![]() ![]() Mackerer’s team collected design ideas and styling cues from Don Mortrude, a freelance Chris-Craft industrial designer. By then it was clear that sales and image required forward-looking styling. That runabout’s production stopped in 1954. Mackerer had successfully designed a hull that was introduced in 1948 for the 19-foot Racing Runabout, known as Chris-Craft’s “sports car” boat. Mackerer led the Chris-Craft naval architecture team. Profit from other Chris-Craft models would have to cover any Cobra production losses.Īt the time, A.W. At each major boat show, Chris-Craft wanted kids stopping in awe, women remembering its elegance, and men absolutely in a “gotta-have-that-boat” mindset. This Cobra model created a halo-vehicle for Chris-Craft and the entire boating industry. For Chris-Craft it was a limited and definitely risky venture. And then there was the inclusion of high-end wood and vinyl finishes that made the boat more exotic. The prominent gold fin got it the way of a waterski line, making the boat even more impractical. In fact, its single row of seating (rare except for race boats) wasn’t the only issue. Compared with an open cockpit that has two rows of seats that can sit more people, the single row of a Chris-Craft Cobra limits its usefulness. The seats are gold vinyl for three or four passengers to sit in one row. A floor shifter provides access to forward, neutral, and reverse gears. The interior has a special alligator pattern dashboard and a “crash pad” cockpit surrounds it. The hull is carvel-planked with the planks color matched and tightly fitted to each other. The deck planking has white accent striping. She has a proud “bull nose” shaped bow that sits high and bold and shines in the sun.įrom the bow she tapers to an extended, very low aft-end stern station. Next is the woodwork that’s bright-finished as a stained and varnished piano. It was Chris-Craft’s first attempt to incorporate the streamlined look of post-war airplane design coupled with the use of fiberglass on its wooden boat runabout lineup. The metallic gold fin is the first to catch the crowd’s eye and dominates the boat and the booth at any show. The Cobra’s lines are so captivating that they stand up well in this less-than-artful presentation. In other words, the boat is out of her element since she’s designed to be seen on the water. When entered into a show, a boat is usually land-displayed on a trailer. Only produced in 1955, the Cobras were rare. Two boat shows where that occurred would have been in New York City (1955) and most recently in the recent Annapolis Powerboat Boat Show (2019) in the booth sponsored by the Chesapeake Bay Chapter of the Antique and Classic Boat Society. Boaters’ heads turn whenever a Chris-Craft Cobra runabout is on display.
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