Boat Buzz

Does anyone have thoughts, opinions or facts regrding the correct color for engines in fibergalss Chris Crafts. I was looking st the Spring 2007 Brass Bell where Don Ayers talked of the correct engine paint for different years. I'm assuming that the colors used in the last wooden boats would be correct for my 1971 XK19. Don agrees with this, but suggested soliciting other info.

Patrick

The Cortland, NY Corsair Division boats that I have experience with used Chevy/Chris Craft "F" series and "Q" series engines right from the company's engine division just like any other Chris Craft boat. The only difference was the added "V" at the end for the Volvo outdrive on my boats (FLV, QLV- Left Hand F or Q with the Volvo outdrive). Some boats like the 23' Lancer based Commander used a V drive and a 427 Ford sometimes to run the straight inboard prop and shaft. I can't recall the letter suffix for the V drive setup off the top of my head, but I've got it somewhere in my collection.
But the idea is that as far as I know, the engines themselves and their color are the same as in the rest of the Chris Craft fleet except for the added V on the valve cover decal and engine ID plate.

I have a 1977 23 Lancer with the original 350 GLV and it is white.

The engine has Marine Power plates not Chris Craft.

I have had the engine out several times and am sure that it was white from the factory.

I'm not suprised that your Marine Power GLV is white. This was a kind of transitional time when Chris Craft was moving toward outside power sources for their hulls. The "G" engines had less Chris Craft- specific (or Marine Pwer) or unique parts on them and had some of the pieces that were much more like the other standard engine manufacturers stuff. While the Chevy/Chris Craft Thermocon "Q" engines had a lot of good features and were designed to be easily optioned with closed cooling systems for salt water use, they would have been much more expensive to build with their many Chris Craft- specific parts.
This was also nearing the end of the Lancer's time. They would soon be replacd by the Scorpions as Chris Craft's bread and butter small sport boats. And as far as I know, when they went to the Scorpions in the very late 1970;s, they went all of the way to aftermarket power plants with Mercruiser engines and outdrives, making the transition to vendor- supplied powertrains complete.
And I think that with the end of the Corsair/Lancer line, that would have now been the end of the the Cortland, NY plant as well. I would imagine that by now, the Murray Chris Craft era, most of Chris Craft's boat manufacturing would now be in Florida. This would have been the culmination of the movement of the company's production from it's roots in Michigan to the newer properties that they had started aquiring in Florida since a short time before the sale of the company out of the Smith family to N.A.F.I. Industries in 1960.
The company had a great interest in building boats in Florida before they even knew that they probably wouldn't be building wooden boats anymore. As the company progressed through it's different ownerships I would imagine any emotional ties that anybody would have had to the company's Algonac, MI roots would have been greatly diminished. I'm sure that a move to probably cheaper labor in Florida and it's warm weather, year- round production and shipping utility would have been looked at as being a good business move. And not having to move or builda new engine plant would have been a very attractive idea business- wise.
Chris Smith has told me that the Cortland, NY Corsair plant came about after building the 1959 Silver Arrow at the Cadillac, MI plant became so troublesome. The employees there objected to working with fiberglass to the point that the company said they would build a new plant elsewhere that would build fiberglass boats and close Cadillac. He said the employees didn't seem to think that they would do that, but they did!
I do know that fiberglass cruisers were built at the old Holland, MI cruiser plant into the 1980's. It was finally sold out of the Murray Chris Craft bankruptcy auction in the late 1980's.