Ray Wright GT Launch Deltina

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From the 1950s right through to the early ‘90s, Ray Wright Marine developed and built their remarkable speedboats, vessels which have become recognised as some of the finest designs of their type.

Their long-running Delta model was originally made from aluminium, large supplies of this lightweight and easily formed material existing in booming post-war Britain. Beautiful though they were, corrosion and fragility issues meant that when fibreglass became commonplace in the late 1950s, Ray Wright recognised it as the wonder material they had been waiting for.

He looked to the Ford Motor Company to power his boats. Affordable and reliable power was the key, the 1600GT Cortina engine, the V4 Corsair unit and the powerful 3.0-litre Capri V6 engine being ‘marinised’ and positioned amidships.

This 1968 Ray Wright Delta GT launch was constructed in glassfibre and equipped with the Ford 1600GT Crossflow engine mounted inboard. A sharp-looking boat, both in and out of the water, it is 13’6” (4.20m) long and has a beam of 5’3” (1.60m).

Recommissioned in August 2014, she has been tested on the River Thames for ninety minutes, where the only problem was keeping the boat under the mandatory 4 knot speed limit! A different size or pitched prop would tune-out this ‘local’ problem.

Named ‘Deltina of Lowestoft,’ she was bought by the vendor as an interesting addition to his collection of classic cars, intrigued as he was by the sporting Ford connection. ‘Deltina,’ (a play on the words Delta and Cortina) has nice detail touches such as a Cortina steering wheel, a dash full of Cortina gauges and Ford ‘GT’ badges on her flanks.

How good would this stylish Sixties icon look behind any one of the fabulous Fast Fords we have on offer in today’s sale?

Bidders are advised that the bespoke Ray Wright trailer is included in the sale.