Speed Queen

This is a rare 1962 Speed Queen Imperial 16' Boat withit's originalJohnson Sea Horse 35 horsepower engine and trailer. This boat was bought brand new in 1962 by my Father-in-law's Uncle. His Uncle passed away in 2008 and was purchased by my Father-in-law at the estate sale. My Father-in-law passed away after Christmas 2017. This boat is currently registered in IL through June 30, 2018. It was not put in the water in 2017. The last time out was on the Mississippi River in 2016. This boat is all original and has been garage-kept its entire life and is in incredible condition. This is what I was told by him before passing. Last time it was out, it ran perfect. This is what I know of theboat. It is located in La Harpe, IL in the garage in the pictures. It was not washed or anything when I took the pictures. This is as it sat. He used this boat sparingly but did take it out and took care of it. I have not found any others for sale or that have sold. It is very, very, clean and nice. I have not found any for sale or sold on the internet. Very Rare and unbelievable condition. As far as I can tell the boat needs nothing to take it out to the lake, except gas and a battery. I have not attempted to crank; but would not hesitate to put fresh gas in tank, new batteryand go.

Speed Queen boats were manufactured by the Marine Division of The Glastex Co. in Tinley Park, Illinois from 1953 to 1958. In 1958, Glastex expanded operations to include a location in Monmouth, IL. This resulted from a merge with The Monelle Corporation of Monmouth. At the time, The Glastex Co. produced six boats per day and had 22 employees (Chicago Tribune, March 31, 1958). Neil W. Ekblaw was president of Monelle Corp. This merger added 150,000 sq. ft. of production space. Monelle had built "North Star" Boats before the merger and had been around since at least October 1954. Production was planned to be about 6,000 boats per year with three 14' to 20' sizes and in 14 models. Boats were constructed by hand-laid fiberglass sheets in prepared molds and reinforced with aluminum stringers and plywood frames. Neil W. Ekblaw was a lawyer born in Urbana, Illinois, and educated at Wesleyan University and Cornell Law. After practicing law for a few years in New York, Cleveland, and Peoria, he started his own firm, Monelle Corp. in 1952, established as president in 1953 and leaving law practice that year. The company built a variety of products from aluminum, plastic, and steel including a lawn sweeper and North Star Boats. In addition to presidency of Monelle, he served as director of Roy G. Miller, Inc. and North Star Marine Sales. He moved to California and joined Hughes Aircraft as marketing manager for the El Segundo division of the company by 1963. Monelle Corp. had a sales office in Chicago at 10 N. Clark St.

1959 production began ramping up in January at the Monmouth factory with the calling up of a seasonal workforce who had been laid off for the winter. William Clark, a business owner from Lowell, Indiana was hired as manager. Production was planned to be primarily the 16' model with some 14' model production as well. The 15' and 18' models were announced as being new additions for the year. No mention was made of the Tinley Park operation January 28, 1959 Galesburg Register-Mail

William J. Horvath, the owner of The Glastex Co. and designer of the Speed Queen line of fiberglass boats, sold the business to Felt Enterprises in 1961 who in turn changed the name to Sea Sprite in 1963 (Lee Wangstad. "Breath of Fresh Air." Boating World: June 2002). Beginning in 1968, Glastex produced Sea Star Boats.