Re: Winner Center Console
Dickson, Tennessee was the home of a boat builder for many years. Winner Boat came into being at Trenton, New Jersey prior to World War II. In 1947, they were one of the earliest producers of all fiberglass boats in a regular production operation.
Around 1958, Wizard Boats of Costa Mesa, CA built a branch manufacturing plant at Dickson. Soon afterwards, they purchased WInner Boats at Trenton and moved its operation to Dickson. For a short period the combined operation was known as Wizard-Winner Boats. The Wizard name was dropped not too long afterwards, however, and she became known as Winner Boat. Her line of fiberglass pleasure boats expanded to inlcude runabouts, small fishing boats, and cabin cruisers.
In November 1977 Winner Boat was purchased by Thompson Boat, Inc. of Peshtigo, Wisconsin. The Dickson plant at First and Pickert became known as "Winner by Thompson." By the summer of 1978 Thompson decided to close down the plant. They moved molds and other production equipment to Wisconsin and auctioned off the remaining assets in June or July 1978.
Thompson continued to use the WInner name to describe those products that originally came from Dickson for a number of years. In fact, Thompson continually registered the name "Winner Boat" up through circa 1991.
In the meantime, Ned Momany revived the Winner Boat name at Dickson in 1980. He had been employed by the original Winner at Dickson previously. The "new" Winner Boat operated at Dickson throughout the 1980s before sucumbing to hard economic times. It is not known how two companies were able to use the "Winner Boat" name simultaniously; Winner Boats owned by Thompson and Winner Boats of Dickson.
Mr. Andreas Jordahl Rhude of Minneapolis is researcng and writing about this boat builder. If you have recollections of Winner, Wizard, and Thompson Boats, get in touch with him via email:
thompsonboat@aol.com
