“Pre-War” 1937 Hacker Craft High Hopes
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Nick & Hanna Thomson, owners since 2020.
High Hopes is a “pre-war” 1937 Hacker Craft that features a semi-planing mahogany hull with three cockpits. Hacker-Craft, formed in Detroit in 1908 by John L Hacker, is the oldest producer of wooden motorboats in the world. This boat, Hull Identification Number 1910, measures 19′ long and 7′ 9″ wide with a 25″ draft. The original Chrysler Crown “M2” 242 cubic-inch straight-six engine is rated at 100 HP and still runs beautifully after all these years; the 6V electrical system is original. The fore cockpit features a starboard-side helm with throttle control and the engine drives a bronze propeller through a forward/reverse transmission. Additional equipment includes green tuck-and-roll upholstery and a raked two-piece windscreen.
High Hopes spent much of its life on Lake Tahoe after being moved from the East Coast. It was donated to the Tahoe Maritime Museum in 2008, where it was displayed and stored until late 2020. Sadly, the Museum faltered during the COVID Pandemic, and its creditors began the process of liquidating its impressive collection of boats on the online auction website Bring-A-Trailer. The audience of “B-A-T” are primarily car collectors and not particularly knowledgable about classic boats. Each week in the summer of the Pandemic, a few boats would be auctioned and sold for well below market value. Nick Thomson methodically bid on a dozen different boats and was the second highest bidder on High Hopes, but was empty-handed at the conclusion of the liquidation process. A few months later, BAT called him on behalf of the museum and asked if he still wanted to buy High Hopes; the top bidder had flaked. Thomson immediately drove to the warehouse and acquired boat from the Museum on the spot; it was the final boat remaining in the Museum’s warehouse. Nick and his wife Hanna promptly restored the boat to running condition with the assistance of L&L Marine Services and ongoing improvements and maintenance is provided by McCall Boatworks.
