Never on Sunday

    This 18-foot 1963 Century Sabre is named Heaven on a Sunday. Ray and Ann Mc Dowell bought her in 2014, and Ray named the boat to include his wife’s maiden name.

About 50 were made in 1963 by Century Boats in Manistee, MI.

The special fiberglass deck and gull-wing hardtop on a Sabre model was an early use of fiberglass in Century Boats as it moved away from wood. This boat is still categorized as a wood boat, however, since the sides and bottom are made in the traditional fashion from mahogany planking over oak frames.

This 238-hp engine had the highest horsepower with its 327-cu. in. “Fireball” engine that was available at the time from Gray Marine. In this Century brand boat, this is a straight inboard, center mounted engine with a shaft drive in contrast to a vee-drive set-up

The “utility” category refers to boats with an open, walkaround layout. In other words, there’s space between the front and rear seats with room to move around the engine box—as opposed to a two-cockpit arrangement that has a deck in between the front and rear seats, covering the boat’s engine.

Submitted by Chris Brown  brcwb@aol.com