1948 CC Super Sedan?

[Horstuff]

Can anybody tell me exactly what this boats real model name is? I have searched high and low and can't find any 48 Super Sedan as the salesman calls it. I have posted 5 pics at the address below (iPad can't use the image uploader)...

http://www.thebeatniks.com/cc/

Thanks very much for any help identifying this old CC. It's 28' long, and it has plywood in the cabin as wall lining, lid, and the v- berth door. I'm new to CC and didn't think they used plywood till later???

Edited: I may have found it, called the super deluxe enclosed cruiser. Could that be right?

[Chad Durren]

That's one killer boat. According to the bible, it looks to be a Super Deluxe Enclosed (1949-50). 138 built.

What's up with the white spot? Could it be a for-sale sign?

[Al Benton]

Welcome to Boat Buzz. The photos show a 1948, 27' Super Deluxe Enclosed in fairly close to original condition. This model did stretch to 28' in 1949 but the interior layout changed, moving the lounge to the port side and the galley and dinette to the starboard behind the helm seat. The hull number on this should be a C-27-xxx and xxx would be between 001 and 864. If it's a '48 the number may be in the 600's or higher.

I might add that CC went back to the original 27' model in 1951-1952 when they stretched the 28' model out another foot. The one in the photo is definitely the earlier '46-'48 model though.

Plywood was commonly used on interiors in these. Chris-Craft gained experience using marine grade plywood building boats for the war effort and put it to good use just following the war as well.

A friend here in St. Louis recently restored one of these and sold it to someone in the New England area. They're great looking classic cruisers.

[Horstuff]

Many thanks to both of you. Can you tell me what type (pre-war or post-war) of logos were fastened to the sides, and what type of flags it originally had? From any pictures I've been able to find, it's hard to tell and may look like a mix of the two.

[Matt Smith]

You guys are all wrong.. Chad was close.. Its a very rare concept boat.. ya see...after the war, Chris Craft design was headed by a guy who had witnesses one to many flash bombs in the war.. All his concepts had a white dot in them.. Thats right.. Gil Trancouski was his name.. They called him White Dot Gil... Really.. check it out.. Now...Gil, would draw what he saw..Well after a while the guys in the design dept decided maybe he was on to something, and created a line of boats.. This one must be one of those... Now here is the strange part, these are much better than the other normal ones they made.. These had BLACK holes in them.. And we all know how thats played out.. Ya just keep pouring money into the holes... So.. buy this one if its for sale.. That hole is not as deep!

[drrot]

Must be fall. Matt's hitting the "Hard" cider.

[farupp]

I had a 1949 26.5 ft. LOA Super Deluxe Enclosed Cruiser which was a little shorter but almost identical to the boat you are asking about. The interior layout was very similar to your boat, and on the hull sides were the Chris Craft name in chrome script. I have a complete set of these scripts in the proper length.

Here are some pictures of my boat:

[Al Benton]

To answer the question about logos, the pre-war Chris-Craft logo was individual letters with a hyphen. It was permanently changed when production resumed following the war to the script lettering with a star as shown on the side of Frank's '49, 26' cruiser. The lettering on the burgees changed too, blue whth letters - pre-war, red with script - post-war.

Matt, come to think of it, my boat has one of those holes in it; can't seem to pump enough money into it to make it go away. Dang!

[farupp]

The earlier post-war logos also had a separate dot over the "i" in Chris. At some point in the mid-50's the dot was cast on top of the "i" and was not separate.

[Horstuff]

Thanks to all. On this particular boat, the gauges and the little rubber step plates definitely have the pre-war logo, and I don't see the post- war anywhere. But, the burgee and side logos are missing, so I guess the burgee and the side logos would have been post- war even though the gauges and rubber step plates aren't, right? Maybe they were still trying to use up old stock?

[Horstuff]

I uploaded pictures of one of the boat's gauges and rubber steps here...

http://www.thebeatniks.com/cc/6.jpg

http://www.thebeatniks.com/cc/7.jpg

[Horstuff]

Frank,

Would you mind saying how much your boat was worth? Looks a bit better than mine and I just had a survey done today. Wondering what one in good shape goes for.

[farupp]

The million dollar question! How much is my boat worth?

I'll dig out the most recent survey I had done and send you a private message with the value the surveyor gave, which is the value he/she feels it would cost to build a similar boat. With cruisers, that value is generally much higher than it could be sold for.

Frank

[farupp]

Regarding the guages, mine had the same tachometer as yours with the older looking Chris Craft logo painted on the face. Here is a picture of the helm and if you enlarge it you can see the face of the tach and the logo.


Frank

[Al Benton]

Chris-Craft may have had a large stock pile of gauges when they stopped and turned their attention to government contracts for the war. Either that or they forgot to advise their post-war supplier their logo had changed.

[Horstuff]

Thank you all very much, all the input is a big help. When the deal closes and she's officially mine, I'll post some pics and I'm sure I'll have more questions, I'm a total newbie to all this. Thanks again.

[ccraftguy]

My 1948 29' Cruiser, after stripping,bleaching,sanding,staining and 1st of many coats of varnish.

[jfrprops]

Those are really sweet looking cruisers! Never seen any like them around here.

John in Va.