Last week in San Diego I stumbled upon one of these boats and it brought back many memories. I just sat there for a long time and looked at it as old visions flashed through my head. I would love to find one of these boats for sale out here in So Ca. I see them ocassionally in Wooden Boat magazine but none are listed out here. I visited their plant outside of New Bedford once and that was a nice tour. The current price is a long way from what the originals cost. Guys always remember and want to buy again their first car (mine was a 1954 Bel Air convert) but I also remember the first boat I sailed in. It was a Beetle. I did not own one but I sure wanted to. I had a number of friends who owned them and we sailed and raced them out of Edgewood YC on Narragansett Bay in RI. Those great lazy summer days just sailing around were hard to beat. This means nothing to most of you who are not familiar with Narragansett Bay but manny times we'd sail across the Bay from Edgewood YC to Cresent Park (an amusement park). There was no dock there but a long pier, which we would tie up to and then shinny up the pilings. We would mess around in the park and have clam cakes. Man, my mouth is watering right now for some of those New England clam cakes and chowder!! We have imatation junk out here but it ain't like the real macoy you get in New England.
