Sorry, Wrong Planet. - Page 5

These are circa 1957 Vali IV runabouts. One of these two boats, is shown in the black and white advertisement for Liquid Glass Auto Polish reproduced here. As yet, I have been unable to determine which one is which. Both are from the estate of DR. C. R. Dorner, the companies founder. I purchased them from his Sister and Brother-in-law and removed them from the estate in Battle Creek Michigan Myself The Green one is from a farm in Michigan.

These were designed by Ervin Kiersey, who made Pleasure craft boats under contract and founded Marlin Marine, maker of the Glass Slipper which is detailed in the coming pages. There is a lot more to that story. There are said to have been fewer than 100 Vali IV boats made but significantly more than 20. This information comes from a friend of the producer. These were made in Coldwater' Michigan. I own four Vali boats and am aware of about 8 others.

I rank these among the top five collectible Fiberglas boats. The fins begin at the headlights and end at the planing surface of the hull! Due to the side trim, these boats wauld be perfectly matched to a '57 Ford Skyliner, retractable hardtap. A better suited boat for the LaRocket car would have been the Lone Star Meteor. Having seen his estate, I have no doubt that DR. Dorner would have owned one, had he ever come across it, but all of these outlandishly styled boats were rare, even in their own day. Dr. Dorner had the advantage of living in the immediate region where the Vali IV was built. These have very beautifully styled Logos on each fin reminiscent of the grill bar emblem on a 57 Chevy.