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Forrest
06-30-2004, 11:50 AM
I was talking to Bob, who is carrying on the Donzi upholstery tradition of Bilt-Rite, to order a new toneau cover for my X-18. During our conversation, I ask if he ever heard from John and Sue Harmon, the original owners of Bilt-Rite, and he regretfully informed me that John had passed away last year in Macclenny, Florida. :(

John's older brother founded Bilt-Rite Industries in Miami way back in the early '60s. Between, John, his brother, Sue, and their employees, they built every piece of upholstery for every boat that Don built. All Donzis built on NE 188th had Bilt-Rite upholstery, as did most Formulas, Magnums, Cigarettes, and others through the late 1980s. The Harmons were personal friends with Don and I would bet Brownie as well. Many of us here have talked wit John extensively and had new upholstery built Sue and him for our meticulous Donzi restoration jobs. If you wanted the traditional '60s and '70s race boat look, John was the only guy to talk to, and he would make sure that you were pleased.

Lucky for us, John Harmon personally trained Bob for months in the sweltering summer heat of North Florida to make sure that the Bilt-Rite tradition will be well persevered, and it appears that is the case.

Anyway, I made this post because I feel that John Harmon was a very important person in the shaping of the high quality powerboats that started life on Thunderboat Alley and for that reason, he shouldn't be forgotten.


PS. John did the tradational-style race bolsters for my '72 Magnum shown below:

Marlin275
06-30-2004, 01:10 PM
Great craftsmanship!
Why did donzi switch suppliers for OEM?

Speed-Racer
06-30-2004, 01:15 PM
Beautiful Boat Forrest!
Nice Interior!


Well 30 years of abuse and although in need of new, the candy stripe interior in our 1973' x-18 is still in it.

Forrest
06-30-2004, 03:49 PM
Great craftsmanship!
Why did donzi switch suppliers for OEM?

I believe it was for a number of reasons. First, after John's brother passed away, Bilt Rite Industries may have had a difficult time keeping up with the growing demand by the boat builders for upholstery products. Lead times probably became longer, and Donzi as well as others, went in-house for upholstery products. Secondly, John wanted to move out of Miami and that's just what he did when he moved to the North Florida I-10 town of Macclenny. Macclenny is a nice, slow, laid-back community, and that's just the way he and Sue liked it. There he opened up Bilt-Rite Upholstery with all of his knowledge and the original Donzi patterns in an old county-road-side gas-station/general store building. John did have an agreement to build interiors for some Superboat models right up until the end, but I remember him saying that Superboat had him backlogged and they wanted their stuff a little quicker than he could supply.

Anyway, what John really liked doing was building replacement upholstery for all of us restoring Donzis. I don't know if he ever saw Donzi.net, but he knew that it was something to do with the computer and the Internet, and that it was sending him lots of Donzi upholstery business. He also really liked it in those rare events folks would bring their Donzi by his shop for final fitment. He told me that he would UPS me my replacement upholstery for my '72 16, and all I would need to do is to place the hundred-and-some snaps in the new upholstery! "It's easy", he said, "I'll even send you the tool to do it with". And I replied, "Are you kidding? Me punch all holes in that brand new upholstery? I'm sure to screw that up!" With that, I hitched up the 16 and dragged it 150 miles up I-10 to Mcclenny and had the master do it for me. He really liked doing the final fitment and he took a ton of pictures when he was done.


Beautiful Boat Forrest!
Nice Interior!

Well 30 years of abuse and although in need of new, the candy stripe interior in our 1973' x-18 is still in it.

Thank you! It's amazing how much abuse from the sun, rain, kids, adults, and who knows what else, the upholstery in these Donzis take and still looks great for many years. Obviously Bilt-Rite used the best materials and craftsmanship was second to none. Bob now carries the tradition on at his Bilt-Rite shop in Virginia.

BERTRAM BOY
06-30-2004, 04:08 PM
Forrest,
You are absolutley right. The quality is second to none. We just got the interior for our '65 16 Ski-Sporter.
I've seen others advertised on Ebay and other places. Their quality is not as good. They don't fit as well, and the pleats don't line up.

DONZI
06-30-2004, 05:19 PM
I had always thought the man should had been honored in some way for his lifelong contribution to these boats.
He left behind some great craftsmanship of which his family should be very proud of.
A belated Gods speed Mr.Harmon. :frown:

Mr X
06-30-2004, 06:05 PM
Thats a shame.........
The good news is Bob is carrying on in good form.
I cant wait to get my new X-18 seats!!
Should be here any day!!

olredalert
06-30-2004, 07:48 PM
-------John and his brother did some contract work for me back in the late 60s and were such a pleasure to work with. They made a bunch of padded armrests for the center consoles in 68-up Corvettes. A small thing to be sure but still done perfectly like all Bilt-Rite pieces. Made good money off those little armrests too. Quality people!
-------Marios Corsican has one of Johns last interiors, and I know he will treasure it accordingly........Bill S

tmdog
07-01-2004, 10:39 AM
Presently, Bob of BILT-RITE carries on the tradition that John started. Bob did the complete interior incld. carpeting. Best upholsterer I have seen. Not cheap but get what you pay for. Pure quality.

boldts
07-01-2004, 12:01 PM
John and Sue did the complete interior for the 18' Holman Moody Classic I used to own before the 22. They took the time to ask all the right questions and return my phone calls. Not days later, but minutes later! I know a lot of businesses that could learn from Bilt-Rite including many Donzi Dealers it appears.

When my interior was finished, I received a phone call informing me that it was finished and I was asked when I could bring the Donzi down to have the interior fitted to the boat. I was just amazed that John himself wanted to take the time to fit my interior even though I was in Ohio and not just down the street from him. I explained that I couldn't do a 20+ hour drive down to FL for him to fit the interior. I had a great interior person right down the street from my home, but as I told John, wanted the interior done by the original company. Now you'd think John would say OK we're sending you the interior and you deal with getting it installed. No, John said OK, I'll ship all the needed snaps and parts to mount the seats and instructions. If your interior person has any questions or concerns, please have them call me collect and I'll be happy to work with them to make sure your interior is installed corectly!

I hung up the phone knowing I had not only made the right choice to have Bilt-Rite do my interior, but had met a business man who knew how to take care of his customers!

I haven't worked with the new owners of Bilt-Rite, but have heard similar comments about them. Made in America by quality Americans who care about how passionate their customers are about their Donzi and other boat makes are!

Thank-you and Godspeed to John Harman along with his family.

Eugene Nahemow
07-02-2004, 12:47 AM
Forrest,
Your upholstery is perfect for the Magnum.
It looks great!
Thanks for the history of Bilt Rite.

I just had Bilt Rite do the upholstery for my Donzi and all the pieces are perfect.

J&K SHAHBAS
07-02-2004, 09:08 AM
I also have had 2 interiors from builtrite , :D my V-drive corsicans is still in the box and I am speechless every time I open the box!! It will
definetly put the finishing touches to the boat. He will be missed!!!

Eugene Nahemow
07-02-2004, 10:49 AM
Ted,
The interior was around 8-10 weeks. I ordered in the winter though. I figured it would be best to order way before I needed it. Did Bob give you a completion date. He did for me and was pretty close as I recall.
Regards.

Mr X
07-02-2004, 10:51 AM
Euegene,
yes Bob told me it would be completed in 4-6 weeks max form the day I sent my money to him......that was 4-23-04. :(
I talked to Bob and he is running behind..he says another
2-3 weeks. I am sure the wait will be worth it.

guti
07-02-2004, 09:47 PM
How do you get a hold of them? Do they have a web site up? Where are they located in Florida? Thanks. SG :lookaroun

guti
07-11-2004, 07:15 PM
Bump

boldts
07-11-2004, 10:29 PM
Bilt Rite in Virginia 540-981-1711 ask for Bob

Guti, I did a search on Bilt-Rite for this information. It's a function of the website that is very useful. Welcome to the Donzi Registry :)

GeneD
07-18-2004, 08:54 AM
I can remember talking to John about the upholstery for my 18, and even though it sounds impossible, he told me he remembered making the original seats for it!
The check to Bilt-Rite was a hard one to write, but when the stuff was delivered, I realized what I was paying for...the best upholstery money could buy. I can't remember how long ago that was...but it's still in perfect condition.
The man is a legend and was tops in his industry.