Performer

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Performer Boat Corp.

Divison of U.S. Fiberglass Products Co., Inc.

17923 Santa Fe Ave.

Compton, California

Address also found listed at 14720 Lakewood Blvd., Paramount California.

Several boats very similar in design to Performer Boats have been found badged as Admiral Boats made in Tampa, Florida. No further information is available at this time regarding any connection between these two brands.

The 1954 Performer 15 was manufactured by U.S. Fiberglass Products of Costa Mesa, California with Max Boral as General Manager (Los Angeles Times, Jun. 20, 1954).

According to an article in the January 8, 1960 Los Angeles Times, the Performer Boat Co. began operations in 1954 in Compton. The article describes Performer building a new factory which would utilize an assembly-line system, producing hulls and decks on convergent lines with separate final finishing lines for runabouts and cruisers. Max Boral, president, entered into boat-building after working in merchandise distribution. Larry O'Gara, vice-president and chief engineer, was a former aircraft engineer who had worked for Douglas Aircraft. They deemed a new facility was necessary as the old plant had grown addition by addition and could not be re-configured efficiently. In the first three months of Performer Boat Corp.'s fiscal year, sales totaled $79,557 versus $41,579 for the same period in 1959. The company had 263 boats back-ordered at the time of publication (January 14, 1960 Los Angeles Times). Net profits for fiscal year 1959 ending August 31 totaled $23,132, a 65% increase over 1958 (November 6, 1959 Los Angeles Times). The company moved into it's new plant sometime in January 1960 (January 26, 1960 Los Angeles Times) which was designed by Quinton Engineers, LTD. and built by general contractor Co-Ordinated Construction, Inc. (July 26, 1959 Los Angeles Times). In February 1960, Gerald Govan became sales manager of Performer Boat Corp. (Feburary 25, 1960 Los Angeles Times).

The Performer Boat Corp. assets went on the auction block Saturday, March 3, 1962 at 17923 S. Santa Fe Ave. in Compton, California. Irving Bass acted as receiver. $135,080.16 of assets inventoried by the court included all fiberglass supplies, tools, the Performer boat molds, and leftover new and demonstrator boats including (3) 23' Tropicana cruiser models, (9) 16' Vagabond models, (1) 17' Islander, and (3) Ski Boat models (February 25, 1962 Los Angeles Times).

History by Andreas Jordahl Rhude

It appears as if Performer Boats were made by U.S. Fiber Glass Products, Inc. of Costa Mesa, CA. They started building boats about 1954. In 1958 they were located at 14720 Lakewood Blvd in Paramount, CA. Max Boral founded the company.

In 1959 a new $1 million dollar boat factory was built in the Rancho San Pedro industrial district. It looks as if Performer Boat Corp. was also established as a division of U.S. Fiber Glass Products, Inc. about that time period.

First quarter sales for fiscal year 1960 were 91.3% higher than the same period in 1959. $79,557 was the sales figure for the 3 months.

There was a public sale of company stock in 1960 and 1961.

So, the firm was still operating in 1961.

I cannot find any information about Performer boats after 1961.

Max Boral was born 22 December 1908 in Austria and became a naturalized US citizen on 14 December 1937 at Brooklyn, NY. He died on 27 September 1970 in Long Beach, CA. In 1959 had an eight year old son named Larry.

A 1965 Mercury MerCruiser sterndrive advertisement lists Performer Boat Company of Sacramento, California as a boat-builder using the MerCruiser units (July 1965 Popular Boating, p.7)

A later Performer Boat Co. operated in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for at least 1976 and 1977. Robert Castoro owned both Allfin Industries and Perfomer Boat Co. Frank Rossitto operated both businesses for him. Castoro bought Performer from Allen Piche May 14, 1988 Orlando Sentinel. Castoro was prosecuted for income tax evasion related to hiding income from sale of illegal drugs May 10, 1988 Orlando Sentinel. Performer Boat Co. may have operated as a division of Allfin Industries.

Model Information