Andy McCutcheon100 Years of Wooden Glory - Hacker
September 6th 2007 09:01
Hacker Factory - 1920's
Hacker
John Ludwig Hacker was born on May 24 1877. A native of Detroit Michigan, he had shown an early interest in boats and naval architecture as a boy and furthered his interests by studying speedboat design through correspondence while working as a bookkeeper for his father's business.
As history would unfold, he would be known for his creation of a legendary hull design that was capable of producing maximum speed co-efficiency through the water with reduced horsepower. It was his success from these early designs that prompted him to go into the boat-building business.
In 1911 John Hacker designed the "Kitty Hawk" which was the first successful attempt at a knuckle stepped hydroplane reaching a then unheard of speed of 50 miles per hour. It was nearly all over before it got started as John Hacker's early successes were briefly interrupted by a nervous breakdown that forced him to sell out his business to partner L.L. Tripp. Soon after John Hacker's recovery, he re-entered the boat building business under the banner of the Albany Boat Company in upstate New York.
By 1914 Hacker had returned to his home town of Detroit re-establishing himself as the Hacker Boat Company. His runabout designs for Gregory's Belle Isle Boat & Engine Company would soon bring great success to the firm and a legacy to the Hacker name.
Edsel Ford, who was President of the Ford Motor Company at the time, lived in the shadow of his Fathers legacy. Even though he was President of Ford, his Father Henry who founded the Ford Motor Company, undermined the decision making ability of young Edsel, who had a passion and pre-occupation with fast cars and fast boats.
James Ward Packard another notable supporter of John Hacker’s, would prove to be instrumental in the development of the Hacker brand. Packard, who was the President of the Packard Motor Car Company along with Colonel Vincent who was the founder, would soon become the primary engine supplier to Hacker as well as providing key research and development into his race boats.
Business was booming and in 1921 John Hacker decided it was time to open a satellite facility in Mount Clemens. Two years later, he announced that he was moving his entire boat building operation from Detroit, to Mount Clemens Michigan.
In 1925 a Pilot named S. Dudley McCready came to Mount Clemens after his family had purchased one of Hackers boats. McCready was from Ohio originally and held a Pilot's license endorsed by Orrville Wright himself. He became financially interested in the Hacker Boat Company and by 1928 was listed as the secretary-treasurer of the company. Hacker and McCready worked together through the glory days of the Roaring Twenties, when demand for pleasure boats was high and the innovative Hacker designs were developing an increasingly large following.
The Hacker Boat Company located on the Clinton River in Mount Clemens, had been expanded twice by 1928 and provided 35,000 square feet of build space for the handcrafted manufacture of their fine mahogany runabouts.
The “Pageant of Progress”, a business periodical of the time, reported that the Hacker Boat Company employed sixty-eight men in 1928, and demand for their product was high.
In 1930, the King of Siam ordered a custom-built 40' Landau runabout powered by an 800hp Packard engine. Interestingly enough, only four authorized dealers offered Hacker boats to the public during this time period and John Hacker did most of his business through factory-direct orders excelling in custom builds.
The stock market crash of 1929 followed by the Great Depression effectively killed the market for pleasure boats and the Hacker Boat Company, like many others, fell upon hard times.
Hacker purportedly sold or lost control of his business in 1934 and by 1935 the Hacker Boat Company remained intact, but survived on without him.
S. Dudley McCready was listed as Owner and President of the company in 1935 and would continue in that capacity until the company closed its doors two decades later.
Although John Hacker was no longer connected with the company, he continued to design boats for a number of other manufacturers and with the help of his friend James Packard was responsible for a number of racing wins on the Detroit River, the most notable of which was Hacker built, "My Sweetie" that took Gold Cup honours in 1949.
Back in the Mount Clemens factory, the Hacker Boat Company had rebounded from the Depression years through production of a popular utility runabout. It was priced for the average consumer and the 17-foot utility runabout sold for $975.00 enabling Hackers to reclaim some post-depression market share.
During the post-war years, the Hacker Boat Company continued construction and had been awarded a lucrative government contract for the construction of twenty-five ocean-going picket boats for the U.S. Navy, but unfortunately, by the mid-1950’s Hacker's boom had gone bust.
It is the opinion of some naval historians that the Hacker Boat Company’s decision to offer their inexpensive utility model called the "Sport Dolphin" contributed greatly to the company's demise. The Sport Dolphin’s painted hull and basic fit-out was a departure from the exclusivity of their earlier models and instead of attracting a new customer base, it drove existing clients to competing manufacturers such as Chris-Craft.
By the late 1950’s fibreglass and aluminium boats offered potential buyers an alternative to the expense involved in hand-crafting a wooden boat and while the Hacker Boat Company tried to hang on, by the late 1950’s production ceased due to the escalating costs and a dwindling customer base.
John Hacker died in 1961 shortly after the closure of the Hacker Boat Company but the legacy of his forward thinking legendary designs lives on.
Today, the newly formed Hacker Boat Company operates in the small Lake George village of Silver Bay in New York.
Operated by Hacker restoration expert Bill Morgan, the new company known as Hacker-Craft, offers reproductions of original Hacker designs, augmented by the latest advances in boat-building technology. These replica Hacker-Craft are faithfully hand crafted just as their predecessors were and although new, represent the spirit of John Ludwig Hacker and Hackers Mount Clemens history.
Andy McCutcheon,
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