The U-62 Thriftway Too (on which the offered model is based) was a post-World War II unlimited hydroplane boat built in 1957 as a promotion for the Thriftway grocery stores. It was designed by Ted Jones and built by Les Staudacher and was known for its large, heavy “cabover” design with the driver sitting in front of the engine thereby giving greater visibility. It was 34 feet long and weighed around 7,800 pounds. The boat was designed to run on two engines but only ever used one Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 aircraft engine.\u00a0Despite being overshadowed by the more successful U-60 Miss Thriftway, the U-62 had a few memorable racing moments, most particularly at the 1957 Sahara Cup. In that tournament, the driver Brien Wygle beat the eventual winner, Hawaii Kai III, in the final heat. It later was painted white to match the scheme of the Miss Thriftway and continued to race in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was destroyed in a racing accident when its rudder failed, causing it to hit a Coast Guard cutter and sink. Thriftway Too was salvaged but its hull was too badly damaged, so it was not restored.<\/p>\n
Data and Statistics for the Original Boat:<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n
1957
\nU-62 Thriftway Too (USA)
\nThriftway Too, 1957 Apple Cup
\nOwner – Associated Grocers (Thriftway), Willard Rhodes (Seattle)
\nDesigner – Ted Jones
\nBuilder – Les Staudacher
\nLength – 34ft
\nBeam – 12ft 8in
\nHull – cab-over
\nDetail – horizontal stabilizer on tail
\nColours – mahogany, orange & cream
\nPower – V12-Rolls-Royce Merlin
\nWeight – 7,800
\nDrivers – Ted Jones & Brien Wygle
\nBest finish – 2<\/p>\n
Condition: Generally good, with the usual wear, handling, oxidation, minor losses commensurate with use of a model boat. Its motor and mechanical parts are no longer fully functioning; thus it is sold just as a decorative and collectible object.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" U-62 Thriftway Too Hydroplane Model<\/b> A model of the U-62 Thriftway Too hydroplane. The original full-size boat on which it is based was manufactured in 1957 and used in professional races. This model was made around that time possibly from a kit, motorized to be functional in water. It is now being offered \u00a0as a decorative and collectible model. The boat is made of stained wood with painted details. The engine cover is aluminum with riveted vents at the aft. It is fitted with a McCoy 19 Red Head engine with a liquid cooled head, which draws water from the rear and pushes it out the side of the hull through brass tubes. There are brass air intake tubes on either side of the cockpit, running to the venturi self-bailing drain via a flexible hose. It has a custom header exhaust in brass and aluminum and a brass lever towards the back for steering the rudder. The engine has a large brass fly wheel and still spins freely by hand with nice compression by feel.<\/p>\n Product description continues below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":45520,"template":"","meta":{"wds_primary_product_brand":0,"wds_primary_product_cat":0,"footnotes":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[4175,5349,6813,931,6797,870,906],"product_tag":[1022,7623,7625,148,54,879],"class_list":{"0":"post-45348","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-beach-house","7":"product_cat-graduation-gifts","8":"product_cat-maritime-history","9":"product_cat-models-miniatures","10":"product_cat-prop-rentals","11":"product_cat-toys-games-banks","12":"product_cat-boat-sports-maritime-yacht-sailing","13":"product_tag-boat","14":"product_tag-cabin-cruiser","15":"product_tag-ito","16":"product_tag-japanese","17":"product_tag-model","18":"product_tag-toy","19":"post","20":"post-with-thumbnail","21":"post-with-thumbnail-large","23":"first","24":"instock","25":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/45348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/45348\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45445,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/45348\/revisions\/45445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=45348"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=45348"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=45348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nAmerican, c. 1957-1960
\nWood, painted, with metal and plastic parts
\n25 inches long<\/p>\n