The 19’ Commander Super Sport is one of the most rare, and probably “the” most exotic Chris Craft runabout built since the 1950s, when Chris Craft built the Cobra model with the upright fiberglass tail fin. It was the result of Dick Avery, chief designer at Chris Craft, working on a model called the “Lancer”, which was to be built at the newly acquired Thompson plant in Cortland, New York. The 19’ Lancer is a great looking boat, with a beautiful deep V hull design. All 19’ lancers, however, were transdrive models reflecting the trend of the times. The transdrive allowed a huge benefit to interior space, and an improved propulsion angle, and these models proved to be very popular.
Mr. Avery took the 19’ Lancer hull and applied a new top deck design, that has proven to be one of the most rakish looking speedboats of all time, first produced in 1969, and using a rear engine and V-drive propulsion system. Only 101 of these boats were built under the name “Commander Super Sport”, thus making them one of the rarest of the rare. The boats were offered with two engine choices, the 327Q or the 302FLV, the former being the motor of choice due to superior power.
It appears that during the 1969 model year, some (perhaps 15) of these boats were transitioned over to a transdrive layout, and if this is true, then these are very rare indeed. In addition, the 19’ Commander Super Sport was transitioned over to a transdrive formally when it was rebadged and sold as the “XK-19”. The XK-19 was sold from 1970 through 1975, and during the first year of production (apparently overlapping with the 19’ Commander Super Sport) the XK was offered with a V-drive as well, but only in 1970. This was apparently the result of the shuffle during the change of engineering and change of name of the boat. Since all of this was under the same roof at Cortland, New York, they’re essentially the same boat, to a large degree.
Here is the V-drive engine installation in the 19’ Commander Super Sport.
The XK-19 sold 276 units, so you are almost three times as likely to see one of those, as you are a true 19’ Commander Super Sport. The Commander Super Sports all came in blue, while the XK-19’s all came in white. Naturally, some have been painted over the years, so you may see some color variation out there.
Here is the real deal, owned and restored by Chris Craft Commander Forum regular contributor, “Mercrewser”, who has shared numerous photos of the restoration and operation of this beautiful boat. Many threads and photos can be found here on the forum about this boat.
In 1970 Chris Craft marketed this boat as the XK-19, and here’s some original sales literature shown below, compliments of Bill Thomas (from whom I’ve learned much of what I know today about this series).
continued..................(see PART-II )
Paul