Donzi, the Little Boat That Started the Go-Fast Craze

Aronow's quick sale and a lasting icon

Don Aronow started Donzi Marine in Miami in 1964, two years after founding Formula, and sold it to Teleflex in mid-1965 before going on to Magnum and Cigarette. The company's defining boat, the Donzi 16, was drawn by the Jim Wynne and Walt Walters team, who adapted the deep-V idea that Ray Hunt had proven on larger offshore boats. Small, light and fast, it handled chop that sent flat-bottomed runabouts home, and it earned the nickname Sweet 16.

Over the following decades Donzi passed through several owners, including Baja Marine and Custom Marine Group, and broadened into larger performance boats, sport cruisers and center consoles. Donzi and Fountain later came under common ownership, and today the brand belongs to Iconic Marine Group, which also owns Fountain. Current boats are built in Washington, North Carolina.

The 16 Classic and the 22 Classic, two sizes of the same idea

The Donzi 16 Classic revived the 1960s original, keeping the low profile, the sharp 24-degree deep-V entry and the minimalist cockpit that made the Sweet 16 a design icon. It is no longer in the catalog, but it remains the brand's emotional core, and later 16 Classics ran single V8 sterndrives such as a 260 hp MerCruiser.

The Donzi 22 Classic is the larger take on the same theme and the model that keeps the look in production. At 22 feet 6 inches and only 7 feet wide, it is an open sportboat with a single big-block MerCruiser sterndrive, bucket seats and a profile that has hardly changed in decades. Engine choices reach up to a Mercury Racing 565, and reported top speeds run from the low 70s to around 90 mph depending on power.

The 22 has had a busy recent history. Baja Marine relaunched it in 2014 as part of a 50th Anniversary Classic Series, in 2021 it swapped its rounded keel for a modified V-pad bottom, and for the brand's 60th anniversary in 2023 Donzi announced the American Classic 22 Z. Those changes matter when buying used, because pad-keel boats handle and run differently from earlier hulls.

The rest of today's Donzi range

Beyond the 22 Classic, the current range includes the 38 ZRC competition-style performance boat and the Luxury Sport Series with the Donzi 45 and 54. Donzi also offers customization through an Exclusive Series program.

• Classic series, the 16 Classic in the past and the 22 Classic today
• Competition series, the 38 ZRC
• Luxury Sport, the 45 and 54

Buying a vintage or late-model Donzi

Vintage Donzis, especially original 16s and early 22s, are collector boats. Values depend on hull originality, restoration quality and engine choice, and a properly restored early boat sells well above a modern runabout of the same size. Many survivors have been re-powered and re-wired, so documentation matters.

Later Donzi sport boats, including recent 22 Classics with big-block power, trade like other performance boats, where engine history drives value. Iconic Marine dealers and Mercury or Volvo shops can support mechanical needs.

• Transom core and stringers on older fiberglass hulls
• Fuel tank age and material, especially on vintage boats
• Sterndrive or inboard engine hours and rebuild records
• Gelcoat cracking from hard running
• Trailer condition, since most Donzis live on trailers