I don't think so, John; it took me forever to make the 30-some, and my rusty memory says 32, then I adjusted the price. I'm guessing about 5 to 6K, and it didn't move too much until the gas (resin) crisis of 77-78 when inflation exploded again. Probably most of them smart people will disagree, but I believe that the first gas crises, in 73-74, was caused by Henry Kissinger talking the oil producing countries, mostly mid-eastern, into getting together (OPEC) to raise money to buy arms from us in order to keep those mean Israelis from killing their children and driving them into the sea. Kissinger's motivation, naturally, was to sell arms. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I'm a bit bitter about the two gas crises because it's an example of politics putting a lot of businesses out of business. I know that 60% of the powerboat builders died in '78. Oh well. -----Original Message----- From: John Schinnerer Sent: Monday, July 30, 2018 8:39 PM To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: M_Boats: MSRP for 1974 M-17? Thanks for the guesstimate, and the history, Jerry! Do you recall if the "30-some" you made in that first bunch after the two shows went up to #38 (now owned by me)? Glad to hear you had some "angel capitalists" and materials connections I don''t thjink so, JohnmJohn On 07/22/2018 06:37 PM, jerry@jerrymontgomery.org wrote:
I'm guessing about 5K with sails and trailer, but it's not that simple because that was when we had incredible inflation; resin went from 20.5 cents per pound to 60 cents, almost overnite, and prices went up in response. I put the first two 17's in the Newport, RI show and the Anna;polis show and sold 30- some. I had a terrible time getting them made because materials were usually impossible to find. Jensen Marine bailed me out a couple of times because they had a huge building stuffed with drums of resin; I had worked for them for several years as the foreman on the Cal 40 crew and had contacts. My bank bailed me out with a big loan; w/o them I wouldn't have made it!
-----Original Message----- From: John Schinnerer Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2018 6:13 PM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: M_Boats: MSRP for 1974 M-17?
Hi all, and maybe Jerry in particular...
I'm curious if anyone here can authoritatively cite the "retail price" of an M-17, new from the maker, in 1974. Or at least the ballpark or mid-range cost, if there were a lot of options that affected the price.
What got me curious was seeing some receipts from when my dad bought aluminum "cartop" boats back in 1966 & 1975, and an Evinrude outboard in 1969. The prices were surreal in modern terms - but in those days' dollars of course.
cheers, John
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com