Difference between revisions of "MFG"

Revision as of 18:19, 28 May 2010

The Molded Fiber Glass Boat Company (MFG)

Union City, Pennsylvania

History written by Jim Coffman

Molded Fiber Glass Corporation was founded by Robert S. Morrison in Ashtabula, Ohio in 1948. MFG's intentions were to mass-produce commercial products by using polyester resins and fiberglass reinforcements, (in short, FRP-Fiberglass Reinforced Plastics). In 1950, the MFG Sheet Co. was formed. Because of their success thus far, another division was warranted. In 1952, the MFG Tray Co. was started in Linesville, Pa. In 1953, they needed yet another division, due to acquiring the contract with Chevrolet Motor Company to produce the fiberglass body components for the Corvette. This division was MFG Body Co., formed in Ashtabula, Ohio.

In 1954, MFG felt it needed another product other than the Corvette. So to have another product line, one they felt would be very successful, they decided to produce boat hulls for another company. Did you ever wonder where the lapstrake hull design came from for MFG's boats?: Lyman Boat Co. MFG took a Lyman hull, tooled up, and produced a mold from it. They then took the finished hull and presented it to Lyman to show them what they could do for their boat, in fiberglass. Result of this business proposal, Lyman Boat Co. said...,No.

Now, the ironic part of history, MFG never wanted to produce boats. They only wanted to produce hulls for another company. As a matter of fact, Robert Morrison wasn't a boater, he did'nt even have a true interest in boats. So after their pitfall with Lyman, and being tooled up to produce hulls, they had no choice. Finish what they started. So they produced their own deck, attached it to the hull copies, and formed Molded Fiber Glass Boat Co. in Union city, PA in 1955.

So now, MFG has their own line of boats, without ever having the intention. Now they needed to name the models they were producing. Best way to come up with names, and to keep in the spirit of their surroundings, look at the map. All of MFG's models were named after surrounding cities. MFG's boat production proved to be a great success.

In 1959, MFG Boat Co. decided to try producing two models completely out of fiberglass, the Edinboro, and the Oxford, another success. Come 1960, only one model still had a wood deck, the Celeron. The following years greeted MFG with continuing growth, the boating community anxiously awaited for the following years releases.

In 1965, for undetermined reasons, MFG Body Co. in Ashtabula bought Crestliner Boats. But MFG did not move Crestliner's operations to Union City. They left operations at Crestliner's current plants, as well as retaining the Crestliner name. Once in awhile, a Crestliner boat came through with MFG markings. Reason for this is unexplained as well, possibly a marketing test.

In 1968 MFG Boat Corporation began producing boats for Sears. These models were the Sears Gamefisher and later the Adventurer series boats. The Sears line was produced in Ashtabula, not Union City as one might think. According to one MFG contact, this continued into the very early 80's.

In 1972, MFG Corporation sold off Crestliner, and concentrated on production of their own models. 1977 brought a new line into their plants. MFG began production of fiberglass hoods and other components for Outboard Marine Corporation. This continued on into the 80's. As for the Boat Co. themselves, the 80's meant the end of MFG Boats.

Epilogue

It is in my opinion, researching the history of MFG Boat Co., information became very vague. Late summer of 2002, I had the oppurtunity to talk with Richard Morrison, the son of Robert Morrison, the founder. Our conversation was via telephone, whereas, I had to make an appointment to call him at his office. A huge percentage of the information contained above is the result of our conversation.

There are a couple of points I wanted to add to this page, but before I recieve confirmation, I will keep them to myself. As recieve any further information, I will update this page. If anybody has any valid documentation on the history and would like to share it, please feel free to contact me.

1955 Information Thanks to Lee Wangstead

• 

  1955 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1955 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1955 MFG ad

1956 Information

• 

  1956 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1956 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1956 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1956 Brochure, Page 4

1957 Information Thanks to Jim Whaley

• 

  1957 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1957 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1957 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1957 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1957 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1957 Brochure, Page 6

1958 Information Thanks to Jim Maier

• 

  1958 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1958 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1958 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1958 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1958 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1958 Brochure, Page 6

• 

  1958 Brochure, Page 7

• 

  1958 Brochure, Page 8

• 

  1958 MFG Magazine Ad

• 

  1958 MFG Magazine Ad

• 

  1958 MFG Magazine Ad

• 

  1958 MFG Cambridge test

• 

  1958 MFG Cambridge test

• 

  1958 MFG Suburban test

1959 Information

• 

  1959 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1959 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1959 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1959 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1959 MFG Magazine ad

• 

  1959 MFG Magazine ad

• 

  1959 MFG Ad

1960 Information

• 

  1960 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1960 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1960 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1960 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1960 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1960 Brochure, Page 6

• 

  1960 MFG Magazine Ad

1961 Information

• 

  1961 Article, Part 1

• 

  1961 Article, Part 2

• 

  1961 Article, Part 3

• 

  1961 Article, Part 4

• 

  1961 Article, Part 5

• 

  1961 Article, Part 6

1962 Information

• 

  1962 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1962 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1962 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1962 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1962 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1962 Brochure, Page 6

1963 Information

• 

  1963 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1963 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1963 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1963 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1963 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1963 Brochure, Page 6

• 

  1963 Brochure, Page 7

• 

  1963 Brochure, Page 8

• 

  1963 Pricelist, Page 1

• 

  1963 Pricelist, Page 2

• 

  1963 MFG Magazine ad

1964 Information Pricelist thanks to Janet Lowry

• 

  1964 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1964 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1964 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1964 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1964 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1964 Pricelist, Page 1

• 

  1964 Pricelist, Page 2

• 

  1964 Pricelist, Page 3

• 

  1964 Pricelist, Page 4

1965 Information

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 6

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 7

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 8

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 9

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 10

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 11

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 12

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 13

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 14

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 15

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 16

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 17

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 18

• 

  1965 Brochure, Page 19

• 

  1965 MFG Magazine ad

1966 Information

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 6

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 7

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 8

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 9

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 10

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 11

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 12

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 13

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 14

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 15

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 16

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 17

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 18

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 19

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 20

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 21

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 22

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 23

• 

  1966 Brochure, Page 24

1967 Information Brochure thanks to Lee Wangstead

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 6

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 7

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 8

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 9

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 10

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 11

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 12

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 13

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 14

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 15

• 

  1967 Brochure, Page 16

• 

  1967 MFG Magazine ad

• 

  1967 MFG Magazine ad

1968 Information

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 6

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 7

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 8

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 9

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 10

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 11

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 12

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 13

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 14

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 15

• 

  1968 Brochure, Page 16

• 

  MFG in a 1968 Evinrude ad

• 

  1968 MFG Magazine ad

1969 Information

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 1

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 2

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 3

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 4

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 5

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 6

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 7

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 8

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 9

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 10

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 11

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 12

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 13

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 14

• 

  1969 Brochure, Page 15

• 

  1969 MFG Magazine ad

• 

  1969 MFG Magazine ad

• 

  1969 Article, Part 1

• 

  1969 Article, Part 2

• 

  1969 Article, Part 3

Back to Main Page