THE GOOD OLD DAYS:Chris-Crafts on the water ‘really get to your soul’

The 50-year-old boat on a trailer in Costa Mesa has paint peeling off its hull, its engine and seats have been ripped out and its steering wheel is covered in black plastic sheeting. Oh, and it’ll probably be worth around $65,000.

That’s because this isn’t just any boat. It’s an original 1957 Chris-Craft Super Sport, and there may be only a dozen like it in the world.

“When you see Chris-Crafts out on the water, you think, ‘Oh, how beautiful.’ They really get to your soul,” said Marshall Steele, a marine consultant who is restoring the craft piece by piece.

Steele, a longtime Costa Mesa resident who has worked with yachts since his teens, was hired by the boat’s owner to strip its mahogany hull, re-varnish it, restore its original seats, splash rails and steering wheel, and then reassemble it.

The effort, Steele said, will take two to three months.

“You really get attached to these boats, which is why you can’t do this every day or you’ll get too wrapped up and you’ll lose your mind,” Steele said. “In fact, it took me three weeks to decide to do it.”

That same kind of emotional attachment gripped the vessel’s owner, Larry Clark, last year when he saw it with a ‘For Sale’ sign in a parking lot in Victorville.

“When I was a child, I learned how to water ski behind a Chris-Craft in Lake Arrowhead. I’ve always dreamed of owning a Chris-Craft. To find one that’s so old and in such good shape was really a joy,” said Clark, who bought the 18-foot-long boat for $10,000 in October.

Clark is only the boat’s second owner, which is unusual considering its age and its brand’s popularity among boating enthusiasts. With a mahogany hull, white leather bucket seats and a small plexiglass windshield, the nameless speedboat exemplifies old-fashioned California sailing culture.

Clark, of Victorville, estimated that when all the remodeling is done, from the engine to the chrome gauges, the craft will be worth roughly $65,000. In fact, he has already been offered $40,000 for it but turned it down.

Upon its complete restoration, Clark plans to take it to Big Bear Lake, where he and his wife Carrie own a home. Once there, he said, “I’m going to enjoy the hell out of it. It’ll be used for anybody who wants to water ski, and I’ll probably go fishing on it and tie it up with other boats and barbecue dinners out on the lake.”

Surprisingly, Clark said he can envision himself ultimately selling the boat.

“I’m excited I have it. We might keep it, but at the right price, anything’s for sale,” Clark said. “Whoever gets it after me will get a real sweetheart if I decide to sell it.”

Steele, though, thinks otherwise.

“I think by the time he sees it, he’ll say, ‘Wow, this is a jewel.’ I’m not sure he’ll be able to let it go.”