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Looks to be in good shape for a 70's boat

Yes sir, that is one of the good ones. Yours is the first style of deck. You would have noticed that the pad is narrow compared to the other performance boats for those years. The nose is also pointed and much different to the early round nosed Checkmates. That is the reason why they dart on you. The nose doesn't carry like the older hulls. The nose really drops fast when you get off the throttle. Kennedy copied the 14 ft Checkmate model similar to this one and they copied the older style 16 footer was well. That boat will run well with the motor you have. The nicest one racing in those years was a FI boat. Not a FJ. The FI ran the 1000BP motor which was based on the 89.9 inline.

I think Ted Quinn still has speed records that stand today with a 15 ft 115hp. love those hulls.


Steve

Steve, actually, It was his employee Miller driving Teds Allisons that set the records. They set 2 with the 13 ft. Allison using 2 different cubic inch sized 4 cylinder Mecurys and one with the 16 ft. FJ Allison. Ted was racing in the states in 1966. They got beat by Combs Checkmate. Ted had a 2 up trailer and decided to bring a 16 foot Checkmate back to Canada. That was the first Checkmate in Canada. That was my boat. That one boat started the Checkmate business and Panther boats as an extension. Miller raced a Gold Checkmate 16 footer in 1967 called Old Gold. I think they got a gold 15 footer in later years but sold it to Jim Delgreco [sp?]. That is the 1000BP FI one I mentioned in a previous post. There were several future Canada racing stars that got their start racing Checkmates.

great info, thanks! my last boat was a 17' Panther, I still remember the look my wife gave me when tim Quinn said it would not be a problem mounting a 225 on it, after I blew the 150 it came with. LOL. Our neighbour on Simcoe when I was around six had a 15ft mate with a 90hp inline six and it flew. I wanted one ever since. I wonder how much of the old racing stuff, if any Quinns still have? I drive by there every week, I'll have to stop in and ask.

Steve

The last old Checkmate they had was an original bull nosed 13 footer for one of the grand kids. That was 4 or 5 years ago.
Here are some of the Checkmate racers:
Mark Rotharmel started racing with a 13 foot Checkmate called the Blue Max
Ron Chiovitti got interested in fast boats with his green 14 Foot Checkmate
Larry Everett who was one of the world’s best F1 drivers in the V8 days still has a 19 foot Checkmate
Dick Summerfeldt who raced many makes and types of boats. Raced several Checkmates
The Fingold family got their interest in fast boats with a 15 foot Checkmate

I'm not really sure what for sure I'm going to do with it yet until I get it checked over good in the spring.Has some rock rash back at the transom that has to be repaired at the very least for now.