TOPIC: 76 glaspar...model?

ran across this...

hi matt,i think its a early 60's avalon,its hard to know for sure without the leangth,it could be a lido,but im thing avalon.john

Marathon. Could be anywhere from 1960-1963. 14ft, glass windshield, rear facing fold down seats and front bench seat.

That is a 58-61 Glasspar Sport Lido (with the walk-thru center deck), and is 14 ft. Same as I sold a while back with a 40 Lark on it. A plain Lido has no center deck.
The Marithon model is 17 1/2 feet long.

Marathon was 14ft. There was a Mariner series with 3 models at 19ft and the Seafair series was 17 1/2ft. The Marathon had a set of rear facing seats that folded up into the fiberglass housing that also acted as support for the split backs for the front bench seat where the Sport Lido in it's later design had braces that tied into the gunwhales and ran behind the front seat backs...no fiberglass there on the later Lido. The earlier Sport Lido did have the walkthough section with fiberglass but the front deck and walkthrough had a false planking style. Lido had a bench seat across the front of the splashwell and Marathon did not. 1960 and 1961 Citation did have seating at the splashwell as well as the fold up rear facing seats but it also had moulded in chocks on the front deck and this boat doesn't so the 16ft Citation is ruled out. So it's an early Marathon. Would need the serial number to pin down the year since the Marathon stayed pretty much the same from 1960 through 1963. In the library here there is a pretty good shot of the 1960 Marathon in the Glasspar brochures section. 1960, top row, second from left. Good angle to compare the interior layout to what you have there.
Serial number (if still there) will be on the inside of the gunwhale, left side, just about even with the back of the windshield frame...maybe 4 inches down? Brass insert in the window of a chrome Glasspar plate with the number stamped into the brass. Looks like this.
If you can get that serial number it'll contain the information to let you know what year it was built and also which plant it was built it. If a Marathon the serial will be along the lines of 14XP0123 with 14 the length, X for the model, a letter to designate the plant it was built in, 0 (or 1 or 2 or 3) for last digit of the year built, and the remaining digits indicate the build order....if 123 (for instance) it would be the 123rd built in that plant in that year.

Rod B. is right here. My first impression was that it was a citation as it has the front deck design and seating arrangement of the citation however the citation is 16 ft and not 14. It is 14 ft so that narrows it down to a Marathon which was designed the same but was the smaller model. It is not a sport lido from 58 thru 61 and the Marathon model was not 17 ft long only the Seafair series boats were 17 ft and in fact they were actually 17 1/2 ft long. factcheck.

they states its a 76? ...maybe its actually a 67?
also they saying its 16'

interior

No chance of it being a 1967. Latest it could be is 1963. Design change the Marathon in 1964 that doesn't match the picture you show. Not uncommon for model year on the title to be distorted over the years from that time period. Good little boat and I wouldn't hesitate to grab one if it popped up near me. 15" transom in those years is the only drawback...if you wanted to run a later model outboard you'd be limited on power. Really a nice little boat for the era and I wouldn't mind having one to go along with The 1960 Citation I have.
Just for the record...my comments have nothing to do with 'right or wrong' and the objective is to identify the boat not kick up a controversy. Very easy to see why someone would think it would be an early Sport Lido with the angle of the picture not showing the interior details very well.

john_gibson wrote:

hi matt,i think its a early 60's avalon,its hard to know for sure without the leangth,it could be a lido,but im thinking avalon.john

at least i had a excuse for being wrong this time,i couldnt see the interior and didnt know the leangth,lol,i wish i had some kind of excuse for all the other times i was wrong,lol,lol,john

Forgot to address the 14' vs 16' length. The Citation 16' had rope chocks on the front deck at the end of a raised ridge and the Marathon 14' did not. Picture of what I'm talking about for comparison.

15" ???

Well pardon me!!! First time I been wrong in 73 years!!!!!!!!

But, I do know, there was not a Glasspar boat built after 1968!!!!

after '68?
I went looked at a 70's model ..Corsica I believe this year?
you mean GLASSPAR or Glaspar?

The correct spelling is Glasspar with two s's. The Glasspar Boat company which had been the largest boat building company in the world during the late 1950's and early 60's with factories if 5 states sold out to Larson boats in 1967. While Larson continued to badge some of its boats as Glasspars from 1968 on these boats were Larson designs and were not designed by Glasspar and other than in name alone are not the same as the early Glasspar company boats. The boats that have become highly sought after are the early classic designs of Bill Tritt, the founder and original force behind Glasspar. He personaly designed a number of the most collectable boats from the early Glasspar years including the famous G3 and the Seafair Series boats like the Seafair Sedan as well as a number of others. Pre 1967 Glasspar boats were designed and built by the Glasspar Boat Company. Post 1967 boats were built and designed by Larson and were really Larson boats with the Glasspar name attached much like General motors built and designed chevy, buick, oldsmobile, and others but all were General Motors products. As an example the later Larson made Glasspar G3 is a completely different boat from the early Glasspar G3's. Different hull, different size, different ride and handling. Different in every way. This is also true of the later Larson Seafair Sedans and all other models.