Dixie II Model Speed Boat Museum Quality 38" Assembled

Of the four Dixie's designed by Clinton H Crane, Dixie II is perhaps the most well known. Her elder sister won the prestigious Harmsworth Trophy in 1907 and owner, Edward F. Schroeder, Commodore of the Motor Boat Club of America, then approached designer Crane to guarantee a speed of 35mph so he could defend the Trophy the following year. To get the necessary horsepower Clinton Crane, a graduate at both Harvard and Glasgow University, approached his brother Harry. A former MIT graduate, Harry replied he could build an engine developing 220hp. The brothers made a pact that If one would risk the cost of the hull, the other would risk the cost of the engine. Clinton then developed a 40ft hull design with tests indicating that 207hp would propel the hull to 35mph if the weight could be kept on target. The full-scale hull was built in planked mahogany at B. F. Wood's yard, City Island measuring 39ft 3in. with an extreme beam of 5ft 4in. Once ready she was taken across the River Hudson by truck to Bayonne where installation of the ingenious, 2205lb V-8 Crane-Whitman engine, with its hemispherical combustion chambers took place. During the initial trials in July 1908, Dixie II was soon achieving unheard of speeds of 37mph. The British challengers were Wolseley-Siddeley, owned the Duke of Westminster and Lord Howard de Walden's Daimler II with three engines totalling 525hp, both of them heavy offshore type racers. The contest, which took place in August 1908 at Huntingdon Harbour, saw Dixie II successfully defend the Trophy at an average 32.15mph, with her engine giving less than optimum rpms. After the race, she made four timed runs over Hampstead Harbour, observed by officials from the New York Yacht Club, averaging 35.75mph: a new world's record. Dixie II went on to win the APBA Gold Cup in 1908, again following up with a new world's record of 36.6mph. She successfully defended the Gold Cup in 1909 and 1910.

Metal details, prop, rudder & trim etc.

All models are handmade from scratch by skillful and experienced craftsmen. They are built according to scale of the original ships through original plans or pictures using plank on frame construction method.