Gar Wood’s Other Boats, Part 1

By Craig Magnusson, Pacific Northwest Chapter

In March 1922, Baby Gar won the Wood-Fisher contest at the Miami Regatta with Gar Wood at the helm. Today, Baby Gars are thought of as exemplifying the beauty and speed of Gar Wood boats. But in the beginning, they weren’t intended to be production boats. This fascinating article, originally published in the winter 1997 issue of ACBS Rudder, shares brief history of Baby Gars and some of Woods other lesser known boats.

Gar Wood is best known for unlimited boats which won the Gold Cup every year from 1917 through 1921, and won or defended the Harmsworth trophy from 1920 through 1933. These hydroplanes including Miss Detroit II through V and Miss America I through X, established such dominance that a myth developed that “Gar Wood finished every race he started; and won every race he finished.”  No so.

Gar Wood’s interest was not limited to hydroplanes, and over the years he built all sorts of other boats and raced them at almost every imaginable venue. He didn’t always win, or even finish for that matter, but he sure had a lot of fun. This is the story of those “other” boats. 

1919 Gar Jr.

Gar Wood especially loved express cruisers. Whereas the race boats were used only on a few occasions, Gar Wood’s family express cruisers were raced year after year while also being used for cruising and fishing trips year round. 

Gar Wood’s first boat designed from scratch to be powered by a Liberty was Gar Jr., built during the spring of 1919 by the C.C. Smith Boat and Engine Company. Gar Jr. was really little more than a 36-foot single engine runabout with a front cabin including some enclosed space, although it qualified as an express cruiser because of its “Pullman bed” sleeping accommodation and under deck toilet. The engine compartment was decked over like a runabout, and the aft cockpit was alternately open or covered with a removable cabin top depending on the race or use.

New surplus Liberty motors were available from the government from 1919 or 1920, but huge numbers of rejected component parts and unfinished engines existed in the Detroit area where most of the production had been centered during 1918. An enterprising government inspector, Howard Grant, purchased rejected parts and unfinished engines and assembled them under the name “Grant Motors.” Gar Wood purchased a number of these spare part Liberties during 1919, repowering Miss Detroit II and Miss Detroit III for the Gold Cup. In addition, Jay Smith/C.C. Smith Boat and Engine Company marinized a Grant Liberty for Gar Jr., Probably the first completely marinized Liberty installed in a boat. 

Gar Wood entered Gar Jr. in the express cruiser race at the Detroit Regatta during September 1919 and had far and away the fastest express cruiser. The other competitors were unhappy with this runabout/cruiser, but at over 40 mph nobody could question its performance. The cruiser was used all summer, and by March 1920 the C.C. Smith Boat and Engine Company claimed that Gar Jr. had traveled approximately 8,370 miles between July 1 and November 10, 1919 with no “repairing, revarnishing, refitting, replacing or retightening of bolts.”

As was to be Gar Wood’s practice for many years, Gar Jr. was run south during fall 1919 and participated in events at the Miami Regatta during March 1920. She again won the express cruiser race, averaging 38.6 mph over the 20 mile race. Not bad for a single engine 36-foot cruiser with fore and aft-cabins, sleeping accommodations, toilet and good rough water capability.

Gar Jr. was very similar in layout and design to the late twenties Chris-Craft 34-foot commuters with their bright hulls, decked-over engine compartments, and split cabins.

After the 1920 Miami Regatta, Gar Wood sold Gar Jr. to Mr. Goodman of Goodman Investment Company, Miami, Florida. The boat was completely destroyed by fire in Miami, Florida during the early part of July 2020.

1920 Gar Jr. II

During the early 1920s, Gar Wood commissioned Chris Smith to build a much larger version of Gar Jr. to be powered by twin Liberties. The hull, without cabins, was finished in time for the 1920 Detroit Regatta, appearing to all the world as a huge runabout. Although Gar Wood was renowned at this regatta for winning the Gold Cup with Miss America I, in the photos he appears to be having more fun skippering the cabinless Gar Jr. II in the express cruiser race and in later speed trials achieving 47.6 mph.

Gar Jr. II was later finished with both fore and aft cabins with controls amidships over the engine room, and in her finished configuration was entered in the express cruiser races at Miami during February 1921. Now fully equipped, speed dropped to just over 42 mph but no one complained that Gar Wood’s biggest racer wasn’t in all sense of the word, a true express cruiser.

Gar Jr. II would become famous over the next few years for her timed runs up and down the eastern seaboard and for her regular entry in express cruiser races at various regattas. Gar Jr. II was the last of the large cruisers/commuters built by Chris Smith before he separated from  Gar Wood during 1922, and became the prototype for the half dozen or so “Gar Jr. Flyers” built by Gar Wood Inc. between 1922 and 1930.

Gar Wood’s last recorded use of Gar Jr. II was in 1925, and presumably she was sold thereafter. Later history is unknown.

1921 Baby Gar

If there is one boat that exemplifies a “Gar Wood” it would have to be the 33-foot V-drive Baby  Gars. Over 50 were built between 1922 and 1929 and the few that exist today are some of the most desirable runabouts in existence.

In the beginning, however Baby Gar was not a “Gar Wood” and was not intended to be a production boat.

Although Gar Wood was enjoying racing his Gold Cup boats and express cruisers, he felt left out when his friends raced in the runabout classes. For the 1921 circuit he created a new class with co-donor Carl Fisher, and commissioned a new boat. The new class, the Wood-Fisher, was established with rules similar to the already existing Fisher-Allison series but allowed for the use of Gar Wood’s marine converted aircraft engines including the Detroit Marine Aero 300 hp Fiats (DMA was established in 1921 by Gar Wood and Carl Fisher to convert surplus military aircraft engines, with chief engineer Jay Smith) and the Smith-converted “Twin Six” Liberties. Fisher-Allison rules only allowed “true” marine engines. Both Fisher-Allison and Wood-Fisher rules required the use of displacement bottom runabout hulls with a minimum length of 32-feet, wet exhaust, seating for four and marine transmissions. V-drives were allowed in both classes.

After donating the trophy, Gar Wood commissioned Chris Smith to build him a racing runabout capable of winning the trophy back. The result – Baby Gar, a “Chris-Craft” if you will, worked exceptionally well and won the Wood-Fisher contests both at the Detroit Regatta in 1921 and at the Miami Regatta during March of 1922. Baby Gar was 33-feet long, 6-feet 6-inches wide , powered by a Liberty and differed only in small details from later Baby Gars.

It is unknown what happened to Baby Gar but a new Smith boat, Baby Gar II, completed Gar Woods dominance of the Wood-Fisher series by winning the third-in-a-row for Gar at the 1922 Detroit Regatta, thereby permanently retiring the trophy.

1922 Baby Gar III

Not satisfied with winning his own series with the original Baby Gar, Gar Wood commissioned Smith to build a Fisher-Allison version to be raced at the Fisher-Allison contest scheduled for Hamilton Ontario during August 1922. Gar Wood knew that Liberties would not be allowed, but convinced himself that twin DMA 300 hp Fiats should qualify as standard marine engines, insofar as his company had over 500 in stock and and was selling the marine conversions as regular marine engines. However, the narrow hull Baby Gar design did not lend itself to twin shafts, so he created an amazingly complex transmission to combine both engines into a single power plant driving a single shaft. The two straight 6, 1326 CID engines set side by side in the engine compartment, angled together at the front where they both drove into the single gear box/V-drive unit. When both engines were engaged they were connected solidly together and drove the single propeller with over 600 hp. This propulsion package was heavy, weighing over 3,000 lbs for both engines and gear box, and required a taller than normal raised hatch to cover the tell engines. She was fast, though, capable of over 60 mph.

Gar Wood won the 1922 Hamilton Fisher-Allen, was protested for using aircraft engines, and later disqualified. 

Sadly, Baby Gar III, with her unique power plant disappeared after the Hamilton Regatta, never to be heard from again.

1923 Teddy/Miss Detroit VII

Teddy was designed by Nap Lisee and built by Gar Wood’s new independent boat shop during 1923 to be entered in the first Detroit Sweepstakes, a 150 mile non-stop marathon to be held during the Detroit Regatta. The Sweepstakes contest was for high powered runabouts, but the rules were more generous than either the new Gold Cup limitations or Fisher-Allison rules. Lisee’s design combined the 25-foot hull of Gar’s Smith built Gold Cup Baby Gar Jr. with a Liberty and V-drive from a 33-foot Baby Gar, locating the driver’s cockpit right at the stern. More a race boat with runabout features, than a runabout for racing. Teddy was easily the fastest boat in the 1923 Sweepstakes although her win was protested because the engine hatches blew off during the race and were not retrieved until many laps later.

Renamed Miss Detroit VII for the 1924 Detroit Sweepstakes, Teddy again won with an average speed of 48.7 mph for the 150 mile race. At the 1925 Sweepstakes, repowered with an upgraded version of Gar Wood’s 1349 CID Liberty, Miss Detroit VII appeared capable of leading the pack but broke her V-drive on the sixth lap.

Miss Detroit VII was never heard from again and some believe became the basis for Miss Okeechobee. Miss Okeechobee was also a 25-foot, rear cockpit Liberty powered V-drive racing runabout, built during late 1925 by Gar Wood, Inc. for W.J. Conners, one of Wood’s best customers. Finished in mahogany as compared to painted, Miss Okeechobee was raced regularly at Miami and the northern regattas through at least 1929 before also disappearing.

A non-running reconstruction of Miss Detroit VII was built by Bill Moran and is at the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York.

1923 Cigarette/Gar Sr.

Possibly the most outrageous express cruiser of all time, Cigarette, was commissioned by Gordon Hamersley during early 1923 and built at the Gar Wood shop in Algonac. At 70-feet long with only an 11-foot, 6-inch beam, Cigarette was little more than a stretched Gar Jr. Flyer. As delivered, Cigarette was powered by 5 Gar Wood Liberties driving three shafts. The single center engine was direct drive, with the outer four engines arranged as duplex units with a gear box/V-drive between each pair. The boat could be run on any combination of 1 through 5 engines, although not all were equipped with reverse gears. 

With necessary tankage, Cigarette’s engine room consumed more than half of the hull’s length leaving space for only a small deck salon and two narrow cabins forward.

When delivered during summer 1923 Cigarette was claimed to exceed 50-mph. However, it’s doubtful the boat ever ran for more than a few minutes at full speed considering the amount of noise generated by five enclosed Liberties, the need to change all 120 spark plugs after every sustained high speed run, and fuel consumption rates over 200 gallons per hour.

Hamersley apparently grew tired of the boat in short order and in 1925 Gar Wood build and delivered to Hamersley a standard 50-foot twin Liberty Gar Jr. Flyer also called Cigarette. The 70-foot boat was returned to Gar Wood (possibly in trade for the new boat?) and was renamed Gar Sr. Gar Wood owned the boat for the rest of his life, powered first by five, then three, then two engines extensively modified in terms of deck space and cabin layout as the years progressed.

Cigarette/Gar Sr. still exists today.

 

This story is part of a series written for ACBS Rudder. To read the rest of the story, log into your MyACBS.org account and click the resources tab. Not yet an ACBS member? Click here to join.