Supra History?

[thescott]

So, I was out at lake last weekend and I overheard a couple at the dock that were admiring my boat :cool: . Then they started arguing over whether or not it was a Centurion since it looked just like their boat. I let em know it was a Supra. The wife promptly said "told ya it wasn't a centurion!" Then the guy starts trying to tell his wife (and me) that Supra and Centurion are made by the same companies and are essentially the same boats... I've never heard this before - I told him well, I know for a fact, Supra is made by Skier's choice, who also makes Moomba...Never heard they had anything to do w/ Centurion. And as far as I know, Centurion is made by Fineline Industries/Kal Kustoms (who I think also has something to do with Calabria and Gekko). The guy got real passionate about the topic and was actually trying to start an argument w/ me...I told him hey...I don't care either way, I've just never heard that before and left it at that.

So...anyway, short story long...his pasionate insistance left me curious. Is there any truth to this? I've been surprised in the past about which companies use other's molds or manufacture this or that for this or that company. Not that it matters, just curious.

I read an interview posted here a while back from the godfather of Supra, george fowler, and don't remember seeing anything along these lines.

Anyone know?

[SUPRA_ALLEGRO_LANE]

Nop not a bit of truth to that at all, the guy has no idea. Centurion's are not even in the same class as Supra.

[gtbrault]

The only thing I can think of that he was talking about is if you look at an old Centurion Falcon and a Supra Comp - they look very similar...both low profile and a slight dip to the front. I think most of the older ski boats had 351s in them so it's just a matter of differences in the lines of the boats.

[thescott]

Thanks. Kinda what I figured. After a little more searching, I found that Kal Kustoms appears to be the distributor for Centurion west of the Rockies. They don't actually make them, fineline does. But, Kal Kustoms does manufacture Supreme boats, among other. Maybe the relationship between those two co's is where the guy got confused...Supra vs Supreme etc...
Anyway...I just find this stuff interesting.

Off to clean and do some maint. on the boat now in prep for next weekend. Have a fun/safe 4th everyone!

[87SunSportMikeyD]

Here is the article on Fowler
https://forum.supraboats.com/showthread.php?t=5293

George Fowler has been part of the boat business since he and Rob Shirley built the first MasterCraft in a garage. He is also the founder of Ski Supreme, Supra, Moomba, Aztec and now, Backwoods Boats. It's been an interesting ride . . .

L10: What's next on your agenda?

GF: I left and I took my $25,000 and started Supra in February of '80. At that time, when I started Supra, we were going to make a real recreational inboard ski boat. A cross between maybe a Sea Ray and a Ski Supreme or a MasterCraft.

L10: Now where was this at? In Tennessee still?

GF: In Tennessee. Right outside of Maryville, a little town called Greenback. MasterCraft was in Maryville. One of the little communities outside of it was Louisville, that's where Ski Supreme was. And then a little to the south of where MasterCraft was Greenback. I rented an old farmer's co-op warehouse where they stored fertilizer. I started Supra there.

L10: Now you had no partners at that time?

GF: No. I didn't have any partners. In '80 we were in another recession, big time. I liked that because if you try to get in a business when everything's running hard, it's like trying to get on a merry-go-round at full speed. It's hard to grab it and jump fast enough. So I felt that the best time would be to start in a real down economic situation so when the economy got better we could grow with the economy. So we started. We built a wide, high sided, fat looking boat. And it was a closed bow. We made three models of that boat by just changing the windshield style.

L10: What was the first model?

GF: It was Supra. One was called the Sport. One was called the Star. And the other one was called the Beast. In the Beast we put a big 454 in there. The side windows was what we changed on the windshield to make them look different. And of course the graphic name on it. We kind of broke new ground with this fat model. We even advertised it as just a family run-about and ski boat. After the lawsuit with Rob Shirley and MasterCraft I couldn't afford to retain an attorney for somebody coming after me again. So I went off in the southern area where CorrectCraft and MasterCraft and these other guys wouldn't even think at all. I wanted to get established before I did anything to invade their territory. So we started with this fat thing. They all laughed at it. But the people that still have them love them. The old ones.

L10: They're almost reminiscent of the boat that's now known as the Supra Launch, aren't they?

GF: Yeah, they sure are. They were all closed bows. So in '83 we cut the front of the boat out and made a bow rider.

L10: Now that was the first example -

GF: We called it the Supra Rider. And it was the first open bow inboard family ski boat at the time.

L10: The first inboard open bow?

GF: Yes. A friend of mine had a Sea Ray open bow. I sat and watched him and his family for two weekends using their bow ridge. And I thought, "Well, this makes good sense. We can waterski with the rope on the tow line.

Everybody's got to get up in the front, out of the rear seat, so we'll just open the bow up. It'll work and we'll make this open bow and families can still have a ski boat, and high sides will make everyone with kids feel safer. We were all comfortable with that so we went that way.

L10: What was the market response?

GF: Oh, it was real good. The biggest thing that I did different was that I didn't really make it a true walk through like you would see in a Sea Ray or in a lot of the boats today. I made a padded "playpen" area up in the front so that I could use the room that the walkthrough takes up for storage. I built in a cooler and made storage underneath the bow area. My goal was - is still - to make a smoother riding direct drive inboard ski boat with lots of room to put all your towels, pocketbooks and stuff.

L10: Still exists today?

GF: Still exists today. I still use it. I'm using it at Aztec. I still believe in it. Most people that have ever had one with a playpen in it really like it. It is different but it works good and it makes a lot of storage.

L10: How long did you stay with Supra?

GF: Supra lasted 'til about 1990, when I took it public. In the meantime, after '83 we did the open bow. Then I was working on the Comp TS6M. I was ready to enter the hard-core tournament waterski market with MasterCraft and CorrectCraft with a true ski boat. So we introduced the Comp TS6M. In 1987, we pulled the World Championships in London with it. We pulled three Would Cups with it. We pulled three or four European Championships with it. We took it to Russia before the Iron Curtain came down and pulled the European Championships over there. So we were doing real well with the Comp TS6M. I'd also made a longer, narrower, 21-foot Mariah open and closed bow. Then I made a Saltare 23 footer.

Here is an article on the history of MasterCraft and the involvement of Fowler
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-2690600071.html

[csuggs]

Here's a link to the barn that George Fowler talks about in the interview where they built some of the first Mastercrafts. I think the very first one was built in Florida, but then they were made in this barn in Greenback, TN. Notice the lake and ramp . . . .
When I was in Maryville I went up Binfield Rd from Highway 411 to check the place out, but the bridge was out over the railroad so I couldn't get there.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=greenback,+tn&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=45.063105,101.25&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Greenback,+Loudon,+Tennessee&ll=35.703851,-84.074292&spn=0.011343,0.024719&t=h&z=16