“PURE ART”
1962 18′ Chris-Craft Holiday
Riley Warddrip
September 11, 2018
Owners Story
My family purchased this boat and trailer new, when I was 12…
This 1962 18’ Holiday came off the Cadillac, Michigan Chris Craft line on Nov. 27th 1961. The $3,995 original bill of sale lists both my mother and my uncle who bought it new from Marsh Marine on Lake Manawa in Council Bluffs, Iowa. This boat and its original trailer have never left our family. The picture below is of me (the current owner) driving the boat when I was twelve years old. I also have 1960’s 8mm family movies of this boat on Lake Okoboji. Iowa. If only I could have aged as well.
More than three years of loving labor have gone into preserving this family heirloom and its original Snoco tilt tongue trailer with its original baby moon hub caps.
Over 3,786 screws were carefully removed… one at a time.
The keel, stem and each frame was removed, cleaned and refastened. The boat was then painstakingly reassembled with “preservation” the priority.
Everything you see was originally installed at the factory including 100% of the interior upholstery, 100% of the top deck / interior white vinyl, and 100% of the side / transom planks. Even the four bottom lifting strakes were preserved and incorporated into a new West System bottom for safety reasons.
The 185 H.P. Chevy 283 cubic inch engine with its water cooled generator and Paragon transmission is also the factory original and has never needed to be rebuilt. The boat had 236 original hours when the preservation effort began. Even the flags, fuel dip stick, E-Z blow fog horn and hand bilge pump are the factory originals that came with this boat in 1962 and are listed on the original build sheet.
This preservation is dedicated to my uncle Art, who took immaculate care of this boat and influenced so much more in my life than just a passion for this boat,
thus we’ve chosen the name Pure Art
Owners: Riley & Judy Warddrip
Clearly this Chris Craft will now live well beyond its 57th birthday on Nov. 27th, 2018. More importantly we hope this Chris Craft will be cherished for generations to come.
Special thanks to the many talented friends who gave me so much advice and help preserving this classic Chris Craft!
I especially want to thank: Dick Daly, Al Engel, Tom Flood, Stan Peterson, Jerry Valley, Lance Wilson, Roger Wolfe and Mike Yobe
