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My Allegro share the same lower body, with the 454.
1987 Supra Sunsport
1984 Supra Allegro (Burned in a fire)
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I hate to tell you this but those graphics are not original to that boat which is misleading for a number of reasons. Some people have questioned whether RIDER or BEAST.Originally Posted by Southerngrounds
Let's discuss...
The BEAST was a closed bow with a 454. The first model Supra made. I know you have the 454 but The BEAST is NOT an open bow boat.
An open bow is the RIDER which was available with either the 351W, 440 Chrysler or Chevy 454 (rare) starting in 1983. The first open bow inboard ski boat available.
What year is it? Last two digits on the HIN will tell us. Take a close up pic and post. That will tell you engine size also.
Do you have any original paperwork with boat? Do you know if the motor is original?
The windshield is a later model after '83. The '83s had short cut side windows with long arms going back to the rear seat.
Looks like an '84 or '85.
Your Rider has had a re-stripe at some point. Two ways to tell. Supra did not end graphics at the bow the way yours currently is. Someone did not know what they were doing or ran short on the rainbow vinyl which was available on a roll.
Secondly, the waves on the sides were just striped outlined and not full color vinyl until the mid-eighties.
The trailer unfortunately is not original either. Boat should be closer to bow stop and that is no SMP trailer that Supra used exclusively until switching over to Boatmate.
Anyway, it is a good project and a great boat so after the rebuild, you might have to start a thread called "Project Rider Completed".
Good luck and don't forget to show us HIN on back of boat. Thanks.
Last edited by ngavchris; 09-10-2014 at 06:11 PM. Reason: Hi! I'm Optional
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Refresher Course...Supra 101
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
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The trailer is not the original one. I have located the trailer that originally came with the boat and I'm trying to purchase it. As far as the beast goes I know this has been debated time and time again.... Closed bow/open bow, 454 vs 351. The interview with George Fowler still doesn't offer enough information to say it's not a beast. In 83 supra started making an open bow called the rider. What motor came in the rider? Is it possible if it had big block it was a beast? I have seen a couple open bows with beast on the side.
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Last edited by Southerngrounds; 09-10-2014 at 09:26 PM.
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Lots of confusion on what is what. George Fowler never said they didnt make a open bow Beast. Sorta hard to believe that there are that many Pictures of Beast's with open bows out there. I will say I have the weirdest and rarest of them all.
1987 Supra Sunsport
1984 Supra Allegro (Burned in a fire)
Senior Member
Well I have an 87 supra Marauder. It's basically the rider/sunsport but closed bow. With a 454. So if the beast is a closed bow with a 454 why is mine a marauder lol
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