard top so there are some out there!!

Please for future genarations we owe it to eachother & the future to keep this Classic deepvee world afloat please send what ever you might have not to take away from this fabulous site but I Asked HR & Marketing @ thunderbird About AN reg. site & they were not interested But sent me some original brochures from the 74-80 period + what I have been gathering from you all would make a starter site for the F233. Plus if I really want to try to show this thing I need some more documentation & history for the Shows & My Inspiration thanks everyone for a warm welcome here at the Donzi site please share what you can let's not let it slip away forever. It really is true "Donzi Breaths Class"!!!

Brownie: wow that's to cool about the racing do you Have any Photos You Could Scan in & sharewith us of your Racing days email below i'll putem on the 233 site?

Craig: defiantly let me Know About you buddies Racers my bro & I Would Love To get into that.

EG: Going to get the book tonight Thanks Man!

Paulo: IM starting to understand that I really do have a little piece of History here Photos are on the way as soon as the rain clears.

Christian; thank you for the welcome and bit of history I think I saw that 233 w twins on line in Fla.? makes me wonder if I could cram a 502 in!

Owen: thank you aswell i had no Idea that 1960 race was the first race w sterns are there any photos of that kind stuff out there?

thanks again all,
chrisoldfather@hotmail.com
( AKA Secret F233)

[This message has been edited by Secret F233 (edited 06-21-2001).]

[harbormaster]

For all we know this is just a hoax until we can see som pictures of you with your new boat http://www.donzi.net/ubb/biggrin.gif

[Looped]

Turns out this guy with the old race boats lives in Ft. Lauderdale and they are being sold as a private sale with no Website to view them. I did not find out what types of boats they are but my buddy told me that most of them were boats that he raced himself (so he thought). If you are really interested in something like this, I can dig deeper and get the guys name and number but I don’t think that he wants the world calling him with dreamers looking for a joy ride in any of them. The actual guy that I know that went down there last fall I have not been able to talk to about this so it is still third hand to me.

Craig
mailto:looped18classic@hotmail.comlooped18classic@ hotmail.com</A>

[Secret F233]

How the heck do i get those pik in here i can't seem to right click & paste them in so?
not just mine but i found Satins Chariot the 28' Donzi Offshore Racer from 1967 for 125,000 in palm beach if you wild stalions would be interested the dealer sent me about 6 nice piks i was going to post them but no luck yet

[This message has been edited by Secret F233 (edited 06-22-2001).]

[Looped]

Secret F233,
You need to copy the pictures onto a Website that can be accessed over the Internet not by doing a copy/paste from a picture on your PC on to the posting board of Donzi.net. Once you have the picture out in the Internet you need to type out the link to it with these brackets and commands on either side of it like this:
http://www.donzi.net/ubb/dtalk.jpg
The key is to make sure that you do not have any spaces in between the characters. Without the spaces it will come out like this:
http://www.donzi.net/ubb/dtalk.jpg

Craig

[harbormaster]

Guys,
You need to check posting "post you own photos".

[Formula Jr]

http://www.epud.net/~owen/23364formula.jpg