Magnum Force / Thriller 74 Magnum Maltese

[imco offshore]

Bud when i was growing up, i worked on a red and white Starfire for a man ( Guss King) raced as Starfire , out of Apeco Marina ,Keith Hazel Throttled it ,,do you know where it ended up ,,when we were done he donated it to the Coast Guard,,George Jr.

[Mike A.]

Then it is not the boat...this Maltese is a 74. Bud

Both boats also had Volvo drives. My dad actually raced the first 280 TRS boat, a 28' Maltese named Conspiracy, to a world speed record and national championship in 1975. Having said that, these photos could have been from the 1974 season.

[Mike A.]

Bud when i was growing up, i worked on a red and white Starfire for a man ( Guss King) raced as Starfire , out of Apeco Marina ,Keith Hazel Throttled it ,,do you know where it ended up ,,when we were done he donated it to the Coast Guard,,George Jr.

George, Starfire was my dad's chief competition in the Modified class in 1976. I think Gus King's son, Marty, raced with Keith. I also think Starfire was the original Tommy Adams' Miss America. Bottom photo is the M-50 Conspiracy.

[Ratickle]

Sweet Mike, good to hear from you. We try to help Bud all we can. When he's done with one, they are perfect......


Do you know what happened to Conspiracy?

[Mike A.]

Sweet Mike, good to hear from you. We try to help Bud all we can. When he's done with one, they are perfect......


Do you know what happened to Conspiracy?

The next owner wrecked it bad and I don't think it ever made it back to the water. We did replace her with an Open class boat though:

[MOBILEMERCMAN]

Very Nice.

[Bud Weisner]

George seeing there where only 34 Starfire's produced, there is a good chance we can locate it. Pictures and HIN # would be a great start. Bud

[Mike A.]

George seeing there where only 34 Starfire's produced, there is a good chance we can locate it. Pictures and HIN # would be a great start. Bud

Hey Bud, if I am not mistaken, Magnum made the Starfire model to accommodate the larger Mercury big blocks which would not fit under the standard 27' Sport rear deck. If we are talking about the King's original 27' named "Starfire", that boat was not a Starfire model but a standard Sport. Again, I also think it was Tommy Adams' Miss America before the King's bought it.

[Bud Weisner]

From what I gather from George's request I assumed it was a Starfire.If it was a 27 it will be hard to track it down seeing 335 were made.Before the Starfire was made,Roger Munn put big blocks in his current sport and made a new larger rear hatch to accommodate the engines. Bud

[Mike A.]

From what I gather from George's request I assumed it was a Starfire.If it was a 27 it will be hard to track it down seeing 335 were made.Before the Starfire was made,Roger Munn put big blocks in his current sport and made a new larger rear hatch to accommodate the engines. Bud

Pictured below are several Mags. If you look at the Miss America, it really looks like the "Starfire" boat George was talking about. The green 28' Maltese, "Tweedy Pie Too Too II" owned by the Krells, won the NORA national championship in 1973 or 4 I think. The red Sport, "Loco Motion" was our first race boat.

[imco offshore]

I have some pic,s of the Starfire ,,and Bobby Krells tweety ,,,and i think some of Bobby Moores " Wolverine " I,ll dig them out and post..I put the motors in and out of Starfire so many times i wish i had a dime for each,,,Story !! I was towing the Sarfire to Key West one year , hit a stop sign on the side of the trim , it bounced down the side about 15 feet ,,knowing Hazel like I did,, got their , dropped off the boat , ran back to Magnum ,,back to the K.W. spent all night replacing it ,,before Keith and Guss got their the next day,,when they got their , the first thing Guss said was ,,Good Job Jr,, I was like damn how did he know,,fun days,,

[Bud Weisner]

George still need to find info on Magnum Force facts and pictures.Check with your dad as well as his picture file he might have something. It is a 1974 Maltese that raced on the West Coast,and had no cabin or cockpit liner.Stripped down for racing,flat front floor & aluminum 3 man bolster.Used Stewart Warner Mechanical guages. See earlier in the post on what it looked like. Had a dark hull with large bottom striping,originally was orange when it left the factory.Running out of time need to get the graphics made before the weather sets in. Bud

[Ratickle]

Did the name look to be painted on the dark hull? Or did it look to be on a later repaint?

And you're thinking it raced in the mid 70's to early 80's?

[old377guy]

Bud, no luck from my end; seems that no one that I know has any old pix. Jeff

[Bud Weisner]

We think it was called Magnum Force by what we could see before the boat was getting ready to be painted.According to the build list it came from the factory in a orange colored paint scheme. You can see on one of the first photos that they painted the hull a dark color,and left and orange stripe. That would not of came from the factory like that.
The boat is a 1974,do not know when it raced however all its wiring and other improvements put it in the racing category.We know some work was done in 1983,however again don't know was it for repair,rigging or new for racing.Check the pictures for additional clues. Bud

[Dirty Pearl]

Hey Bud, I know you are trying to make it look like she did when she was racing. But if it was me, I would pick a nice bold faunt in red and make the F in force look like a 9 milimeter gun. Then I would make the rest of the graphics period correct. Something like this one.

[Bud Weisner]

Any sounds like a good idea...have a call into Bob Teague and some other West Coast racers see if they remember it. Bud

[Ratickle]

The oldest OFFSHORE official program is 1986. The boat is not in there as a contestant in 1985.

I'm still digging through old magazines.


Amazing some of the stuff I used to read about....

[mdkeywest]

I have some pic,s of the Starfire ,,and Bobby Krells tweety ,,,and i think some of Bobby Moores " Wolverine " I,ll dig them out and post..I put the motors in and out of Starfire so many times i wish i had a dime for each,,,Story !! I was towing the Sarfire to Key West one year , hit a stop sign on the side of the trim , it bounced down the side about 15 feet ,,knowing Hazel like I did,, got their , dropped off the boat , ran back to Magnum ,,back to the K.W. spent all night replacing it ,,before Keith and Guss got their the next day,,when they got their , the first thing Guss said was ,,Good Job Jr,, I was like damn how did he know,,fun days,,

I Had a similar fate with ( "ken Doyles " ) 38 PHANTOM SUPER-V

[Ratickle]

Bud, will you be in Key West????