History of this model:

Designed by George W. Crouch, whose three-point hitch seaplane, Cinderella, revolutionized early speedboat racing and whose ideas for a motor torpedo boat were later incorporated into H. Scott-Paine's PT boat designs, Typhoon was built for Edsel Ford to be used for commuting between his home and the Ford plant on the Detroit River.

The 40-foot runabout was built at Henry B. Nevins Shipyard, City Island, New York, where Crouch, who died in 1959, was a design consultant, reportedly for over $70,000.

Estimates of their replacement cost today are over $100,000.

Typhoon takes its name from the original engine, a 600hp 12 cylinder Wright Typhoon aircraft engine originally developed for an airship. This power plant was carried in a varnished African mahogany hull, double planked fore and single aft, seven feet and eight inches wide, and tapered at both the stern and bow.

She had three wide seats, two forward and one aft of the midships engine bay.

Typhoon's experience was no less disturbing than the times in which she was born. Ford, reportedly told by his doctors that the powerful boat was a threat to his health, announced the boat for sale in September 1934 to Motor Boating. The half-page ad contained the merest specs, and the accompanying photo showed her dead in the water, looking deceptively gentle.

The boat had several subsequent owners in and around Chicago, including racer Joseph Van Blerck Jr., but generally spent more time out than in the water. Her drive was changed from time to time. Once fitted with a ship conversion Allison aero engine, another owner fitted a V12 Hall Scott Defender which developed 650 hp at 2200 rpm and weighed a staggering 4300 pounds.

In the late 1960s, at Bryant's Marina in Washington, the boat docked alongside the Typhoon caught fire. The fire raged out of control and soon engulfed the typhoon. The typhoon was a total loss.