Joe Guess- boat builder

VINTAGE RACERS REDISCOVERED:
“After many years of trying, I have been able to purchase the Z-Z-ZIP from Carl Schmidli of North Tonawanda, NY. Carl stored this 1955 Joe Guess raceboat in his pole barn for the last 20 years. He bought the Z-Z-ZIP from Gordie Reed, with the intentions of racing it, but that never happened. To my surprise the boat was kept in beautiful condition. Thanks to her previous owners, Al Brinkman, Gordie Reed and especially Carl.
To me the most remarkable aspect is that all the original parts are there and intact. Including the Hi-J record holding propeller, the original aluminum cowlings, and the record setting Clay Smith, Bobbie Sykes and Keith Black DeSoto crossram fuel injected V-8 engine with a Wilber Houghton custom built gearbox. Would you believe that even Sid Street’s aluminum paddle was still in the cockpit! I’m a firm believer of giving credit where credit is due. The story here is Joe Guess. “To say that Joe just built the boat is an understatement. This truly is a work of perfection. Joe carefully planned his boats and the labor assumed the proportion of a career. One year, two years, whatever it took, time meant nothing. This is a masterpiece that equals anything seen at Indianapolis in the way of top quality craftsmanship. The result was a world record in 1958 at 146.945 mph”.
Joe Guess built five boats. His first boat, a 135 hydro, was built prior to the WWII. After the war, Joe built two GUESS WHO 266 ci hydroplanes. Bobby Sykes drove the second GUESS WHO to a world record of 121.703 mph in 1952. Another one of his creations was the COPPER HEAD, a 225 ci hydro. The final Joe Guess hull was the Z-Z-ZIP built for Sid Street.”
Above from Tom D’Eath’s “From the Vintage Notebook” [Sept. 1999] which was a series of articles that appeared in the American Power Boat Association’s Propeller magazine each month on the happenings of the APBA Vintage & Historic division.

Our webpage on Z-Z-ZIP / IROQUOIS CHIEF is here.