Greetings, Shredderz! I’m afraid that our technical difficulties are ongoing, and so today I don’t have another freshly scanned vintage surf ad for you. Instead, this wonderful Con Surfboards ad was originally spotted on eBay, and I’m sharing it with you here. I’m unfamiliar with Larry Sheflo and Mike Marsh, the two team riders featured in the ad. Generally speaking, I’m a bit hazy on Con Surfboards’ history during the Seventies. I trend to think of Con Surfboards and their Sixties longboards, and even some of the Transition Era models they produced, but the label still manufactured boards in the Seventies. Con Surfboards also seems to have been around during the dawn of the Dogtown and Z Boys era, although I haven’t read anything truly informative on the subject. There’s an old photo I can’t find of I believe Tony Alva and Jay Adams skating with some Con Surfboards single fins under their arms. Saturdays has an excellent feature on Susea McGearheart, who captured some incredible photographs of the surf scene around Pacific Ocean Pier during the Seventies. The Saturdays feature has a pic of the Con Surfboards shop, which I’m assuming was another hangout for surfers in the Santa Monica / Venice area of Los Angeles.
As always, if you have more info on the topic of Con Surfboards in the Seventies, hit me up! I would love to hear more.
Greetings, Shredderz! Sorry for the relatively parse posting schedule last week. I don’t want to tip my hand, but I think we’ve got some gems coming up that should make up for it. In the meantime, here are some boards for sale that I think you might dig, including a Liddle Reef Smoothie. Keep scrolling for more:
Frankly, I’m surprised this Liddle Reef Smoothie model is still listed for sale. (See more about this model on the Liddle Surfboards site.) The seller is asking $1,200. As always, pricing surfboards is more art than science, but collectors have been welling to shell out top dollar for vintage Liddles as of late. For comparison, Kirk Putnam sold a Marty Peach Liddle for $1,200, which you can see on his Instagram here. This board has the classic Liddle crash test dummy logo, which is always a nice touch.
This stick is pretty bitchin’. I really love these old school HIC boards, and while it’s a well known brand, it doesn’t have nearly the cachet of something like Town & Country. This one is super sick — I love the triple icon logo, the channel bottom, and as a nice bonus it comes with an original Rainbow fin. The seller is asking $450, which I think is right there in the ballpark.
This bad boy is 10’2″ of classic longboard beauty. I love colors on this board, and in particular, the contrast between the yellow bottom and the blue high density foam stringer. Seller is asking $950. The fin is apparently a Greenough Stage III Wonderbolt fin — gotta love it any time someone puts a lot of detail into a Craigslist post. For more on the Con Surfboards CC Rider model, check out this Deep Dive I wrote a while back.
I actually wrote up this board a few months back, and it’s back on Craigslist at $400, or half the price at which it was offered before. This thing has a bunch of pressure dings on the deck, but I love the colors and the resin pinlines, and that fin is gorgeous, too.
Greetings, Shredderz! As we close in on a classic holiday here in the States I thought it would be a good time for another Grab Bag entry to shed some light on some noteworthy vintage sledz up for sale. Keep reading for more, including a lovely Rick Surfboards UFO Model…
I actually featured this Hansen Master hull on my Instagram earlier this week, and it’s still up for sale. I think the $1,100 price tag may be a shade on the ambitious side, but hey, pricing surfboards is hard no matter the circumstances. I continue to have a soft spot for all kinds of Transition Era boards, and this Hansen Master displacement hull definitely fits the bill.
I love the Surfboards Hawaii label. Sadly, there simply isn’t a ton of information about the brand that’s readily available online. Someday I’ll write a Shred Sledz Deep Dive on Surfboards Hawaii, but until then, I’ll continue to feature any of the interesting boards I come across. The seller claims this is an all-original board from the Sixties. Love the beautiful stringer and volan patch on this thing. I’m not sure if all Surfboards Hawaii boards with Encinitas in the logo were shaped in California — if you have any more info, I’d love to hear it.
Con Surfboards is another Sixties surf label that I love. Their circular logo with the classic red coloring is still one of my favorite designs ever. I have actually never seen the Con Surfboards Steve Bigler Model before I came across this one. This particular example isn’t in perfect condition but it’s in more than sufficient shape to showcase the cool design elements that went into the board. I wish the seller had posted a close up of the logo on the deck, but I guess beggars can’t be choosers.
We’ve got a bunch of classic Sixties longboards today, and the Rick Surfboards UFO Model is no exception. Seller claims the board is from either 1967 or 1968 and it measures in at 9’4″. Make sure you click the link for the posting, which also has a very cool closeup of the tail. The seller is asking $750 for the Rick Surfboards UFO Model.
Miscellaneous
Rick Surfboards Single Fin (Craigslist Orange County) — Love the colors on this one. Very different from the Rick Surfboards UFO Model above, but I love the contrast of the navy blue Rick logo against the rest of the board.
Hansen The Master Longboard (Craigslist Providence) — This thing is very clean, an the seller provided some great photos of the original fin that comes with the board.
Seventies Freeline Single Fin (Craigslist Merced) — If you saw an ultra stoked kook out at Steamer Lane last Friday, well, that could have been me! And in honor of Santa Cruz here’s a very cool Freeline single fin. I don’t see a signature but it’s likely a John Mel shape, and it has a neat glass on mahogany fin to boot.
Greetings, Shredderz! Consider this post a simple heads up for a cool and unusual surfboard that’s currently listed for sale. The board pictured in this post is a stringerless Con Super Minigun. You can find the board on Craigslist here. I am almost certain this is being sold by the owner of Chubbysurf.com.
You can click on the photos above to enlarge. My guess is the board was shaped during the late Sixties, during the Transition Era. It looks like it has a hull-like bottom, but I can’t say for sure without seeing the board in person. The board also has some rare logos for a Con Surfboards stick. I have personally never seen many of the logos or model names on this board. For starters, I have never seen that Con logo on the bottom of the board. This is also the first and only Super Minigun I have seen. Con made a Minipin during the Transition Era, and the Super Ugly is one of its most famous models, but the Super Minigun is a first. The stringerless blank is also unusual.
Anyway, if you’re interested, you can check out the Craigslist posting for the board here.
Greetings, Shredderz, and welcome to another installment of the Grab Bag! The Grab Bag is a series where I feature an assortment of various boards that are listed for sale. As of the time this article was written, all the boards below were still available. Without any further do, see below for some sick sleds:
Oh baby, this thing is clean! The seller claims the board is completely original and unrestored. I don’t know what to make of the price. It’s listed for $3,600, and I simply don’t have enough context on these older Hobies to make any sort of assessment. I want to say it’s expensive relative to other vintage Hobies, but again, not my area of expertise.
This board isn’t nearly as tidy as the example above, but it has more than enough character to make up for it. You gotta respect any board with a checkerboard design on the deck. There’s also a certain degree of swagger that goes into that enormous Wave Tools logo on the bottom. I dig it all! The board isn’t cheap — it’s listed for $875, and I’m curious if it will get that price, given that it needs some repairs still — but it’s bitchin’ nonetheless.
1967 Hobie Gary Propper Model w/Triple Stringer on Craigslist (Link)
Never seen a Hobie Gary Propper Model with this kind of stringer setup before. This board also sports the infamous Hobie bolt through fin, and even comes with the original one, too. It looks like most of the board, outside of the nose, has extra layers of Volan glass, but I’m not 100% certain.
1963 Con Surfboards Noserider on Craigslist (Link)
I’m a sucker for Con Surfboards, especially their older logs. The board above looks like it’s in pretty stellar condition. Once again, the catch is the price. The seller is asking $2,500, which I think is a bit on the high end. That said, the seller claims it’s all original and has never been restored, and it’s not every day you encounter a fifty five year old surfboard in such great condition.
Greetings, Shredderz! Welcome to the best part of your Thursday: another blast from the past, courtesy of Shred Sledz’s “Sagas of Shred” series. Today we’re featuring a vintage Con Surfboards ad that originally ran in the Dec / January 1963 issue of Surfer Magazine (Volume 4, Number 6). Con Surfboards, of course, is a Shred Sledz favorite, thanks to the timeless design of the logo and the brand’s Southern California pedigree.
The interesting thing about this vintage Con Surfboards ad is the team lineup. To be honest, I didn’t recognize a lot of these names at first glance. I can’t find any information on Jim Joto. Tak Kawahara helped pioneer surfing in his ancestral Japan, for which he earned the title as the “Father of Japanese Surfing.” Later on Kawahara founded CHP and helped distribute Town & Country Surfboards on the West Coast, according to this Swaylocks thread. Ernie Tanaka became a well-known shaper in his own right, and later helped put out some Paul Strauch signature models. Bill Cleary sadly passed away in 2002; but before then he made a career as a well-known surf journalist. I could only find references to Gary and Roy Seaman in random discussion threads online. From what I understand, the Seaman brothers were early Con Surfboards shapers. Finally, Corny Cole became a well-known animator, even winning an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film!
There also happens to be a vintage Con Surfboards Competition Model that is currently on sale on Craigslist in Los Angeles. You can find a link to the board here. It hurts me to post this one. In an ideal world, the board would be the newest member of the Shred Sledz Signature Collection. Sadly, blogging about vintage sticks — yes, even Con Competition surfboards — isn’t quite as lucrative as I had been led to believe!
Close up of the logo on the Con Surfboards Competition Model. Pic via Craigslist
The poster claims the board is all original, and it is in lovely condition. There are a few tiny dings here and there, and the seller hopefully provided close-up pictures of the areas that do need a little attention. The board measures in at 9’4″ x 22″ x ~3″ and the asking price is $1500. The price seems quite fair, and I have seen similar vintage Con Surfboards models go for similar prices before.
There are a few different variants of Con Competition surfboards, including the Wing Nose, about which I wrote an earlier post here. Unfortunately, I can’t speak to the design elements that differentiate the standard Competition Model from the Wing Nose. (Also note that the Con Surfboards Competition Wing Nose was produced in East Coast and West Coast versions.) However, all of the Competition Wing Nose models I have seen also have a small Wing Nose laminate on the bottom of the board. This is true of the earlier post I wrote, not to mention another Con Competition Wing Nose Model that appeared on a Swaylocks thread.
Con Competition surfboards boast some interesting original fins. See below for a more in-depth description. Pic via Craigslist
The other interesting detail is the fin on the board. Once again I refer you to the Swaylocks thread I mentioned earlier. The fin exists somewhere between being a glass-on fin and a swappable fin box design. Some (and perhaps all, I’m not sure) Con Competition surfboards made during the 1960s featured fins that were fitted into routed boxes on the stringer, and then glassed over without completely covering the fin.
You can check out the Con Surfboards Competition Model for sale on Craigslist here.
Greetings, Shredderz! Welcome to yet another installment of Sagas of Shred. Every Thursday we feature a different slice of surf history, and today’s entry sheds a light on one of the most accomplished businessmen the surf industry has ever seen: Gordon “Grubby” Clark, the founder and CEO of Clark Foam.
Gordon “Grubby” Clark in an early Clark Foam promotional photo. Pic via Charlie Bunger’s Long Island Surfing Museum
Before its abrupt closing in 2005, Clark Foam was one of the most fearsome forces in the surfboard industry. There are endless stories about Clark’s ruthlessness. The Surfboard Project has an anecdote, via Joel Tudor, about how Donald Takayama’s first label went under after Clark Foam denied him blanks. Surfer Magazine recently ran a retrospective on the Clark Foam closing, which includes similar tales of strong-arm tactics.
In the early 1960s, though, Clark had yet to establish its dominance, and this ad, at least, makes an earnest appeal to quality and performance instead. I love the fact that just about every single big name surfboard brand at the time has their logos present: Yater, Bing, Ole, Hobie, Wardy, Hansen, and Con. Of that list, only Wardy no longer continues to produce boards (although Con is a completely different company, and Bing Copeland has ceded control to well-regarded shaper Matt Calvani.)
For a great article on the early years of Clark Foam, and how Grubby and Hobie Alter helped lay the groundwork for the modern surfboard industry, I recommend the “727 Laguna Canyon Road” feature in The Surfer’s Journal.
Hope you enjoyed this entry in Sagas of Shred, and tune in next Thursday for what comes next!
Greetings, Shredderz, and welcome to the latest installment in the Grab Bag series! Start scrolling for a selection of some of the cooler vintage boards that caught my eye over the past few weeks…
According to the Craigslist posting, this board was made in 1972. It’s a beautiful example of a 70s David Nuuhiwa (pictured above on the left) surfboard, and it even comes complete with an original W.A.V.E. Set fin. The seller claims the board is all original, with the exception of a few small repairs. The asking price is $800.
The board above is a trip. It looks to me like a late 1960s Transition Era board, but there is very little information provided with the listing. I haven’t seen many The Greek boards that have sold, but the price (starting bid of $2,700) strikes me as extremely ambitious. There are some very cool details, though: check out the huge logo on the deck, and click through the link for shots of a very trippy fin. I hesitate to call this authentic or make any definitive statements about the board, but I recommend taking a peek at the listing.
Personally, I prefer boards that are as original as possible, even if that means putting up with some discoloration or spots. The board above is a Mike Diffenderfer thruster likely shaped sometime in the 1980s, and restored since then. It measures 6’8″ and the seller is asking $800 for the board. I would say Diff’s most collectible boards were made during the 1970s, but overall his shapes are difficult to find.
For more background on the Con Surfboards CC Rider, please check out the earlier Shred Sledz Deep Dive on the subject. There’s another vintage CC Rider for sale on Craigslist in Los Angeles. What’s interesting about the board above is that it looks like the dual high-density stringers are not tapered, unlike the other examples I have seen. It’s worth noting the board was also re-glassed at some point, so it is not all-original. The CC Rider above measures in at 9’4″ and the seller is asking $1175.
Greetings, Shredderz! As always, here’s a sampling of some of the finest surfboard pictures recently found on the world wide web…
As I’ve written before, Lightning Bolt’s notoriety in the 1970s was a double-edged sword. The label’s popularity meant the signature bolt design was slapped on boards that had nothing to do with its Hawaiian bloodlines. Pictured above is a nice selection of genuine articles, via the Australian National Surfing Museum.
Yup, another classic piece of Hawaiian surf history, this time presented by the Lost & Found Collection. L&FC came about when its founder discovered boxes of pristine surf photography slides from the 1970s at a flea market. It has since blossomed into a wonderful project that supports surf photographers and the history of surfing. I highly recommend checking out the site and following them on Instagram, too. Pictured above is Larry Bertlemann alongside one of his signature Pepsi surfboards. Dying to know who the shaper might be…if anyone has more info, drop me a line!
If you object to the above post on the grounds that it’s not vintage enough, then I’d like to politely refer you to Andy Irons’ gesture in the photo. Happy belated birthday to The Champ, the only surfer to take on Slater during his prime and win.
Finally, I figured we’d throw our Aussie friends a little bone. Pictured above is Wayne Lynch with the first ever surfboard he shaped! It’s great to see a close up photo of this board, and one in color. For more on Lynch’s early boards, check out this earlier post, which is still one of the pieces of which I am proudest.
Just a beautiful 1960s Con Surfboards log in lovely condition. Check out that D Fin! Love the color of the stringer…I love everything about this board, really.
Greetings, Shredderz! Today’s Deep Dive focuses on perhaps my favorite old-school surfboard brand ever: Con Surfboards. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: the Con Surfboards logo is a gorgeous piece of graphic design. It’s classy and timeless, with just the right amount of color to make it pop. Today’s post examines a model that is near and dear to my own East Coast roots: the Con Surfboards CC Rider. The CC Rider is named after famed East Coast surfer Claude Codgen. Before one Robert Kelly Slater came along, Codgen was Cocoa Beach’s most famous surfing export who became a well-known pro in the 1960s. In 1966, Codgen had the honor of representing the East Coast at the World Surfing Championship held in San Diego. That same year, Codgen joined forces with Con Surfboards, which released his signature CC Rider model.
A young Claude Codgen on left, Greg “Da Bull” Noll on the right. Looks like Codgen is holding a Con Surfboards CC Rider model, but Da Bull’s hand is in the way! Pic taken by Roger Scruggs, via East Coast Surfing Hall of Fame
Despite Con Surfboards’ status as a cult classic brand, and Codgen’s legacy as one of the first true East Coast pros, there isn’t a whole lot of information online about the Con Surfboards CC Rider model. This post is an attempt to explore the history of the CC Rider, and present pictures of the various iterations of Claude Codgen’s signature model. This post is by no means definitive, as I have done my best to cobble together the various bits of information available online. As always, if anyone has any better info on the Con Surfboards CC Rider, do not hesitate to drop me a line.
Con Surfboards CC Rider
The CC Rider was produced starting in 1966. I believe it was only produced for a handful of years, as Stoked-n-Board indicates that Sunshine Surfboards, Codgen’s own brand, was founded in 1970. Sunshine continues to produce the CC Rider model, and Codgen is still shaping today.
This is an example of the later Sunshine Surfboards CC Rider (here referred to as the “Claude Codgen Model.”)
According to a thread on Swaylocks, Bill Shrosbree was one of the early shapers responsible for making many of the early Con Surfboards CC Rider boards. I’m not sure whether or not this is true. Even though Codgen now shapes boards under the Sunshine label, I am under the impression that he was not responsible for shaping the various CC Rider models.
See below for an example of what I believe to be the most basic version of the Con Surfboards CC Rider. These pictures are via a Craigslist listing for a board from a few months ago.
Classic black laminate with Codgen’s signature
CC Rider is located on the far left
Look closely at the fin box, with the screw that is parallel to the board, located towards the back. Not sure what design this is. Drop me a line if you have more info!
Note the telltale black label on the board’s deck. Here’s another picture of a similar board, via the Long Island Surfing Museum, featuring Charlie Bunger’s personal collection of 1960s Con Surfboards. The board on the far right looks almost identical to the one posted above: same black label on the deck, and then the tapered yellow high-density foam stringer.
The CC Rider model can be seen at the far right. Note the “CC Rider” lam at the top right and the black laminate towards the tail. I believe the boards that are second from left and fourth from left are CC Rider pintail models. Pic via Long Island Surfing Museum.
At some point it appears Con Surfboards expanded its CC Rider portfolio, and released a bunch of variants. Here is an old Con Surfboards ad detailing the different CC Rider variants.
Old Con Surfboards ad showing variants on the CC Rider: CC Lightweight, V-Wedge Bottom, and CC Pintail
Con Surfboards CC Rider Lightweight
The main distinction between the standard CC Rider and the Lightweight variant is unclear, other than the different text that appears on the laminates. In other words, I believe the CC Rider Lightweight model has a “Lightweight Model” added to the logo, which you can see in the first picture. I imagine the construction of the board was likely changed as well, but I can’t say for sure. Otherwise, the high-density foam stringer looks the same as the standard CC Rider, and the board appears to have the same volan patch as seen in the example in the ad above. Pics via an old Craigslist posting.
Con Surfboards CC Rider V-Wedge Bottom
Vee bottom boards were very popular in the late 1960s, and to my surprise, I learned that Con Surfboards produced one as well. I love the branding of this board, including the hand flashing the peace sign in the ad above. The only example I have found of a CC Rider V-Wedge Bottom comes via ChubbySurf.com and their Pinterest account. This is a pretty rare variant, and I have yet to see one up for sale. Check out the neat rainbow CC Rider logo on the bottom. No dimensions were listed.
Con Surfboards CC Rider V-Wedge Bottom. You don’t see these too often! Pic via ChubbySurf
Con Surfboards CC Rider Pintail Lightweight
I have been able to find two versions of what I believe are CC Pintails, but there are a few details worth noting. First, neither of these boards bears a straight up “CC Pintail” laminate. The laminates on both boards read “CC Rider Lightweight.” I consider both of these boards CC Pintails, however, because their silhouettes are identical to the “CC Pintail” pictured in the ad above.
First is an CC Pintail Lightweight that was recently listed for sale on Craigslist in Los Angeles. This board is a trip, starting with the two-tone high-density tapered stringer. The board was listed at 9’10”, and according to the seller, it’s circa 1968.
Island Trader Surf Shop is a rad Florida-based shop that features a great collection of vintage boards. They have an example of another Con Surfboards CC Rider Pintail Lightweight, and you can find it here. I have reproduced some of the pics below. It also has the same two-tone high-density stringer, black pinline design, and logo placement. In addition to boasting an elaborate fabric inlay, the Island Trader board is considerably shorter than the orange board, measuring in at only 8’6″.
Con Surfboards CC Rider Minipin Lightweight
Finally, Con Surfboards also produced as CC Rider Minipin. This variant does not appear in the ad above, alongside the Lightweight, the V-Wedge Bottom, and the Pintail. I am guessing it is a later board — late 1960s? –but I’m not certain. There are three examples I have seen, the first being a 7’6″ CC Minipin Lightweight with a blue (probably re-done) bottom. This board was posted for sale on eBay a little while ago. According to the original listing, the board was produced in 1969, supporting the theory that this is a later-era CC Rider model. It certainly has the funky outline of a Transition Era board from the late 1960s, with the wide point pushed pretty far back towards the tail.
There’s another CC Minipin Lightweight that is currently for sale on eBay. You can find a link to the board here. This one measures in at 8’6″, a full foot longer than the blue bottom example above. There’s also a small difference in laminates: this board has one logo reading “CC Minipin Lightweight”, whereas the blue bottom board has its CC Minipin and Lightweight laminates located on separate parts of the board. The example below also has a bitchin’ Con Surfboards logo on the bottom near the nose (see last photo). Pics below via the eBay listing.
Finally, there is another Swaylocks thread with an extremely clean example of a CC Minipin, complete with its original fin. I have reproduced the pictures below. In the thread, well-regarded shaper Bill Thrailkill weighs in on the board. He identifies the fin as being a rare first generation Fins Unlimited fin, and based on this, he estimates the CC Minipin below was likely shaped in late 1967 or 1968.
According to Bill Thrailkill, this is a rare example of a first generation Fins Unlimited fin box and fin.
Classic transition era outline. Love the volan patch and the subtle Con Surfboards logo
Those are all the examples of Con Surfboards CC Rider models that I have been able to find. Drop Claude Codgen a line at the Sunshine Surfboards Facebook Page; it seems like he is still stoked on surfing and shaping a good half century after his signature model was released!
