How Many 16' & 18' Donzi's Have Been Produced?

[Craig]

Just curious.

On the 40th Anniversary (a nice round number) anybody know approx. how many 16's and 18's have been produced since 1964 (the beginning of Donzi) ??

Question Conditions:

16' = Ski Sporters, Sweet 16's, and 16 Classic's
18' = 18-2+3, and 18 Classic

Could mention things like Baby 16's and X-18's seperately too, but I figure since they're so rare, their numbers have been covered elsewhere. I could probably just use the handy dandy "working" search feature to find out about those! It works again! Cool!

I'm sure someone has these numbers committed to memory... ;)

[Craig]

Weren't there a couple years they didn't make the 16 at all (in the 80's??)?

[Craig]

Nobody has any idea?

I thought it would be an interesting tid bit for the record books.

A lot of Donzi's literature over the years, I've noticed, makes the point that because of the quality of the boats, they never strived for real high production numbers (or something to that effect).

Also interesting (did I see this here somewhere) a statement that, with the fairly recent production halt of one of Boston Whaler's models, the Donzi 16 is one of (if not the) "longest run" fiberglass designs ever produced. Pretty Cool.

Figure there are currently about 1,000 boats registered here and (guessing) at least 500 or 600 are 16's and 18's.

If nobody knows, is there a way to find out?

[FlatRacer, aka BarrelBack]

Craig:

I don't think anybody knows, probably not even Donzi. Wasn't there some sort of lapse in their records somewhere along the line? I thought I read about something like that, but I'm not sure.
Even if the serial numbers ran sequentially and broken down by model, which they supposedly were early on, that would have been interrupted by the implementation of the federally mandated 12 digit H.I.N. numbers.
It would require some detective work by someone with access to corporate records to come up with an approximate total.
I think it would require a long time and LOTS of collector interest for that to happen.
Perhaps someday, in order to trade on the goodwill generated by the nostalgia for their old products, Donzi will have a "staff historian" like some other companies have. Or perhaps they will turn over their records archives to a museum like Chris Craft did with the Mariners Museum in Newport News, VA:

http://www.mariner.org/chriscraft/index.html

FR:p

[Marlin275]

I'll take a stab at da Math
+- 100 per year X 40yrs= 4 / 5000 best guess
Max per year 300?
Bad year 60?
How far off?

[knee deep]

I'm guessing, and only guessing that the boats were somewhat sequentially numbered from the beginning. My '68 is C18-24? which means it was the 240 somthingth 18? Someone removed the last number when they drilled the dash for, believe it or not, a compass. Of course there were alot of strange goings on at times too. I only recently realized that there are, in fact, a few '69 barrelback. Somebody left some barrelback hulls out in the back 40 on 188th street and they were finished and sold as '69s. It would be a ton of work but it would be nice if someone (wish it was me) could chronicle the whole history of Donzi.

[mattyboy]

well let's count em 1..2..3..4...5....6...ahh you missed the one on the lift 7;) sorry for the size if i made it any smaller you couldn't make the boats out

Matty

[Donzigo]

....wouldn't it be cool if someone could actually know whether one of these boats in that picture at the old factory in what 1970s, was their boat?

[penbroke]

What a great photo Matty! Any idea when it was taken?

Frank

[knee deep]

That photo is great Matty - where did you find it ? I'd love to put together a coffee table book similar to the one that is out for Chris Craft. I just don't think I have the time to assemble all the material but then.......it would be fun....

[FlatRacer, aka BarrelBack]

My '68 is C18-24? which means it was the 240 somthingth 18? Someone removed the last number when they drilled the dash for, believe it or not, a compass. It would be a ton of work but it would be nice if someone (wish it was me) could chronicle the whole history of Donzi.

Knee Deep:

My barrelback was titled as a '69. Has the story about hulls laying around the factory been comfirmed, or could it be that the boats sat around in dealerships and were titled when the dealers sold them? Each state has its own laws regarding the titling and registration of boats. Back then, most states didn't title boats, and when registering, went by the date on the bill of sale.
I've been working on a database for the barrelbacks. If you could e-mail with some more info. on your barrelback, I'd appreciate it.

FR :p
eric.tolnes@verizon.net

[mattyboy]

it's from Michael Aronow's book on his Dad Don,the king of thunder boat row
and you don't have to put a coffee table book together this book has it all.
A must have for board members! as for the time well, ya gonna have to buy the book!


Matty