Victor resident Al Fink has passion for restoring boats, planes and automobiles

Al Fink grew up in Maryland around wooden boats. He flew Army helicopters in Vietnam for a year and was a United Airlines pilot for nearly three decades.

Al Fink

Those three events helped shape his life. Now retired, he spends much of his time restoring wooden boats, airplanes and cars on his ranch on the eastern edge of Victor.

Fink, who will turn 64 on Friday, heads right to his boats or planes after breakfast. He works until about 2 p.m., takes a nap in his nearly 100-year-old house, then does yard work and chats with people with similar interests online.

That's his typical day.

An international pilot with United Airlines for 28 years, Fink has been restoring wooden boats for some 20 years, and began trying his hand at putting aircraft together when he retired four years ago.

He began restoring boats when he saw a classified ad two decades ago in the Lodi News-Sentinel stating that someone in Manteca wanted to sell a boat. A short time after buying the boat, Fink took it out to Lake Camanche, only to find that the suction tube was pumping water into the boat rather than out of it.

"So I totally rebuilt (the boat)," Fink said.

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And the rest is history.

He now has 13 boats on his 16-acre ranch, not to mention his airplane, four cars and a truck.

Fink often seeks nostalgia when finding a vehicle to restore. He has a 1960 Century Resorter 19 that is the identical model that his father, Bud Fink, used to have.

Another boat he's putting together is a 1931 model built by the Horace Dodge Boat and Aeroplane Co. — it's one of only about five remaining, Fink said. He plans to replace every piece of wood on the Dodge.

"I like to buy basket-cases and completely rebuild them," he quipped.

Fink got more into his hobby when people would bring their boats to see if he could fix them up. He's restored and then sold about a dozen boats during the past 20 years.

"He does absolutely gorgeous work," his wife Linda said. "When he does finish, they are beautiful."

Fink got the flight bug after piloting a helicopter for a year in Vietnam and continuing as chief flight instructor for helicopters and planes for seven years beginning in 1970 at San Carlos Airport on the San Francisco Peninsula. During the same time period, he flew newborn babies on an air ambulance to Stanford University's neo-natal unit.

It's a whole different thing to restore planes, so why did he branch out from boats to airplanes?

"The devil made me do it," Fink replied.

He's only restoring his first two planes, one of which he has in his driveway and another — which he bought from a friend in Colusa with whom he used to fly helicopters in Vietnam — is at an Army friend's restoration shop in Hollister.

And if that's not enough, Fink has three Corvette Stingray automobiles — one a 1963 model and another from 1965. But the one that means the most to him is a yellow 1967 Corvette that was his father's car.

"I can never have too many wood boats or airplanes," Fink said.

Hobby turns harrowing with close call in Reno

When he's not restoring old planes, boats and automobiles, Al Fink enjoys going to the Reno Air Races each year. He serves as a judge at the races, but in 2007, he had one of the scariest moments of his life.

"I am very, very lucky to be alive," Fink said. "I really thought I was dead."

Fink said he was almost hit by 150-pound landing gear after a mid-air collision involving two airplanes.

Fink was standing underneath the two planes. As parts from both planes flew all over the place, Fink dove onto the hard dirt that can be typically found in Nevada.

"I dove like I was diving into a swimming pool," Fink recalls. "That cylinder would have cut right through my back and cut me in half."

One person died as a result of the mid-air collision.

But the near-death experience hasn't scared Fink away from the Reno Air Races. He was there in 2008 and plans to be back in September.

News-Sentinel staff

Contact reporter Ross Farrow at rossf@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

jramagic wrote on Mar 9, 2009 7:26 AM:

" Oh, by the way, Al Fink apparently has another precious possession: Money! Having restored just about every kind of thing at one time or another myself (except airplanes!) I can tell you it is a time and MONEY intensive passion. I love doing it, its very gratifying..but prepare to dig deep and never get all of your investment back when you re-sell. Best way to acquire a restored classic? Buy it from somebody getting a divorce!! "

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