1939 19-foot Chris Craft Custom Runabout

Following the test chronicled in this clip, I drove Flyin’ By to our summer camp on Lake Champlain. While the water is flat, flat, flat in the video, a stout following wind kicked up as I left the dock. Based on a handheld GPS reading, Flyin’ By, having jumped up on plane, ran easily at 40 mph as she powered through the chop like it wasn’t there. Guess she is a keeper for sure!
Flyin’ By (hull # 48264), a 19’ Chris-Craft Double Cockpit Foard Custom Runabout was delivered to her first owners in Detroit, MI on August 12, 1937. Her ownership passed to the Aikens family of Bloomfield Hills, MI in 1960, who enjoyed her on Michigan’s Lake St. Clair until we bought her in July 2016.
She is a (racing) model 824, powered by her original Chris-Craft Model LC engine that produces 148 HP.
Chris-Craft’s Ed Dooley, who designed both the pre- and post-WW II Chris-Craft logos, hand painted her transom and registration lettering.
Other than her updated Corinthian leather upholstery, which matches the original exactly, and her updated 12 volt electrical system, she stands before you as she did that August day in 1937, when she left Algonac.
While she will benefit from a bit of freshening next winter, we will make every effort to preserve the patina she has developed, and certainly Dooley’s lettering.