1961 Simmonds Ski-Boat

Description

Fast aluminium motorboat with classic Sixties lines; one of only around 250 made and perhaps 40 surviving; in single-family ownership for 40+ years; Ford 3.0 V6 engine; Weber carb; Borg Warner 'Velvet Drive' gearbox with reverse; trailer included

Born in Cumbria in June 1907, Donald Leighton Simmonds was an interesting character who served his engineering apprenticeship with Rolls-Royce. He then moved to Vickers where he was part of a team led by Barnes Wallis (of bouncing bomb fame) who developed the gigantic R100 experimental airship in the late 1920s.

Simmonds’ job was to maintain the six Rolls-Royce Condor engines, each producing 650hp, that famously powered the R100 across the Atlantic in 1930. When the airship project was scrapped in 1931 following the fatal crash of the R101 (which was powered by Beardmore Typhoon diesel engines), Simmonds joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough and later moved to Napier, concentrating on aero engine development during the war.

A Lake District boy, he was also a successful hydroplane racer and in 1957 Simmonds began making his own fast aluminium speedboats from a factory in Newcastle-upon-Tyne until his untimely death in 1964.

Costing £825 without a trailer (when a Ford Consul MII with the same engine cost a mere £545) they were produced at the rate of only six per year, with well-heeled customers including the Shah of Iran and Aston Martin-founder David Brown. It is believed that only around 50 were made under the stewardship of Simmonds, with another 200 produced between 1961 and 1963 when the firm was taken over by Huwood Engineering of Gateshead.  

This Simmonds Ski-Boat, number LW101, was built in 1961 and was in single-family ownership for over 40 years. Our vendor acquired it fairly recently and has provided the history of the boat as follows:

“The hull was built by Simmonds Speedboats of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1961, and bears the Huwood Engineering number LW101. It was acquired by the previous owner's family in May 1982, providing nearly 25 years of skiing and waterborne entertainment before being laid-up in 2006. During that time the boat was initially restored, and then maintained to a high standard throughout.

Perhaps the star of this boat is the engine. The Ford 3.0 V6 was a factory option in the 1960s, but was only rarely installed. The unit fitted here was a replacement for an original (and more typical) 1600cc straight-four, and came originally from a 1968 Ford Zodiac MkIV.

It is mated to a Borg Warner ‘Velvet Drive’ gearbox, model AS1-71CR, with the option of reverse – also a rare feature on a Simmonds.

The engine was rebuilt at the time of installation in 1973 and again in 1979 and 1984. It has also had top-end overhauls in 1988 and 1993. It is fitted with a Weber 722F CA carburettor, controlled by a Morse Teleflex marine unit with Mercraft manifolds.

The boat comes with many useful spares, an impressively complete set of data and maintenance manuals, plus extensive documentation on all aspects of the restoration and upkeep carried out between purchase in 1982 and the last major service in 2004. The boat was laid-up in 2006 and was stored under waterproof tarpaulin on its trailer for the next 18 years or so.

Since we acquired the boat we have cleaned it up, tidied the interior and replaced various parts as required. Engine-wise, it has had new spark plugs, new distributor cap, new cooling hoses, new fuel pump and hoses, new ignition, a check-over of the wiring and a new high power battery. It now starts easily and runs well. The sale includes the trailer which now has new tyres, although this does not appear to be an original Simmonds twin-boom type.”

For a detailed breakdown of all the restoration and maintenance work carried out during the previous owner’s long ownership, plus many photos, copy and paste this link into your browser:

https://www.simmonds-motorlaunches.co.uk/boatsale05_LW101.htm

This is a handsome craft and the build quality is plain to see. While most of the fibreglass boats that effectively killed off expensive speedboats like these have, ironically, long since disintegrated, the survival rate for the aluminium-hulled Simmonds is rather more impressive.

Increasingly appreciated by discerning 'propellor-heads' (if we can coin such a term), there is now a thriving owners' club to preserve these fine craft. While fewer than a dozen were thought to survive intact when the Simmonds Register was established in 2006, it is now known that around 40 still exist. With its potent 3.0 V6, LW101 is surely worth a look at the modest guide price suggested. The engine runs very nicely indeed, as you can see in the video, with a lovely V6 burble.

So get your cheque book out, dust off those vintage wooden water skis, hitch this trailer to something like the Sixties Ford Mustang V8 elsewhere in this sale (Lot 58) and it could be you skimming across the glittering waters of Lake Como at 50mph in the long hot summer that lies ahead of us... 

Consigned by James Dennison – 07970 309907 – [email protected]