There’s nothing like a relaxing day on the water, until something like this unmuffled twin V16 powerboat roars by, tearing a hole in time and space. Garfield “Gar” Wood built this 1931 Garwood Miss America VIII 30 ft motor boat (and others in the series) to break water speed records, and it comes to Mecum’s Kissimmee Florida auction on Saturday, 17 January 2026. Prospective buyers can smash their piggy bank and extract around $2 million USD, give or take a couple hundred thousand, according to Mecum’s estimate. Luckily the auction site includes an “Apply for Financing” button so, problem solved! Thanks to reader Mitchell G. for spotting this insane water toy.
Wood made ten of these speedsters, and the seller claims he favored this this eighth unit, calling it “the finest boat he (Gar Wood) ever built, barring none … my masterpiece.” The twin 1113 cid (18.2L) DOHC V16s replaced a previous pair of Packard V12 V16 motorcar mills. These custom creations by engine master Harry Miller devour a cocktail of air and fuel prepared by four Holley carburetors each. While we can surmise the Holleys are not original, the engines are! No other surviving Garwood Miss America can equal that boast, according to the listing. Miller’s magic grossed 930 HP per side, good enough for 104 MPH on the Harlem River in New York, according to the seller, virtually guaranteeing you’ll get to the yacht club on time, fast enough to net the Harmsworth Trophy twice.
A restoration retained 75% of the original wood, and she’s a beauty from stem to stern. Exploring the limits of your $2 million unique wooden masterpiece may seem like folly, but don’t think it won’t happen.
Each driveshaft extends forward to a gear box that spins a long prop shaft rearward where an elegant metal propeller awaits its chance to shred unsuspecting water molecules. Anyone committed to piloting this beast inches behind two giant engines while machinery whirls madly forward and beneath them certainly won’t mind riding with these coffin-sized fuel tanks. Do I hear someone crying for their Mommy?
Mahogany seat bottoms keep you connected to the boat’s visceral undulations. Coax a passenger into signing the necessary waivers and hold on tight. Once you crank up this 1800 HP death spear, those holes might be draining more than errant lake water. This boat’s exploration of the fine line between excitement and death can’t be properly appreciated by modern video game-trained steering wheel holders who think they’re Max Verstappen every time they turn off traction control. Not even close. Do you have what it takes to pilot this floating mahogany near-death experience?
My Grandfather and Great Uncle both owned a Gar Wood cabin cruiser in the early 40’s like the one in this picture. When I saw this beast on Fast Finds, I just couldnt believe this setup. You’re sitting directly behind two mammoth V16s. That kind of horsepower for 1931 is staggering when you think about it. 40 or 50 mph feels very fast on the water. But over 100? On the Harlem River? Wow!!! The workmanship and wood and those engines are just beautiful. Great write up Todd and great research and history too. I enjoyed it!!!
You said a mouthful, Dave-and your kin had excellent taste in boats too! WOW!
They did. From what I was told My Great Uncle “enjoyed” the boat, my Grandfather did most of the work and upkeep. If you catch my drift.
-Dave
Todd, you need to contact Chris Beebee and do a story on the Dodge brother’s W30 engine he restored. It took him a long time to find and make pieces. By the time he was done with the engine. The owner found the boat that the engine was originally built for. It took top honors at wooden boat classic at Lake Tahoe. The engine is just amazing!
Actually that engine is a W24, built by the Duesenberg brothers for Horace Dodge. I got to see it running on a test stand at the Lake Tahoe boat show in 1985 when I worked at Harrah’s Automobile Collection. It sounded incredible. For a really good write up on it find the web site Old Machine Press by William Pearce. Also an incredible rabbit hole for all sorts of neat engines
Like Dave and Nevada know.. 50/mph on the water has long been a gold standard.. you’re moving. ..
What a feature Fitch đź‘Ź đź‘Ť. Good eye Mitchell.
Two things cross my mind when I look at this; I first wonder what it would be like to pilot this down Flathead Lake if I brought it home. The next thing: What would it be like to ski behind this? I would think that it would be quite an adventure to ski behind this in a straight line. Of course, unless I won a big windfall this weekend my chances of skiing behind this boat would be less than winning the lottery twice in a row with the same set of numbers. But I like the boat!
You live by Flathead Lake?My sister & her husband were just
visiting us from Kalispell.I used to go up there all the time,starting
in the early ’70’s.
WAY TOO MANY Californians there now.
I grew up on a cattle ranch west of Sweetgrass but the Flathead Valley will always be my playground. I’ve got family and friends in Kalispell and my wife and I head for that part of the world several times a year, including NW Montana State Fair when my wife sets up her store, and I’m there to keep the trailer from blowing away.
And you’re right; there’s people with a lot of cash trying to buy the entire state, it seems. The series, Yellowstone, isn’t far off the mark.
geomechs, I learned to water ski behind a wooden Chris Craft with a 327, 350 hp engine in it. On Lake Geneva. I didn’t even have to think on how to get up on plane on my skis. I saw the throttle hit the stop and I was out of water and flying in the air. I just had to make sure that I landed flat on the water. I’m sure that this boat could launch you into orbit if the tow rope was long enough!
I was late to the race, learning to water ski but I was addicted from the getgo. Dad had an ancient rig with a Johnson 40 on it. Had no problem getting up on two with it but then, I was all of 12.
Graduated to bigger leagues when my friend’s dad got a Vanguard Banshee with a 125 Evinrude. That almost launched my 150 lbs into orbit!
Never skied behind anything faster and I have to say that the water was hard enough at 30 mph. I still have to imagine skiing behind something like this…
By “Gar”, all this just to turn a prop, fascinating, Captain. Just wood love boats, another in the “look but that’s it” category, now this? Good heavens, takes the “more must be better” thing a bit further. It’s all show, folks, but I read, with the Packard engines, it was the 1st boat to go over 100 mph. Unheard of in 1931. It just looks unsafe, sitting way back like that, no cush for the tush, and if something blows, it’s in your face. Really cool feature, about as practical as those pulling tractors with 6 motors, that amazingly, don’t do any better than some single motor jobs. I don’t know, I’d have to think half the cylinders aren’t firing and you’d never know it, now those drag boats with the nitro motors, THAT takes chutzpah.
Howard, if you’re into wooden boats and you live in ‘Sconsin (which I gather from previous posts) check out Glacier Lakes Chapter ACBS on Facebook. Many events are held after hard water disappears. I’ll guarantee 99.999% of the owners at any given show would gladly do more than just have you look! I’d certainly be happy to give you a ride.
Howard’s in Colorado,but is from Wisconsin.
Hi first53, I grew up on a lake in S. central Wis., Lake Sinnissippi( no relation to the river) a big, yet shallow lake, a dammed up portion of the Rock River and in the 60s and 70s, boating was more than huge, everybody had a boat. Surprisingly, at that time, I saw very few wooden boats, most were fiberglass by then. There was a guy that had a marina/gas station on the lake, his name was “Big George”, and his wife, Loraine raced some kind of wood boat with a monster motor of some kind. You could always tell when she had the boat out, it rattled the windows of our cottages. I suppose that would be annoying today, with boat traffic reduced to pontoons and PWCs, but we thought it was cool.
Howard, my dear friend and mentor passed away some fourteen months ago. His stepfather owned and operated a lakeside bar and restaurant in the same area. Can’t recall what lake he said it was, and too late now. He did everything from waiting tables to playing the Hammond for guests. Good times from his recollections! He shared the sound of the old woodies reached deep into his soul. Taught me more about restorations than I can even recall. Great guy and I wish I could have been part of the fun, but I’m not quite 70.
As an aside, I don’t think this boat reached reserve. This may be a bellwether moment for the upper echelon of boat collecting.
Got a race car buddy that used to drag race his “nitro motor” 160 mph boat. Now he uses it to rattle the fishermen on his local lake. Showed a video that convinced me to stay on race tracks, the dry land type.
If I had 2 million dollars I could find a lot cheaper and fun way to go 100 mph!
Scary fast on water is twice as scary as scary fast on land!
Very interesting story and great write up!
A less interesting side story – Garwood Industries also made parts for the automotive industry, and they were the OEM manufacturer of the “simulated” (aka fake) mag hubcaps available as a factory option on Chevrolets beginning in 1965. I believe they also may have made the similar mag caps for Ford and Mopar in that timeframe. I guess making all the plated pot-metal pieces found on boats made Garwood very efficient at the process, so the pot-metal mag caps were right in their wheelhouse (pun intended)!
A set of 4 brand new 1965-66 Chevrolet mag caps still in the original Garwood Industries shipping box (not yet repackaged into a GM box) showed up on eBay about 20 years ago. I bid a WHOLE LOT, but was nowhere close to winning.
Additional research on the company history back then (which was not as easy as it is today) indicated that by then they had long been out of making boats and passenger car trinkets, and their only continued motor-vehicle manufacturing at that time was producing commercial garbage trucks and compactor trucks (which they had originally started back in the 30’s).
The wiki on Mr. Wood is well worth the read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garfield_Wood
This thing is insane, I can’t imagine the sound that comes off those motors right in your face. The left motor is counter rotating as are most twin screws, the original Packard left was as well. With the weight of these motors this thing probably slows down like is has a basement underneath.
The mentality behind this boat reminds me of the 150 on my first bass boat in 1980, it wasn’t fast enough. I ended up going faster and faster until I ended up with 250HP EFI in 2001. Still wanted to go faster.
I watch alot of videos of Europeans saying they really do that in America .? Yes yes we do If you’re not willing to go over the top half crazy move over because someone else will
Oh, I’m sure the Europeans have shows about “Those Wacky Americans( and how they spend their millions)” It’s true, give an American a million dollars( or 2) , they’ll give you a million( or 2) ways to pixx it away.
Seeing this immediately brought to mind the Hacker “Thunderbird” at lake Tahoe. Re-powered by Bill Harrah with contrarotating Allison V-12’s out of a P-38! Which makes sense since Bill also owned a P-38 that he kept at his museum in Sparks at that time.
I remember when this was launched after a long rebuild. It made a beautiful resonant sound through the water cooled exhaust.
https://www.rustmag.com/new-blog/2021/8/4/thunderbird
Now this one I imagine it would be deafening to sit behind, even at the detuned 900hp. It doesn’t say these are Allisons, they look a bit smaller. I wonder if they are contrarotating? It doesn’t say. Bummer that there isn’t a video of a start and run.
Nothing says old money like the excess of these boats and the boat dock and fine house that they belong at.
Really cool “boathouse” find!
I do live in Europe…and I agree!
https://silodrome.com/gar-wood-miss-america-viii/
Garfield Wood as a child from Western Iowa hated to shove coal from the truck to his families home for the furnace. So he invented the hydraulic dump truck!
That’s predominantly where the money came from to go racing. And hence, Garwood boats were born.
Thanks for bring this aspect of Gar Wood to the fore. Most of the dump trucks I was around in my young years either had GarWood (I think it was like that on the rating plate) or Galion dump bodies and hoists. We worked the daylights out of these old trucks, almost always running far over the GVW of the truck (local, not ICC regulated) and I don’t ever remember a load that wouldn’t dump because of being grossly overweight. And most of these trucks had single circuit hydraulic brakes with a feeble “emergency” drum brake on the driveshaft! Why so many of us lived to our current ripe old age is a mystery.
Just a perfect writeup on a rare & crazy wooden boat. Who’d a thought.
Here’s a link to some info on the Miller V-12s. They were originally supercharged. https://oldmachinepress.com/2013/09/03/miller-1113-cu-in-v-16-marine-engine/
I can imagine that this sounds much like the early hydroplanes I used to watch on Lake Washington. Before they switched to jet engines
Born and raised in Madison, Indiana where hydroplane racing continues to this day. We could hear the sound of Allisons and Merlins running wide-open from our home on the hilltop. I was on the riverbank watching Jim McCormick win the Governor’s Cup which later became a movie. Great place to be a kid. One of the husbands of a church member worked on Allisons. He would be flown all over the world to work on P-38’s. Dad, my brother and I stopped by his shop one day after church where he was at work on an unlimited. He gave a sly wink and said, “You boys want to hear this run?” Good times, indeed.
SeaFair … “Such Crust” “Gale V”. Bill Muncy “Miss Tri-Cities” …etc.
Here is a video of this boat from two days ago…
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1ABvAEoYCr/
I would be very happy just to see this boat on display…. the craftsmanship is gorgeous and it is a work of art… As far as riding in it…. I think not! I’ve been in Donzi speed boats that do 60MPH and that is enough!! 60 in a boat feels like 120 in a car!! That is the fastest I have ever travelled a car! You have to have a lot of millions lying around to buy something like this! It’s not in my league, but as they say, “There is an ass for every seat!” I’m not sure that saying was intended for a double entendre in every instance!!
Here’s a video with some info
https://youtu.be/yArx9xKLWo0?si=3LT6JvbbvzPT6DT0
I clicked on the “apply for financing”. Mecum soon directed me to a surplus auction with a 15ft. Lund and 9.9 Mercury…
On the other hand, Ill have fewer exhaust pipes to keep polished..
To get your fill of wooden boats visit the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton, New York.
Another wooden boat of excess is “Pardon Me “ a 30 footer as well but BIG .
Pardon Me is powered by a World War II-era 1500 HP V12 supercharged Packard PT boat engine, which uses nearly 100 gallons of high-octane fuel per hour.
Wonder which was consumes the most fuel.
Great write up , had me laughing out loud.
Outstanding write up, Todd. I can personally attest that 60+ mph on the water is getting into “pucker of the lower rear ejection port” territory. In my younger days I was an avid water skier. I wasn’t half bad. A friend had a boat powered by a big Lincoln V8. It was a legitimate 60 mph vessel. He dared me to slalom behind it. I did and I managed to hang on for dear life. You best believe I wasn’t cutting the wake. In five minutes I was done. PTL my friend never hit full throttle. I still wonder what would have happened if I had wiped out. I sure would love to see and hear this bad boy in action. What an incredible vessel.
cool boat but it’s a death ride on the water. very nicely done i am sure this will bring big bucks
Death ride for sure, Hairyolds. I’ll stick with sail, thank you.
As far as I can tell, Packard did not make V-16 engines at all. The only V-16 auto engines of the period were made by Cadillac and Marmon. Packard did flirt with aircraft engines during the 20s and 30s, but no V-16s there either.
During WW 2, Packard made the engines for the navy’s PT boats. Each of the small, wooden boats was powered by three V-12 engines.
boy, I bet the neighbors just love it when the owner decides to fire it up for a couple runs. We have enough problem here with wake boats.
Y read an article about Gar Wood that I believe was in a magazine called Avante Guard (sp ?) that was put out I believe by Play Boy for a short while. Gar Wood did a lot of “big” things. He had a mansion on a river in Michigan that he could simply drive one of his big boats into and dry dock it and there was a wine cellar some how under water in the ultimate man garage. He also had a radio so powerful he could talk with his brother in Europe. Yet the only thing I ever saw his name was on the garbage trucks of the 60’s and 70’s.
The Packards that originally powered Miss America VIII were 12 cylinder.
I sold this boat to the current owner 10 years ago.
It could have been 10 years ago that I saw this boat at Millers at the Mile. Did you have it there? I suspect Dana is the owner and had it there in Milwaukee. He had his indy cars there.
40 some years ago When I was doing stage rallying I was approached to try a racing boat. It ain’t nothing like controlling a car. My buttometer that helps me control a car at the limit doesn’t work on water.
Just talked to my friend. He said when we saw this at the Millers event that they ran the engines. The superchargers were there but not installed.
If you would like to see something cool go onto You Tube and search for 10,000 HP drag boats/273 mph. Racing in a 20 foot 3 point hydro v8 nitro powered drag boat, makes a 100 mph ski boat look like slow motion
Hilarious spot on write up!
As a once avid Classic Boating subscriber back in the day I dreamed of owning a Gar Wood. Thankfully common sense got the better of me. Unless you have the disposable maintenance income you will shortly be buried under an undoable do list.
I cannot imagine what it must feel like to open the throttle on this baby sitting on a powder keg with all that weight amidships and you floating on the stern holding on for dear life. A driver would be a better man than I, Gunga Din :)
Holy mother of god. The Packards weren’t powerful enough?!
“None of the others still have the actual engines that were fitted and used by Gar Wood”
Mecum is not telling the truth in its writeup.
That is true. Mecum write up is accurate.
I would love to sit in the pilots seat with engines at full roar. I’ve only been to 80 mph with my tunnel hull and that was pretty pucker inducing.
Great write-up, and a beautiful example of craftsmanship and chutzpah on steroids. I had the pleasure of growing up with a best friend’s family that had built wooden boats for the Green River Marathon. Double-transom, 20 feet long and built to take slamming down the Colorado river. The youngest son, my friend, built an 8 foot plywood/fibreglassed Hydroplane, four feet wide, 9 inches high at the transom, and powered by a 50 horse Merc. You sat on your knees straddling the steering wheel, and the whole thing pressed down to nearly deck-awash. When you lit it up, its bow rose to two feet above the water, and when it hydroplaned, the accelleration to 40knots felt faster than my 1960 Ford Starliner (the 360hp 352). Exhilerating!
I learned to ski on the South China Sea just off Grande Island Subic Bay 1970.
I have an 80mph boat, but it has 3 or 4 times the the freeboard as this. If you’re going to run this expensive collector antique, it better be on a smooth as glass lake, which was probably how it managed it’s top speed originally . Then ease it down VERY carefully, lest your wake swamp the transom and 2 V16 anchors send 2m straight down to Davey Jone’s locker. BTW, towing a skier would be out of the question.
An old friends dad had a 31’ cigarette with twin 502 supercharged engines, he took us out for a ride hit 80 it felt like 120 what a blast that ride was, I can just imagine what the thrill would be like in this boat! If I had the opportunity to get a ride I would definitely take it no questions asked!
I have a custom built 18 foot deep V boat with a 433 Nailhead Buick and a Berkeley pump for power. I started running it in 1971. It will top 70 and at that speed there is only 4 feet of hull touching the water. With the jet there is no rudder or prop creating drag because nothing protrudes below the hull. The pump intake is within the last 2 feet of the hull. At top speed I can throw it into a tight 180 degree U turn without concern. It would be interesting if someone built a jet with the power of s Merlin or the engines in the Gar Wood.
In the late 60’s I used to visit friends that rented rooms at Gar Woods mansion on the Detroit river. On a private island in the city of Detroit. By than an investor owned the place and looked at covering his costs by renting it out to a bunch of kids- I believe that there was about 20 of them. Quite a place- indoor pool, boat house on the back of the place that could accommodate a 40 foot boat. Supposed to have the largest pipe organ in a private home- two stories tall. Built in the heyday of the city in the 1930’s. I remember the one in a lifetime parties at that place- name bands on weekends like the James Cotton blues band, MC 5- Jim Morrison was supposed to have stopped by when he was in Detroit. Great times for a young guy- all gone now but the memories.
Also the Lake Tahoe show. August 7th & 8th.
https://laketahoeconcours.com/
There is one of the 10 on display at the Packard Proving Grounds in Detroit. I laid eyes on it a couple years ago at a Bring A Trailer event there. Just a stunning piece of history and I cannot even imagine the cacophony those engines emit at full onions. A sight to behold.
A a sight to behold, certainly. Yet as one who cringes at the harsh, soul-shaking, guttural roar of an unmuffled Harley, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that cacophony.
I grew up working on and piloting wood hulls in Newport, CA.
That is not an ocean going vessel.
If one has stupid amounts of money; that is a great toy!
Be prepared to have someone on salary full time to maintain it, and have the boathouse to store and work on it.
Wood hulls and varnish are constant work.
Once you get done, start over.
A guy I knew had made himself a career of maintaining Newsboy; a 12 meter wood hull. Competed in the Americas Cup almost 100 years ago.
Nice boat, but, no thanks.
This would be a show stopper at Tahoe.
Sold for $2,200,000 at the Mecum Kissimmee Auction on January 17, 2026
Not surprised!