Tiny Titan by Mr. Kim Thomet, Hastings, Michigan

March 5, 2009

In 1969 my father and I built the Tiny Titan in our basement. I painted it orange with a black strip down the middle and we purchased a 10 H.P. Chris-Craft outboard and installed it with a steering wheel and dead-man’s throttle. Two years later I painted it red, white, and blue. Many weekends were spent on Hardy Dam Pond (the back waters of the Muskegon River near Morely, Michigan) and Bass Lake near Traverse City, Michigan. I felt pretty cool driving a boat that seemed fast at the time, but slow compared in today’s standards (60 mph on a jet ski?).

The boat was sold in approximately 1972 and in 1975 the fellow that bought the boat approached me and said he had never used it and wanted to give it back to me. I accepted and it sat in the barn for the next 34 years. A buddy saw it that owns a auto body shop, and his comment was, “Let’s paint it.”

So here it is 40 years later with a paint job that cost 10 times more than the boat. It is so nice that I haven’t decided if I should put it in the water or hang it off the wall as art.

Hundreds of good memories were made in the building and operating of this little boat. Thank you for inspiring my father and I years ago with the brochure.

PS. I still have that too!

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