Stolen from:
586 Main St., 
Glen Williams, Ont., 
Malcolm Black’s Stone Mill.
Area: just north of Georgetown, Ontario. Hwy 7 and Winston Churchill Blvd.

The boat was sitting on an antique racing trailer.  Axle: beam axle from a car with steering welded straight.
Drawbar: round pipe with front post on a bit of a tilt to one side.  Hitch: side entry hitch with lifting keeper on right side
Condition at time of theft:  ROUGH. The boat was rescued from a farmer’s field last year by Dave Norton, Malcolm Black and Gerry Chamberlain for future restoration or replication by inner city kids at Mahogany Harbour (see photo below). The decks, which had been glassed, were delaminating and wavy, there are holes in the sides, but it seems to still have its shape. The boat is still in Hopper Racing Team colors, green with gold trim, just like Dave's GASHOPPER.

History: 
Built in 1957 by R.E. Thompson of Hamilton, Ont.
The original owner was Chuck Irish and the boat was called CHEETAH when he raced it in ’57 - ’59. It was built as a 225 class and had the ford flathead V8-85 in it when Dave got it in 1960. Dave repowered it initially with a 266 Chevy and ran well in that class winning often. For 1967, Dave repowered again with a bored 283 to run in the world championships at Expo.  He won silver. It won the 280 class one season and Dave considered it to be a good boat. Dave sold it to Peter Langmuir in about 1980 and he kept it at his cottage, in the water, tied to the dock all summer with rides on the weekend. Local pressure surprisingly led to mufflers being installed and when the Museum picked it up the side exhaust ports were evident. This explains in part how the boat could still be painted in Hopper Racing Team colors 20 years after Dave sold it. All hardware was removed and is still in the museum’s possession. There is no engine.

CONCLUSIONS:
Glen Williams is a tourist destination and the mill is a point of interest in the village. There is lots of “outside” traffic and bike clubs often pass through as well. There is a pub down the street. The boat was covered with green plastic tarps and the whole works is gone. Whoever took it knew what they were taking but may not have guessed at the condition. What they really stole is an invitation to spend a lot of time and money building a new raceboat! The museum wants the boat back so it can take the lines etc. Another museum member, Todd Martin, has just acquired another of Dave's old raceboat, OUR HOPPER, and we were looking forward to having a three boat HOPPER team at our events.
Please pass any whispers along to us for follow up.
Malcolm Black, director, Toronto Boat Museum
Contact us at 905 873-0141 or by email: blackbox@cogeco.ca

Condition of Hippity Hopper when found sitting in a farmer's field.