"Star 2" Miami Vice Scarab barn find!


Sonny-Crockett

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3 minutes ago, Stinger390X said:

Awesome pics of the Snap-On boat there Scarab-KV!!!

The Snap-On boat up here in Canada is privately owned by a couple and the woman drives the boat and the husband navigates. Very nice boat too...it's a Donzi and very sleek!

I see them often at the different Poker Runs such as the Poker Runs America at Thousand Islands and also saw them at the Bay of Quinte Poker Run last year.

Reggie Fountain gave his old yellow 42 to a guy in Toronto and he runs in all the Poker Runs America runs all over the place. It is still all painted and stickered up with PRA stuff. I have pics of it somewhere. Soon as I find them I will post

Bill Taylor heads up Poker Runs of America. He was the original owner of the Snap-On Scarab and now has the Yellow
Fountain you're referring to. Just talked to him at the Miami show last Saturday. Brian and Wilma Ross purchased the Scarab from Bill, to co sponsor the Poker Run series with Bill's Powerboat Canada magazine. Brian is in upper management at Snap-On. They ran the Scarab one year in the Vice colors before doing a re and re along with new paint and graphics. They ran it four more years before getting into F-2 racing with Donzi. I bought the boat from them in 98.

They had some championship seasons in F-2 and then moved on to Super Cats. They had a bad roll while testing in 07 and quit racing not long after.
I believe they still have their F-2 Donzi
 

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I can't say that this is the boat for sure, but there were only a couple in Canada. It's now located in the Windsor area. Pics were from 07

 

 

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Edited by Scarab KV
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Bill Taylor...I knew I heard that name before!!!!

Thanks for reminding me.

We did lake Ontario last summer but only 10 boats showed up at Port Credit. We cruised past Hamilton and stopped in Dalhousie for lunch then straight across the open lake to Credit again. Fun day. I was in my buddy's 30' Spectre Cat...115mph Catamaran!!!

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Stinger......My boat has Drop down bolsters?  Wellcraft had two different versions of the front seats on the 38KV.  I have been in some rough water with my boat and never felt like I was going to be thrown....my knees do get tired after a long run. 

 

Here is a short clip I made this summer........rough "chop" the boat was made to run! 

 

 

 

 

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Don't think I'd want a bolster taller then the height of my elbows. The throttles in most boats are to the right of the seat, so would be an awkward restriction for throttling. My throttles are set up loose for rough water throttling, so I have to have my hand on them all the time.

If you blow the stern out and spin or have any sort of potential ejection event, you're coming out of that bolster no matter how tall it is lol 

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My elbows are very comfortable on the taper of the upholstery. I just have a higher back than your seats which is nice in rough water.

I don't know about you but I love to go out in the rough once in a while.

By the way I always liked the instrumentation layout on the Scarab!

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It's not so much a comfort thing, as having my arm in line with the throttles.

Best layout IMO. Straight lines with primaries to the center and secondary to the outside. I hate gauges all over the dash with no symmetrical order. I want a quick glance, not having to look for it.

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We get on Michigan, so 3-4s can be pretty normal.

Last year I had the engines out of the Snap-On boat and the project was hanging in limbo pending on if the Star 2 deal finally came together. If it didn't, we were going to pull rest of the hardware and take it back to the Vice colors.
We didn't want to give up our spot for Boyne Thunder, so we took the Barris Mini Vice. Wife says never again. Had 4-5s all day with a 21' lol .

We did get to see how the fan base for the show has gotten younger with syndication though. Little kids were dragging their
parents down the dock to see the Miami Vice boat, not realizing the size difference lol

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That is cool! Just like my little Fantasy 13 that I painted to match my Stinger!

The 13 is just a toy but that smaller unit looks uber-fast!

We have got to get together this summer for a cruise!

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Awesome boat! Two questions, Are those "seats" actually seats you can sit in or is that standing the entire time only? Secondly and much more importantly, where's the beer holder on that thing?  :D

Wish I would win the lotto so I could but toys like that! Best of luck with her.

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39 minutes ago, timm525 said:

Awesome boat! Two questions, Are those "seats" actually seats you can sit in or is that standing the entire time only? Secondly and much more importantly, where's the beer holder on that thing?  :D

Wish I would win the lotto so I could but toys like that! Best of luck with her.

They are drop down. You can sit or stand.

Beer holders are every where 

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Edited by Scarab KV
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Scarab KV from the Q&A thread:

Yes, I purchased Star 2 from the original owner  in October.  Randy started the Star 2 Barn Find thread while I was in route to Wisconsin with it. 

When ever a boat scene was filmed, both boats were required to be on location. To keep them straight on the radios, the crew named them Stars 1&2. 

The owner was reluctant to sell the boat, because he was afraid the boat wouldn't be kept original. After numerous conversations about the history of the boats, he decided to let me purchase it because I was the only person in 30 years that knew the significance of the numeral 2 on the transom and felt I would restore it historically correct.

I'm really happy about Charlie wanting the boat registered. It's great recognition for Vice in general. Miami Vice introduced the general masses to the offshore boat and most Go Fast guys will tell you, Vice is the reason they're into boating. The up coming restoration has created quite a buzz in the boat forums. I'm very fortunate to have her.

Google Don Aronow or Ben Kramer. It'll give you a little insight to the dark side of the sport. Aronow was building the boats the smugglers used and then built comparable boats for the DEA....Oops

Where are you located? Maybe I can get ya on a Go Fast

 

Very Nice about your purchase of Star 2, and congrats on such a historic find. To me this us up there with Volo's find of the Car1 Daytona. I'm a bit biased there, as I love the black car.  

Well, I'm in the western burbs of Chicago so about 45 miles or so south of Volo I'm guessing, as the crow flies. I'd definitely love to get on a go fast boat in the warmer months, so if you're planning to take her (or another boat) out on the Lake or somewhere in between, do please let me know.

You are in for a major restoration then on Star 2. Do you have all the details you need to restore to, I'm assuming. show condition? I do think you are right about Vice introducing many of us to offshore racing, as I had never seen it before until watching it back in the day. And I had been to FL on numerous occasions at that time as well.

Thanks for the links about the smugglers, as I find that interesting, There was also a thread in here about the plane in Smuggler's Blues also having a drug smuggling past.

 

 

 

 

 

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1 hour ago, Sonny-Burnett said:

Scarab KV from the Q&A thread:

Yes, I purchased Star 2 from the original owner  in October.  Randy started the Star 2 Barn Find thread while I was in route to Wisconsin with it. 

When ever a boat scene was filmed, both boats were required to be on location. To keep them straight on the radios, the crew named them Stars 1&2. 

The owner was reluctant to sell the boat, because he was afraid the boat wouldn't be kept original. After numerous conversations about the history of the boats, he decided to let me purchase it because I was the only person in 30 years that knew the significance of the numeral 2 on the transom and felt I would restore it historically correct.

I'm really happy about Charlie wanting the boat registered. It's great recognition for Vice in general. Miami Vice introduced the general masses to the offshore boat and most Go Fast guys will tell you, Vice is the reason they're into boating. The up coming restoration has created quite a buzz in the boat forums. I'm very fortunate to have her.

Google Don Aronow or Ben Kramer. It'll give you a little insight to the dark side of the sport. Aronow was building the boats the smugglers used and then built comparable boats for the DEA....Oops

Where are you located? Maybe I can get ya on a Go Fast

 

Very Nice about your purchase of Star 2, and congrats on such a historic find. To me this us up there with Volo's find of the Car1 Daytona. I'm a bit biased there, as I love the black car.  

Well, I'm in the western burbs of Chicago so about 45 miles or so south of Volo I'm guessing, as the crow flies. I'd definitely love to get on a go fast boat in the warmer months, so if you're planning to take her (or another boat) out on the Lake or somewhere in between, do please let me know.

You are in for a major restoration then on Star 2. Do you have all the details you need to restore to, I'm assuming. show condition? I do think you are right about Vice introducing many of us to offshore racing, as I had never seen it before until watching it back in the day. And I had been to FL on numerous occasions at that time as well.

Thanks for the links about the smugglers, as I find that interesting, There was also a thread in here about the plane in Smuggler's Blues also having a drug smuggling past.

 

 

 

 

 

Brian told me about JN's Daytona when we had the boat at Volo. I was very interested in it and the wife wants a convertible. She rolled her eyes at the idea of yet another Vice toy, but after looking over the pics she started taking a liking to it's look. Had to put the idea on the back burner after I  was rear ended in Indiana. Had to focus on putting my trailer back together and the rest is history. 

The restoration will be a full deck off project with a minimum of two years, probably closer to three. It will be restored historically correct to the show. It's in tough shape, but fortunately unmolested and 100% intact as it was on the show. The KAAMA exhaust tips were removed, but I have them.

We've been talking with some of the OEM vendors for parts support, Mel Riggs (another icon from the glory days) has all of the old school high performance parts as new left overs, Medallion is going to refurbish the gauges / switches and one of the best glass and paint guys in the Midwest is handling the structural and paint. He just finished rehabbing a Vice Edition and was spot on with the color fade.  All the upholstery work is lined up with a shop in Toledo who specializes in boats and retro materials. 

I'll be doing the tear down and gutting the boat and eventuallyr re rigging it. Once Dave has the deck raised, I'll be helping with the glass work. The engines are already rebuilt, but need a cosmetic refurbishing back to Mercraiser appearance. 

The entire project will be documented through pics and restoration threads along with time lapse video from start to finish. 

 

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Hi Guys , 

 

Happy to be part of this group ...as a new member I will try to behave ...lol I own the Miami vice repaint "thunder Struck "

The story as i have it so far ...... Was originally a MV 38 kv . Not sure where it was in the original 42 ... but was told that it was painted two tone DEA grey after the series ended , tp be used in a DEA movie about catching drug runners , a movie that never got made ......so was it one of the 9 ...or was it in the 33 others . Apparently it sat in a warehouse for 7 years and ended up at Black Thunder powerboats and was painted and sold from ther to a gentleman around the LOTO area ...i have all the documentation for all the years that it was owned up until it was sold to a dealer in Canada ...was owned by a dealer in canada for a year or so and then sold to another guy inthe windsor area that spent NO time on the boat and sold it to me on 2014 . Since i have owned it , I have done the transmission on the port side and switched from a 71 c to a new 72c ...redone all the stringers right to the intermediary bulkhead . Replaced the port side drive with a fresh TRS and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned . I redid the stereo with a Kenwood top of the line reciever and a 400wx 4 amp ...all new marine speakers ..27 inch flat screen lcd tv aand all new blue led lights in the engine area and in the cockpit . All new RCB led lights for the salon ...everything seems to work awesome now ...as i have spent some money ...boat is solid ...still needs some TLC and starboard stringer redo and probably i will look at the transom at the same time at some point . Will do a 72c on that side as well , while im at it . Next step will be feshen the engines after this year ....build says 603 hp each ...will freshen and dyno and get the complete build sheets this time . Anyone that knows anything more than I do ....please feel free to weigh in 

 

 

Patrick

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40 minutes ago, Sonny-Burnett said:

Nice view and comparative!   Is that a chipped sun visor there?

She rode out Sandy on a lift. Bruce thought a 2x6 would help to hold the cover down. Ugh

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Ouch! Hopefully that part is available for replacement. From this last pic I would guess that the storm might have done some other damage if it was getting high wind.

I hope your restoration doesn't run into major snags in finding available parts.

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They dodged a bullet with Sandy. They were supposed to get a direct hit, but it turned north and they just got a super high tide. What you're seeing is just 30 years of neglect. 

The acrylic windscreen and upper cabin door will have to be made from scratch. We will use the pieces from my other boat for patterns. The trick will be duplicating the etched design on the upper door. Star 1 and my Edition boat have a large Scarab beatle on the upper portion and Scarab on the lower portion. Star 2 has a small beatle on the lower portion and the upper portion is blank. That's one of the differences that can be seen on screen. 

The original upper door for Star 2 was cracked when Bruce bought it, so was replaced with a different door. I've never seen a door like Star 2 had, so will not have a pattern to work with for the etching. Best we can do is blow up a picture to scale for size and placement measurements. 

Tom still has the pattern for the wood lower doors from when he restored Star 1, plus I have access to a set from a 377 for reference. 

All of the old school high performance parts will be obtained through Mel Riggs. Mel was one of the top mechanics and an offshore icon from the MaCarthy days. His shops are 10 minutes from my shop. When Kiekhaefer shut down the high perf plant in Oshkosh, they shipped pallets of new old parts to Mel.

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Wonder why wellcraft put all those square bezels on all the gauges , i think it would have made a cleaner look on our boats with just the gauges set in the dash . Im still looking for a trim bezel for my drive indicators ....dealers want over 150 bucks for that piece !!! I am down to a few little pieces now . the plastic covers for the shore power VU meters ...missing 2 ...where the hell does this stuff go ....LOL

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2 hours ago, thunder struck said:

Wonder why wellcraft put all those square bezels on all the gauges , i think it would have made a cleaner look on our boats with just the gauges set in the dash . Im still looking for a trim bezel for my drive indicators ....dealers want over 150 bucks for that piece !!! I am down to a few little pieces now . the plastic covers for the shore power VU meters ...missing 2 ...where the hell does this stuff go ....LOL

Those are aircraft bezels. They billed them as high tech aircraft style design.

I like them. Gives a more uniform look.

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