TOPIC: American MARC, Inc. boats

A few days ago, in the old forum, someone was asking about American Marc, Inc. fiberglass boats. I have done some digging.

American Marc, Inc. of 1601 West Florence Avenune in Inglewood, Calif. was a manufacturer of small diesel engines and generators. Some of their customers for diesel engines were inboard boat builders, both power and sail.

In May 1958 the company received a $2 milion government contract for diesel engines.

In July 1959 American Marc purchased the Creger Marine firm, a builder of wooden power and sail boats ranging is size from 24 to 30 ft. Part of the reason for the purchase was as an outlet for the American Marc diesel engines. W. Denis Kendall was president of American Marc at that time.

A month later, in August 1959, American Marc purchased Rocket Marine, Inc. of El Monte, CA - a maker of small fiberglass boats. This became the fiberglass American Marc boat line.

About the same time, American Marc, Inc. introduced to the world what they claimed to be the first diesel outbord motor. The "AMARC 10" was rated at 7 1/2 HP.

In January 1960 American Marc made a deal with Craig Systems, Inc. of Lawrence, Mass. where Craig would make the fiberglass American Marc boat line for sale in 17 eastern states. In August 1960 Craig Sysems leased a 50,000 sq.ft. complex in Haverhill, Mass. for the molding and assembly of the fiberglass American Marc boats.

Meanwhile, American Marc was building a new boat factory at 2601 Manhattan Beach Blvd. in Redondo Beach, Calif. It was opened in April 1960 and a news article claimed it had the capacity to make 12,000 fiberglass boats annually. In February 1960 the company announced it would build a factory and showroom in Miami, Florida.

American Marc donated a 24 ft. boat with twin diesel inboard engines to the Long Beach community for use as a rescue boat and weather reporting station.

Amercican Marc, Inc. was listed on the stock exchange and traded publicly. Rear Admiral (retired) Arthur W. Radford, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was named a director of American Marc in October 1960.

In February 1961 one of the American Marc 30 ft. catamaran power-sail boats capsized in the Pacific Ocean and two men drowned. One was an employee of the company and the boat was being brought to Santa Barbara to a dealer for demonstration purposes.

American Marc purchased three southern California oil drilling firms in December 1961.

Somewhere along the line American Marc, Inc. was purchased by Pike Corporation of America who then sold the company in December 1967 to Eon Corp. At the time, American Marc was building small diesel engines.

It appears as if the fiberglass pleasure boat operations of Amercian Marc only lasted for 1 1/2 to 2 years. And they claimed to be able to make up to 18,000 boats a year with their California, Florida (don't think this ever opened for production) and Massachusettes operations. I doubt they made more than a few hundred boats as it turned out.

Anyway, thought I'd share what I gleaned from newspaper and magazine articles.

Andreas Jordahl Rhude

Andreas,

Excellent write up & research! I just put up the info that I had perviously found on american Marc over the past 10 years or so. this is in the history of the American Marc section. Much of what you have here offers far more detail than I have, so it needs to be put up on the A.M. section history. You can do this yourself if you want, or if you prefer, I'll copy what you have put here & paste it under the AM history. I will cite you as the author of what you submitted here.

Thanks!

B.G.

Please go ahead and post it. I'd have no clue how to do that. You can omit the first and last sentences.

Andreas

Done!

You can take a look at the AM section by clicking on the "Glassic Library" tab. Please let me know if you would like changes to text or your citation.

Thanks again!

B.G.

One of the wonderful features of the wiki format is that different pages can be linked together. I went ahead and added links from the American Marc page to the Craig page and the Rocket Marine page (which didn't exist until I whipped one together). I would suggest when editing other manufacturer pages to create links when other manufacturers are mentioned so that we can tie it all together.

I'm finding it really cool that we are publishing an online history of the boating industry in the 50's and '60s. The speed and collaborative function of the wiki format is just what this hobby needs- everyone contributing their specific research and knowledge into one expansive, definitive resource.

Hi all ,
Was nice to read all the material you guy's posted .
I was particularly interested in the Stardust and it's relationship to the Haydon Hydrodyne , the Australian version .
Did your research come across anything in this regard?
Seems a few boats made the trip across with just a badge change.
Sensational site rebuild! Congratulations to all involved .
Regards

Yochemin

Nope, no mention of any boats going to Australia or an Aussie connection. But that does not mean it did not occur. I just did not find anything that mentioned it.

Cheers!

Andreas

Hi Andreas ,
I think it must have been lease arrangement one the moulds , I believe my boat was laid up here [see Photo , it reads Haydon] I've got a Dorsett Catalina thats a Caribbean Catalina down here .
It's strange there is not a more detailed history , as there looks to have been quite a bit of this type of manufacturing going on !
Regards ,

Steve

Just a tid-bit more on the Florida connection

moeslyseacraft.com/SeaCraftBeginning.aspx

The Aussie Stardust was called a Hydrodyne?!?!

Craig called it the Kit Kat

PS, if you want to go 50mph in a stardust, as they suggested in the original sales lit, you're gonna need a little more poop than the 80 HP boat was rated for. If I still had one of the two I once owned, I'd double the thickness of the transom. Same goes for most of the old tailfin boats. They were way underbuilt.

Hi Bruce ,
Yup! the boat was called the Haydon Hydrodyne , In the old gallery section of the old site , amongst the American Marc stuff there was a Aussie brochure for the Haydon , 2 models on the blurb from memory .
The transom on my boat had been replaced and strengthened and is now a long shaft .
I do know what you mean though , on my other early Aus speedboat there was pretty much not support there nor anywhere else , she must have been really frightening , even though only rated to 65 hp
Regards , Steve

PS I'll post a picture , see if she looks like anything American .

Here is a couple pics of my American Marc's Catamarine and Stardust that is a basket case just waiting on me. Also the Hydrodyne Stardust cut sheet

Quess one pic per post so here Hydrodyne

My Stardust

Just curious of the value of these boats. I have inherited a double hull american marc catamaran ski boat. Any info or direction is greatly appreciated.

What condition is it in? Garaged for it's life? Left outdoors? Motor working? Trailer in good shape, good tires, lights all work? Hard to even guess a price without some info, and 3 or 4 pics at least.

Frank

It has been garaged maybe 20 years and the last 7 outside but covered. Don't really know if motors run but the paint and body look really good. It a marine blue on top and white on bottom. I'll try and get some photos. It also has two 45hp motors on it. I believe them to be the original motors.

it also looks like the craig marine built right here in Haverhill, MA. Their corp office was in Lawrence but the boats were built here in Haverhill.

Hej! Nice to see this boat. My father had one that he bought in 1960 or 61, in Stockholm, Sweden. It had two white Mercury 25 HP outboards and the deck-colour was turquoise. The seats was white and the stearingwheel was gold flake painted and with the inscription Wolfram (or similar) It made approx. 25 knots at that time. It was sold in late 70 th to a boat service warf and then we have no history what happened to it. It was a nice time and we did a lot of waterskiing, since the boat was made for it.

With best regards,

Ulf Stenberg
Sweden
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Hej! Nice to see this boat. My father had one that he bought in 1960 or 61, in Stockholm, Sweden. It had two white Mercury 25 HP outboards and the deck-colour was turquoise. The seats was white and the stearingwheel was gold flake painted and with the inscription Wolfram (or similar) It made approx. 25 knots at that time. It was sold in late 70 th to a boat service warf and then we have no history what happened to it. It was a nice time and we did a lot of waterskiing, since the boat was made for it.

With best regards,

Ulf Stenberg
Sweden
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hej Hej Ulf. Welcome aboard!

Andreas (of Norwegian heritage)

Hej Andreas.

Do you know where I can find more pictures of th American Marc´s Catamarine?same as my father had. and do you know if there is one for sale in USA.

Looking forward hearing from you

All the best


Ulf

Ulf, I am not aware of any for sale nor do I know where to obtain photos.

Andreas

Don’t know if you’re still interested, I have a 16ft catamarine. No motors, hull OK needs total restoration and repaint. Contact me if you want it.

Hej.

I am from Sweden. In early 1960th my father bought a mint green Marc´s Catamarine, with two white Mercury 25 HP outboards. The seats was white and the steering wheel was made of gold flake acrylic. If I remember correct the name of the Steering wheel was Wolrath or similar. I think there was two Marc´s Catamarins in Sweden one black and ours in mint green color. The black one had Mercury 50 HP outboards. If you have more pictures please let me know. I will ask my sister if she have any pictures left that I can publish on this site. With best regards, Ulf Stenberg

Hi Ulf

I'm pretty sure it's your old boat that's now in the possession of a good friend of mine for a number of years. He will sell it if you are interested.

Hej Tencara

Thanks for your message. Do you have any idea what your friend is asking for it. That color is it, what kind of outboarders are included, and how is the general condition. Where is your friend located in USA? As you know shipment , customs and the currency USD vs SKR is bad at the moment, but I am of course curious to get more information. Attached some photos from 1962 or 1963.

Hej Ulf

Båten finns i Stockholm, och jag tror faktiskt att det är just er båt det är frågan om. Det är en bekant till mig som har den, och den är till salu.

Skicka ett mail till mig så kan vi kontakta varandra. jlu.lunden @gmail.com

Mvh

Jörgen