Motor Boats and Yachts: Books - Builders and Types

Chris-Craft Boats - An American Classic

Since 1874, Chris-Craft has built boats of immense beauty that evoke an emotion and passion in all who see them. The varnished mahogany runabouts of yesteryear, and their modern sister-ships of today, all share the same design ethos, gorgeous lines, high quality, and style.
The name alone conjures up images of classic wooden boats, waving flags, and unforgettable memories made on the waves.

Immortalized on the big screen in such movies as On Golden Pond and Mission Impossible, the aura and romance of Chris-Craft shines through in this book featuring more than 200 boats from never-before-published archival images to gorgeous colour photos of collector and new boats as well as plans and ephemera from Chris-Craft s own collection.
A thoroughly researched and informative narrative brings the captivating 140-year story to life. This is the ideal gift for boaters, as well as the perfect book for any owner of a vacation home or lake house or those who aspire toward this American dream.

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Racing Cars of the Sea / Automobili del Mare : Cantiere Navale San Marco 1953-1975

Between 1954 to 1975, the Milan-based San Marco boatyard wrote some of the most interesting pages in the post-war history of powerboating. San Marco is the only yard that has extensively used Italian car engines for both its racing and production boats, including those of Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Fiat and Abarth.

The yard produced such models as the 600 Del Mare, Giulietta del Mare, Appia; all of them fast and prestigious wooden runabouts of elegant lines and refined details. Like a fashion designer or a famous Italian coachbuilder, for over 20 years Oscar Scarpa, founder of the yard, promoted a tradition of excellence, building with his son Sandro around 600 exclusive boats, each with unique specifications, either technical or aesthetic and beautifully finished.

The San Marco boatyard has also enjoyed a successful racing career, with more than 30 world speed records and hundreds of victories to its credit at the highest competitive level, often with Oscar Scarpa in the driver's seat.

The book is a tribute to the San Marco boatyard's unique contribution to the world of speed boats and cars and reviews its full history. The work is illustrated with a remarkable collection of hundreds of unpublished archival documents and photographs as well as detailed information, such as its extensive production and racing records.

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Rocca, la légende française du motonautisme

Le chantier Rocca a été l'un des fleurons de l'industrie motonautique française entre 1950 et 1980. Près de 100 000 bateaux sont sortis de ses ateliers situés à Vitry-sur-Seine. Ces bateaux ont fait rêver des centaines de milliers de badauds se promenant au gré des foires et des salons nautiques.
Même s'ils n'ont jamais pu concurrencer les fameux Riva, leur performance et leur charme ont fait la joie de tous leurs propriétaires successifs.

This book tells the story of the construction site, but also the story of a family of Italian origin united by the same passion. Enthusiasts will mainly remember the name of Oreste Rocca, a great runner, who will sweep up all the titles and be the darling of the media.
This book is rich in numerous illustrations, photographs and original documents.

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Riva, prestige du yachting (2ème édition)

Riva is to boats what Rolls or Ferrari symbolize to automobiles. Like the extraordinary rise of the Ferrari house in Italy in the 1950s, the Riva legend was born from the will of a man with extraordinary energy.
Carlo Riva transformed the small family shipyard into a true myth and his superb motorboats in varnished mahogany became the preserve of the great and the good of this world.

Never has an object of art and mechanics represented to such an extent the image of the "jet set" with its movie stars and princely families admired in Saint-Tropez or Portofino. In 1970, Carlo Riva stepped down and the new management continued to pursue his work thanks to the exceptionally prestigious brand he had created.

Highly sought-after, the Riva shipyard even entered the Rolls-Royce fold for ten years before becoming part of the Norberto Ferretti group, which became the property of the Chinese group SHIG-Weichai in January 2012. Its current productions revive the golden age of yachting in a dreamlike wake.

All Riva models, from 1946 to the present day, including 53 new boats designed between 1970 and 2008, described and detailed, make this second edition, revised and expanded, a new reference work.

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