Last month we ran the story of “Cream Puff”, the Allison V12-powered marathon boat from the 1960s that HOT ROD Magazine sponsored, and owner John Fell restored. It will be featured in our December 2016 issue, and while finishing the issue fires ravaging southern and central California were eating up thousands of acres a day. Cream Puff is stored at, and plies Lake Nacimiento, located between San Jose and Los Angeles. Fell and son Jake drove out to the lake during the height of what was labeled the “Chimney Fire” as it closed in on Lake Nacimiento residents, and rescued personal and valuable items from their second home.
They then towed their three boats, one of which is Cream Puff, out into a marshy and somewhat dry portion of the receding lake, backing the trailers as far as they could into the goo, then retreated back to So Cal. The next day the fire leveled their house, in what neighbors said took under 20 minutes from first embers to complete destruction. Cream Puff and its tow garage mates, sitting outside on the mucky shoreline, made it through without so much as an ember burn.
Now John and Jake have to figure out how they’ll get the boats out of guck that is up past the trailer axles. But that’s a good dilemma under the circumstances.
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