The best way to understand the environment in which the Chris Craft Cobra was created is to recall a few memorable events of 1955:

 

• The economic environment: the average house sold for $10,950, average yearly wages were $4,130, inflation stood at 0.28%, the average car sold for $1,950

• The consumer economy was being born: Americans bought 7.9 million cars, the first pocket transistor radios were being sold, and the first electricity from atomic reactors was powering new black & white TV’s and consumer appliances

• The first McDonalds restaurant opened and the first cans of Coca Cola were sold

• On the popular scene: “Oklahoma” and “Rebel Without a Cause” were the most popular movies, but heartthrob James Dean was killed in a car crash in California; Disneyland opened in California; the biggest rock ‘n roll hits were “Tutti-Frutti” by Little Richard and “Maybelline” by Chuck Berry

• Where would we be without: Lego’s and Velcro were invented and both Steve Jobs and Bill Gates were born.

 

It’s not surprising then that the idiosyncratic design of the 1955 Chris Craft Cobra runabout was the result of this confluence of events, trends, and aspirations that uniquely defined the 1950’s in the United States.  While Chris Craft was fully geared up from its consumer boat hiatus during WW II, just like U.S. car companies, it was trying desperately to follow, or in some cases create, consumer trends that were rapidly changing.  Americans loved technology, chrome plating, and happy, vibrant colors.  They relished speed and flashy styling.  Rock ‘n Roll was just being created and there was a distinctly youthful ethos in the Country.  Chris Craft management knew that its “bread and butter” products were family oriented boats for the emerging middle class, plus a few cruisers for upper middle class buyers.  But, seeing the tremendous reception consumers gave the new “personal sports cars”, the Chevrolet Corvette in 1954 and the new Thunderbird from Ford in 1955, Chris Craft saw a chance to enhance its brand image and get potential buyers into its show rooms.  It’s designers sought to capture the spirit of the times with a sleek, futuristic design bristling with the latest technology.  Since the price point for this new boat was to be almost three times the price of the average car, and more than the entire annual take home pay of the average American, they had to get it right; the Company was way out on a limb with this design and price point.

 

So, was the Cobra a success?  There are two distinctly different answers to that question.  There seems little doubt that the Cobra was an aesthetic success.  The design remains fresh more than 60 years later, and most would call the Cobra a design icon, in the same category as the Jaguar XKE and the Chrysler 300 series autos.  The Cobra showcased many new technologies: the first use of fiberglass by Chris Craft, the latest, most powerful automotive engines, and futuristic plexiglass windshields.  Thus, there is no doubt that the Cobra brought excitement into Chris Craft show rooms in 1954 and 1955. 

 

However, the Cobra was definitely not, in itself, a commercial success.  Production began late in 1954 (the first Cobra was shipped January 14, 1955) and ended September 14, 1955, after only 108 boats.  There were two primary versions of the Cobra, an 18-foot long and a 21-foot long version.  Each version offered a number of engine options.  In the end, consumers chose to buy 52 of the 18-foot version and 56 of the 21 footers.  It’s hard to imagine that the market was completely saturated by that number in a year in which 7.9 million automobiles were sold, but the Cobra was a complex and expensive build, and even at the high list prices, it’s unlikely Chris Craft made any money on the boats.  Thus, it’s very likely management simply decided- “mission accomplished” on brand enhancement, and went on to focus on building thousands of their bread and butter boats.  Of course, the styling, performance and rarity of the Cobra have made it an icon in wooden boat history.

 

007 was the seventh production 21 foot Cobra, hence its BR 21-007 hull number.  The boat was shipped from the Chris Craft factory in Cadillac, Michigan to the San Francisco, California Chris Craft dealer John G. Rapp on February 12, 1955.  007 was ordered by Edgar F. Kaiser Sr., the son of famous industrialist Henry J. Kaiser Sr., and a successful business executive in his own right.   007 was one of only 21 Cobras ordered with the new 331 cubic inch Chrysler hemispherical-head v-8 engine, known as the “Hemi” among its fans.  The new hemi engine was dominating stock car racing at the time, and this fact no doubt led Kaiser to choose the hemi over the higher stated horsepower Cadillac engine (also 331 cubic inches in displacement).  While the Chrysler offered “only” 200 horsepower versus the Cadillac’s stated 285 horsepower, Kaiser had plans that suited the Chrysler engine better than the Cadillac. 

 

At the time he ordered and took delivery of 007, Edgar Kaiser was Chairman of Kaiser Steel Company, Chairman of Kaiser Aluminum and Chemical, and the General Manager of the Kaiser-Frazer Automobile Company.   Both Edgar and his father were heavily involved in unlimited hydroplane racing at the time, and Henry Sr. had been successfully racing boats at Lake Tahoe since the mid 1930’s. 

 

At the car Company, Edgar had made the decision to be the first major production automobile company to offer a supercharged engine, although Cord-Duesenberg had offered supercharged engines in very limited quantities earlier.  The Kaiser-Frazer “Manhattan” model was delivered with a supercharger as a standard offering.  The supercharger Kaiser chose was from McCulloch Engineering, and over the years more than 5,400 McCulloch superchargers were delivered on the Manhattan and other Kaiser-Frazer models (and more than 46,000 across all manufacturers).  These superchargers developed about 5 pounds of boost (additional pounds of air pressure per square inch at the intake), and created a stated horsepower increase of 40% to 50% over stock with no additional engine modifications!  With engine modifications, the increase in horsepower could be substantially greater, as was the case with 007.  These superchargers were so effective that they were later (1957) banned from stock car racing because they created an “unfair advantage”.  Kaiser felt that this supercharger could create tremendous horsepower in the free-flowing Chrysler hemi engine, so he directed his Kaiser-Frazer technicians to install two (if one is good, two have to be better!) McCullochs on the hemi engine in 007.   He also directed his team to replace the original pitiful two-barrel carburetion setup on the hemi as delivered, with a single four-barrel Carter carburetor.  The VS57 superchargers were later (1958) replaced by higher-output DOVS59 units.  The net result of these changes was to increase horsepower from the claimed 200 hp at delivery to about 500+ actual hp (as measured on a dynamometer) after the carburetion and other engine modifications (the superchargers alone added more than 160 hp according to the dyno!). 

 

Thus, 007 is really a one-of-one boat.  The boat was used for racing on Lake Tahoe, by Edgar and by Ale Kaiser, Henry Sr.’s second wife.  It was also used by Edgar during his visits to Tahoe and was his runabout of choice when his racing team won the Gold Cup with his unlimited hydroplane Hawaii Kai III in 1958.

 

007 spent its time at Lake Tahoe at the Kaiser family estate, Fleur du Lac.  While at Fleur du Lac, until at least 1959, 007 shared a berth with one of the most famous boats on Tahoe, Hornet II (or Fleur du Lac as she was known after WWII).

 

As often happens, 007 became less important to the Kaiser family and was sold with Fleur du Lac, the Kaiser family estate, in 1962.  The new owner of the estate sold 007 and it finally ended up in a boat yard in San Francisco sometime after 1970.   Owned by a “shady character” (as described by the third owner), 007 had fallen into some disrepair.  In 1987, 007 was rescued from the boat yard by the third owner, Ken Nelson.  In an interesting twist, Ken had heard about 007 being for sale and aggressively pursued the boat for personal reasons.  Turns out that Ken’s father had been Edgar Kaiser’s gardener at his Orca Island estate when Kaiser led the construction on the Bonneville Dam, and, as a child, Ken had some interaction with the “great man” (Kaiser).  He wanted to own the boat as a family connection.  Ken reclaimed the boat from the boatyard in poor condition, although all wood was original; fiberglass and plexiglass was original; bottom was original; interior was redone; some mechanical and wiring redone; engine, superchargers, transmission and major mechanicals were all original (only the superchargers were rebuilt; the engine had never been opened).  Significant cosmetic revival was done by Ken: varnish, paint, and chrome.  Ken showed 007 after her revival, winning class awards at the Tahoe Concours, and “Best of Show” at a Port Townsend, Washington Concours event.

 

In 1999, ownership of 007 passed to Chuck Kellogg of Ridgefield, Washington.  Chuck was a wonderful caretaker of 007; Trish Kellogg insists it was one of his most cherished possessions.  He carefully maintained the work done by Ken Nelson to preserve the originality and historical significance of 007.  Chuck used the boat and showed it locally on a regular basis.   After Chuck’s unfortunate death, new caretakers for 007 emerged in 2015: Bob & Paula Boldt.

 

As you may be aware, the “gold standard” in Wooden Boat Concours events judging is “as delivered from the factory.”  But, in light of the historical connection of 007 to one of Tahoe’s most famous families, the fact that that family made immediate modifications upon taking delivery of the boat, the fact that the modifications that were made were, in themselves, historically significant examples of emergent 1950’s technology, the fact that the modifications were made by a team from an historical car company that did not survive, and the connection of 007, as configured, to the boat racing heritage of Lake Tahoe through both Henry J. and Edgar F. Kaiser, the new owners have decided to take a different route with the restoration of 007.  They have decided to restore the boat to the “Kaiser standard”, that is, the configuration of 007 as created by Edgar Kaiser and his team.  All research and restoration work has been focused on that objective rather than returning 007 to generic Chris Craft standards.  You can see images of that work underway in the "007 Restoration" section of this website.  

 

So, what you see in these pages today is a Cobra almost exactly as it was in 1955, with unique modifications made by one of the most famous families on Lake Tahoe, showcasing new technologies of the 50’s, and a boat with racing history in the Lake Championship regattas on Lake Tahoe in the late 1950’s.  An original Tahoe gem, 007 demonstrates the flair and exuberance of the 1950’s, and it sounds good too!  Enjoy!