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 Author  Topic: PT Boat Tour #1: Fleet Obsolete
newsnerd99

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message   Posted on: Jun 18, 2008 - 2:43am
Last weekend I took what is one of the best road trips I've done to date! My father and I did a PT-packed tour of the Northeast, hitting every must-see PT point along the way. I broke the trip up into different posts so any comments or questions can be specific to each place…and save the dial-up folks from downloading a ton of photos at once. Here we go:

The first stop was Kingston, NY and Fleet Obsolete. This is the collection of Rob Iannucci, a retired lawyer who has an interest in what seems to be any vintage form of transportation! He's first passion is Team Obsolete, a historic motorcycle racing team (the collection of bikes is around 70; the list of what they are is very impressive. See more at http://www.teamobsolete.com).

The previous week I made contact with Steve Ladin, who is listed as the PT Boat Museum Administrator on www.pt728.com. Steve was helpful and agreed to what he could to squeeze my tight schedule into his tight schedule Saturday morning. When I called a half-hour out from Kingston though Steve told me that his schedule had changed and he wouldn't be able to meet until after lunch. This wasn't possible because I was meeting Frank Andruss at 1:30 in Springfield, which was a healthy two-hours away. It wasn't a total loss however; Steve said the boats were easily viewable as you drove down the waterfront and I could at least see them! I had been worried they might be in a building or somewhere else hard to see. Not at all! Here's what they look like:





My dad and I parked at a nearby parking lot and walked over to the boats. I have to admit, it was thrilling to see the Elco (PT-615) and the Vosper (PT-728). I have never seen an honest-to-God PT boat in my life and I found myself just staring and smiling. While we were gawking and shooting our first photos, we heard voices coming from the neighboring building. Out pops three men, one of whom is quite animated; he is laughing and cursing about one of the boats. Eager to say hello to anyone involved with the PT's, I wait until two of the men walked away and then said hello the remaining gentleman. I asked if the animated fellow was Steve or Rob and success - Rob Iannucci was in the house! My dad and I introduced ourselves and the conversations started - Ferraris, motorcycles and of course, PT boats! Things were looking up as Rob invited inside the workshop, a magnificent old building that used to be the Cornell Steamboat Company:



Inside were several treasures - but the ones folks here care about the most are the seven Packard 4M 2500's sitting to one side! The result of Ebay auction wins, several of them appear to be from ELCO's; they had shifting levers similar to the ones I've see in photos from the 80-footer's engine rooms:





We continued to chat with Rob, talking about the rest of his interests - he told us about the several tugboats two miles of waterfront property he owns. It was great talking with him; Rob is very engaging and passionate about his projects. We exchanged contact information and we walked back out to the shop.



Rob then introduced us to Tim Ivory, who was in the middle of getting PT-728, the Vosper, back into shape. Tim Took me up into the boat to show me the large amounts of work that he's done and has yet to do on her. Stepping over exposed planking I was able to see a lot of her insides; unlike the other PT's I've seen photos of, you can travel essentially the length of the boat under her deck. Back topside, I couldn't stop looking over at PT 615:



Much like PT 617 was (Battleship Cove ELCO), the boat is just a hull. To a layman looking from the outside she looks great but what do I know? I thought the Vosper looked excellent but Tim has his work cut out for him on that one. After shooting photos, my dad and I chatted Tim up for a while about all things PT. His knowledge and efforts are truly impressive! I was able to ask him about the other two PT boats that are apart of the "fleet" but have yet to make their way to Kingston.

Boat number three in the fleet is PT 459, which is a 78' Higgins from Ron 30 and currently is up in Albany, NY. Tim said a previous owner did a chop job on her, shortening her roughly 20 feet. It would be a major project to get her back to her former glory but with her combat record it would make her (at least to me) mean more to historians, potential visitors, etc. Plus it's a Higgins! (I'm biased, I know.) It sounds like the first step is to just get her to stabilized when it comes to any deterioration and figure it out from there.

The last boat is Ted Walther's baby - PT 48. You can read other posts on the board about the 77' Elco - but obviously this would be the other crown jewel of any museum or display. She is still down in Florida waiting for her chance to come and join the fleet.

I was overwhelmed by the hospitality and friendliness of everyone we talked to that morning. Rob, Tim and Steve all had scheduled things to do that morning but they all did whatever they could to help out two "PT geeks" who were just passing through. With their passion, attitude, funding and the boats Rob has secured, I really think they're on to very exciting things. That being said - it looks like there is a lot of work to do.

Tim mentioned that he does check this board periodically and I told him I'd be posting on my trip, so I hope he'll chime in and correct or clarify anything I remembered wrong. I really can't say enough good things about these guys - they made the first stop on my PT trip absolutely incredible!

As a side note - Glenn Anderson had posted on here a little while ago about a 63' ARB that he thought was in the area. He was right - it's sitting in a cradle about 30 feet from the Vosper! She too is in need of some TLC but would appear to be overall sound. A posterboard inside the workshop states that she is a 1954 Aircraft Rescue Boat, R37A-1537 built in Detroit. So, Glenn - it sounds like this is your old boat! Tim said he was looking to do some work on her this summer.




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  Jerry Gilmartin

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Jerry Gilmartin   Send Email To Jerry Gilmartin Posted on: Jun 18, 2008 - 7:16am
James, (newsnerd99) and the rest of the message board crew, I think our Photobucket website is in the process of being bought by Facebook.com, and the links dont work right now. I cant even log onto Photobucket right now, maybe it will be fixed by itself later. Just FYI Jerry

Jerry Gilmartin

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  Glenn Anderson

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Post a Reply To This Topic    Reply With Quotes     Edit Message     View Profile of Glenn Anderson  Posted on: Jun 18, 2008 - 9:12am
James,

WOW! Words can't express my thanks!

Tim has his work cut out for him, doesn't he? I just wish I could help!

Our Sea Scout unit took on the chalange back in 1972 and in 18 months she was sea worthey and we took out first cruise. 1975 we visited Fall River, a great tribute to the men of the PT's.

I can almost imanage how your grandad felt when many PT's were burned as I was looking at the ARB photos!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I hope to make the same pilgramage as you and your dad did later this summer. I can't wait to meet Rob and Tim, they are an asset in restoration of the PT's and the ARB.

Thanks Again!
Glenn Anderson


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