Re: I need some help with Terry Bass Boat history..please?
Ok, Spence here we go with some more answers to your original posting:
Did Terry/Delhi go out of business, or what?
As mentioned in my previous post, they did go out of business per-say. Woolworth's, the parent company, stopped the fiberglass line. For your info Woolworth's also owned a company called "Woodstream". They were/are the makers of Victor Mouse traps plus the world's largest line of fur and big animal traps sold world wide.
As for seeing hulls that looked like Terry's, this is quite possible or maybe even probable. Many smaller bass boat companies got into business by "splashing" (copying) another company's hull. This saved thousands of dollars in design and tooling and I never heard of anyone getting proscecuted for it. I know of at least 2 companies who splashed our hulls. If you take them to court they immediately file bankruptcy and are gone. Only to pop up later under another company name. The state of Louisiana is full of "garage" boat companies who make one at a time and are often without Coast Guard or BIA certification, OR manufacturer's liability insurance.
Our aluminum boats were the biggest sellers nationally and as I said earlier, their production was continued. We made aluminum boats for Bass Pro Shops, Bass Tracker, Sears, Montgomery Wards, and several other companies. Our aluminum boats were amongst the best "store chainline" boats ever built. The aluminum we used was thicker than anyone else's. As in our high end glass boats quality was our goal. In the glass boats we did things like put an .004 thick extra coat of clear gel to protect the paint and metal flake from UHV (fading), small scratches, and make the boat easier to clean and keep clean. We were very proud of our hatch and live well door hinges. If you noticed, they were chrome plated and held in place by bolts with self locking nuts. Ranger, and the rest used those cheap, stamped "piano" hinges that were hard to tighten and harder to replace. We used a better grade of pumps in our live wells and bilges, and much more. We even sprayed over the exposed fiberglass in the fuel compartment with clear gel.
Your ABF, probably a '76 model had the strongest hull in the business. It was also the fastest though the Coast Guard limited it to about 120hp, as I recall. My '76 ABF demo sported a 115 horse Evilrude that had been reworked by Gene Wallentiny. I was putting out somewhere around 180 hp and I couldn't tear the transom out of it, and I tried!
In '75 we hired Gar Wood Jr. as our hull designer. Gar's dad worked with England's Sir Malcom Campbell on the "Bluebird" which held the world's water speed record for quite some time. Gar did a magnificent job on all his boats, but the '76 ABF was the strongest, heaviest, yet fastest given the proper horsepower that it was designed for. To our chagrin the Coast Guard wouldn't let us hang a bigger engine simply because of their length and width formula for determining maximum "safe" horsepower. But, in the 9 months I drove that demo (with the tricked 115 for show) it was never outrun. I sold a lot of boats in California when word got out that the ABF had outrun Ranger's 17'5" pad boat equipped with the then new 200hp Evilrude. It even ran away and hid from Monark's little 15' tunnel hull with a 150 Merc on it.
I used to customize Evinrude's SST propellers by reforming the blades over a trailer ball with a hammer and a lot of patience, giving them a deeper cup along the spine and tips of the blades. These props were usually good for another 5mph or so. I got the idea from my good friend Woody Everett who was a Ranger dealer in Phoenix. He had retired and began playing with boats when he sold his company and invention...the Everett Ditch Witch. He was an old cowboy type, sharp as a razor, and humble as could be. You'd never know he had 2 cents to rub together...one of the last of a dying breed of men and a true friend.
Your next question:
Any brochures, manuals, pictures remaining?
There may be...somewhere, but I have none. A while back I ran across a '77 brochure in an old briefcase. '77 was the year we switched to measuring with the metric system. The 17 1/2' boat was named the "5.3" meter...the high performance 15 1/2' became the "4.7" meter boat. These were all called "Pad Boats". The term was derived from the fact that if properly powered, propped, engine height set correctly, and the weight distributed as far aft as possible, at full speed the boat would rise from the water and actually ride on the pad which was a small area midline at the transom, appx. 14" or so wide, and depending on the setup only the rear couple of feet of the pad remained in the water. As you can imagine this eleminated a bunch of drag in the water because very little boat was in the water. The results were some awsome speeds! The ABF demo I told you about would run between 65 and 70 mph at about 500' above sea level, which is another speed variable.
In '78 we introduced the 6.2 meter boat (almost 21'). To me this was the epitome of bass boats. It sounds too big, but it's size never caused me a problem. It wasn't as fast as the smaller pad boats but with an Evinrude 225 it would hit about 62mph with one of my customized SST props. But it was so comfortable and dry. A great boat for lakes Powell or Mead...or for going after yellow tail near San Diego. It would take big water like a cork.
Well, Spence, on perusing your questions I think I've tried to address each one. If you or anyone has more just email me or post them here.
I've enjoyed being here.
JC Dillard
. what happened to delhi? did they sell out or go out of business and why? do you have any brochures,owners manual, or pictures of the terry boats and the manufacturing plant, maybee how they were assembled? I have a 1976 Terry abf I am re-doing right now. not going to a resto to original but will look nice when done. Thanks 