THESE ARE THE REMAINING FINO'S THAT ARE IN USE OR IN THE PROCESS OR BEING RESTORED TODAY. Buily by Bobby Rautboard,
This is from Butch Stokes:
Bobby's family owned APECO..they were a big copy machine company..the
only real competition was Zerox..Bobby and his brother Clayton built
Apeco Marina next to Magnum..one of the first dry rack storage places in
the south in 1966..Later changed to Atlas, then to HiLift..Bobby was a
developer, he built the Carriage House on the Beach, Playboy Hotel was
right next door..It was the PLACE to be seen..Around 70, they bought
Magnum from Don..Bobby, Don and Bob Magoon were best buddies..They would
play tennis at Bobbys house on the Beach a few times a week..They were
always in competition with each other on who could buy the best
toys..Bobby bought a Jet Ranger..then Don bought one..then had a
Corvette built by George Barris, it was called the Fino Vette..he sold
it to John Crouse..Don had Mark Donahue build a couple trick Camaros for
the street..I think Magoon had one of these too..These guys loved to
play and have fun, and they did it in grand style..They were a lot of
fun to be around..Rautbord was the best boss I ever had..Bobby married a
gorgeous gal named Patty Lou..named some of his boats after her..He
owned an Ice Cream factory in Chicago when he was young, he told me..the
best ice cream ever made..his weight went to over 300 lbs, his dad made
him sell it..he stayed trim after that..He is missed by lots of
people..Knocky House loved him..He died of cancer in Aspen..his home was
between John Denvers and Jill St Johns..
I liked the black hull with red boot stripe and white deck. I don't
remember who got that one. I think the upholstery was white with red
trim.. Maybe that was Bobby's last one with the outdrives. He showed it
to me at his house when I picked up his Ferrari to fix. The brown/brown
boat was a lot better looking than you would think. That was probably
second choice. The guy that bought it had his place of business right
where they filmed the chase in French Connection.
I was out in many Magnums, Donzis and Bertrams with Holman Moody. The
favorite time in a Fino would have to be going to Mike Gordons for lunch
with Mike Seay..Mike G would always come out to help us tie up.. He
didn't allow many boats there because the dock was falling apart. I
never really had any pleasure trips in one, except when Earl Smalley
took me to his place in Stiltsville with his family.. I also had to ride
around with Connie Dinkler a bit..Going to Ocean Reef to deliver was a
great trip also..
I don't remember Elton Cary with one at all. His boats were very nice as
it was, and classy as well. Buck Fulp and Jim Kimberly both had 27 foot
or so center console Carys with 427 Fords in them..One of them had fuel
injection, I think Kimberly's. I had to go to Palm beach a lot to work
on it..That was right after he married a beautiful young lady..She was
in the news a lot..They both were pretty famous in SCCA in the 50's, and
real good friends with Dinny Phipps, our boss at HM.
Did a lot of testing on the boat #2 with Doug Janisch when he was
Mercury Rep. We had an over-heating problem with the fresh water
cooling. Lots of rides in the bay near the Grove.
Never went out with Don, but I did work on his son David's Porsche for a few years. Real nice guy.
Byng Goode is sort of family. He was president of Cigarette for a few years before he started Midnight Express.
Earl S. called me one day because hin Onan was on the blink and the ice
maker and fridge weren't working. He said he had promised 9 girls they
would be the first to get laid on the boat, and he was up to number six
tonight..Can't ever forget that one..
Just rambling on, going to bed now..see ya.