The poor boat had sat in one place way too long. The canvas tarpaulin was rotting to pieces. Even the family of raccoons that had taken up residence in its cockpit had abandoned it for greener pastures. A classic boat shouldn't suffer such indignities. The bedraggled 1961 Glasspar Seafair Sedan was screaming for attention.

Terry Dickson had often looked at the boat in his sister's yard, where it had been idle for a long time. He had never owned a  boat before and didn't know what it would entail. But once his  sister made a sudden move to Arizona, the boat was officially his. Complete with a "running" 1961 Mercury Merc 800E, the package would take many hours of cleanup and hard work if it were to ever feel the ripple of water against its hull again.

Introduced in 1959, the Seafair Sedan fell between the 16-foot Del Mar and the 19-foot Club Mariner in Glasspar's line of express cruisers. The Seafair Sedan was a strong departure from both the Del Mar and the Club Mariner, which featured "West Coast" streamlined elements. The Seafair had a "down East" look for the more conservative Midwest and East Coast clientele.

True to Glasspar form, small elements such as the distinctive cast aluminum bow pieces, built-in chocks and custom transoms (which were on all Glasspar boats) placed this model in a market dominated by Glasspar for years. The Seafair was one of the last Glasspar designs from Bill Tritt, who founded the company in 1946, and his excellent design and intricate detailing would keep this boat looking fresh into the next century.

Terry Dickson wound up with his Seafair almost by default. "I wasn't sure if I should take it or not," admits Terry. "I had no idea of exactly what I was getting into, but I really got into it and fast. The first step was to power wash it and remove all the debris and the mess that the raccoons had left behind."

Once the boat was clean, Terry went to work on the motor. "I tried to start the Merc 800 that came with it," he says. "I put in a new timing belt and turned it over. It did start, but it didn't have any power. It was only running on three of the six cylinders. On closer inspection, I found that one of the sets of points had frozen. I rebuilt the distributor, and then it was hitting on all six. By the end of that first summer, I had it running pretty strong, and my interest and involvement became more intense."

Keeping as much of the original finish intact as possible was vital to Terry. In spite of the raccoon damage, the cabin's original upholstery was still in place, although the helmsman seat eventually got new covers. Even with the wear of time and UV rays, Terry was able to preserve the original gel coat. A huge measure of elbow grease, along with a dab of 3M Finesse-It, brought back the luster. The Seafair Sedan still sports all of its original hardware.

"I found the name of the original owner from the owner's manual," says Terry. "Then, when I took out the speedometer, I saw that there was a return address label with his name and address attached to the back. I called him up and found more information about the boat. He still owned a 1956 Glasspar runabout and another Seafair Sedan with an I/O that he had also bought new."

After much work, even the engine turned out beautiful and ran perfectly. "By the second summer it was tuned in," Terry says. "The boat handles unbelievably well."

With a short boating season in Illinois, Terry and his wife, Mary, have been using their boat more each year to take advantage of what little summer they have. "We took it to the Lake Geneva Antique & Classic Boat Society show this year," says Terry. "We won the 'Most Original' award, and afterward, Mary and I went  on the lake for a four-hour cruise. What a satisfying feeling."