Board Bazaar - May 2014
Welcome to the May edition of the Board Bazaar. It was a slow old month on the second hand scene, reflective of a broader ease in the market. A conversation I had with a collector summed up the mood. "I'm just not getting for them what I used to," he lamented. "The prices aren't there." And this fella knows what his boards are worth. I asked him how big his collection is: "Over 100...probably closer to 150." He's no fly-by-nighter...
So this month plenty of lesser known or low quality boards failed to perform. Something to note whatever side of the transaction you stand - buyer or seller. The exception, as always, were the marquee boards which created interest and fetched respectable prices. There's a couple in the list below. And with that let's get into it...
"Bring me my Yater Spoon - the 8'6"!" And with that Robert Duvall uttered one of the great surfing lines to appear in mainstream film. This 9'6" Renny Yater gun is a foot longer than Colonel Kilgore's weapon and also of later vintage, being a mid-to-late 70s shape. It's a board of impeccable pedigree and it's in immaculate condition. Bidding hasn't closed but I was too excited to wait till next month's Board Bazaar to run it. Check the link.
Why do you collect old boards? They ain't high performance so surely style plays just as big a part as substance. Which is no doubt why this bog white Hot Buttered thruster didn't receive a single bid above it's $220 reserve. Not one, despite being in Grade A condition. Now if it had a spray, a dripping HB logo, or some sort of Terry Fitz-inspired flair it would have the collectors in a lather. The owner has reposted it without a reserve and it's getting a bit more interest this time around...for a bog white HB thruster.
Last month I offhandedly questioned Michael Cundith's shaping legacy, at least where it stood in relation to his Californian peer, George Greenough. It got me thinking and then when this MC-shaped Sky thruster came up I paid attention. With fluoro orange spray and yellow star bursts on the deck this is 1980s central. Even got a first gen Gorilla Grip pad still intact. Woah! So I put down a $60 bid and woke the next morning the proud owner of a board shaped by an overshadowed master. Thank you Michael. Thank you eBay.
Geoff McCoy's boards are always popular on the second hand scene, especially his Lazer Zaps which often fetch top dollar. Thing is, many of them are stripped of the engine underneath: the Ben Lexcen-shaped star fin AKA winged fin. What's a Lazer Zap without one of these? I thought this would've gone for a pot but it suprisingly didn't register a single bid over its $110 reserve. Was it an original? Dunno, but McCoy starfins were stamped with the year of manufacture so the buyer could check. On a sidenote: With all things single fin how long till FCS bring out a copy?
From south of the border comes this Watercooled triple-stringer singley shaped by brutish Victorian Maurice Cole. Cole shaped for Watercooled post-Pentridge so this board would date 1978-79. In great condition with a backstory to boot it received no bids above its $500 reserve (further reinforcing the parlous state of the market). The owner has currently reposted it on eBay.
Apropos the aforementioned Hot Buttered: If you're gonna get a Hot Buttered you've gotta get a spray, and if you're gonna get an Allan Byrne you've gotta get channels. It just makes sense. Here was a chance to own a classic little AB 6 channel thruster. Bit worse for wear, no doubt, but that deck would scrub up OK and there's no terminal dings anywhere. 18 people bid with the winner paying just $212.50 - a veritable bargain.
Although his shaping proteges - Keith Paull, Terry Fitzgerald, Michael Peterson, and Peter Townend - went on to more fame, Joe Larkin holds a position of reverence in Australian surf history. Said Rabbit: "It seemed like design breakthroughs were being made every week at Joe’s factory." This 7'2" was shaped in '68, deep in the heart of the Shortboard Revolution. It's got a few bumps and dings, and the honest seller admits to a twist in the tail. Five people didn't mind and took the bidding to $310.30.
James 'Booby' Jones was the first person to get barrelled at Waimea and pushed the outside of the envelope on the North Shore throughout the 70s. This 10'0" of his dates from the 80s and like all extreme paddle boards just looking at it brings beads of sweat to the brow. Unfortunately it's a creature removed from its environment, despite many people watching none were keen to bid above the $1500 reserve. If the same board were sold on the North Shore...?
We leave the Board Bazaar with a mystery item. This original Mark Richards twinny is in great condition. Remove the Hot Buttered and Rip Curl stickers, and the nose guard and you've got a state of the art surfboard - if it were still 1979. Bidding opened at $0.99. So what did this coveted item go for? Zero. It didn't garner a single bid. Not even a smart blue board sock could entice the crowd. An original MR twinny for a dollar? Call it the one that got away.
Till next month...
Board Bazaar - April 2014
The Bazaar was closed due to laziness in March
Board Bazaar - February 2014
Comments
I LOVE this monthly board bazaar thing you've got going here and the great summaries just add to it.
I've never really held on to boards and kick myself for letting some of the boards I've had go. I'm hopeless, I must have given away 20 or more boards in my life.
Please keep it up, looking forward to the next one.
Cheers Zen, and don't worry, it's not going anywhere.
Brutish watercooled post pentridge
ha
"This Gravelle thruster features a picture of some local Penong flora - lovely! "
Classic!
Wow, totally missed that.
Ha ha!
This is a great column Nettle, but if it makes 2nd hand board prices rise I'm gonna come around to your house and cut your dick off with the trailing edge of a G5.
Ugh! *winces and wipes tear from eyes*
I think we've both got the same motive Daisy - rip off the seller no mater what it takes.
Now drop the fin system and walk away...
6'2 Campbell bros bonzer 1 bid @ $150 3 days to go.
currently $162 . with 8hrs remaining.
Campbell bros bonzer ....currently $162 with 8hrs remaining
OK, which one of you bastards is driving the price up? It's gone from $162 to $200 and beyond my threshold.
daisy duke, I'll play devil's advocate and talk prices down for you. I really can't see much value in seventies and eighties boards unless they have a pretty significant back story. There is a rarity value to boards from the fifties and sixties....there just weren't that many made, but by the time you get to the seventies they were pumping them out.
By all means buy a board that means something to you personally but don't expect prices to rise. There are a lot of old boards in surprisingly good condition sitting in a lot of garages. I mean $200 for a board that you will probably never surf and wish you hadn't if you did, and that, not only may never rise in value, but may, if you tried to sell it languish for a considerable period of time waiting for another, I was going to say sucker, but let's say "enthusiast".
Attaboy Blindy, from sizzle to chill, maybe even cold but that's just my interpretation.
BB, I oughta introduce you to Damion Fuller AKA The Board Collector. Fella has a huge collection of old boards and rides a lot of them too. Saw him out at small Voodoo with an early 80s Bob Hurley twin fin not so long ago. Old Damion has a bundle of fun but he also takes an academic interest with old boards. He's an industrial designer by profession and can trace design lineage through his collection. Where I see curves he sees form. Takes a special interest in the boards shaped from '76-'86, the period he calls T2, or the second transition era.
Stu, I'm a kneeboarder and I've been left out of so many things in 45 years of surfing. Why is it so? The first collectable I bought was a Chris Crozier slab, from Ray Richards. Mark was about 13 and his dad told me confidently: "He'll be world champ one day." Kept his shop open til seven so I could drive up from Sydney after work on a Friday. Greenough single fin. It got stolen from Avalon. I've seen 30 yo boards with better glass than my newie. There's gotta be some classics hiding somewhere ...
Sorry for the late reply Spiggy, I overlooked your message. And hey, no need to feel left out, I ran a very neat Peter Ashley kneeboard in last month's Board Bazaar. Was a very similar outline to some modern shortboards I've seen.
So spiggy is there a story behind you driving all the way to Newcaatle when the. Crozier factory was ten minutes away?
There was Blindy, sporty brand new Hillman Hunter (in rally trim) on loan for the weekend, nursey girlfriend Karen Anne with the weekend off, Chris Crozier with NO stock and many orders but he hooked me up with RR and I got to try out the board next day at Pelican on the way home. That board turned on a zac and the deep red tinted glass job was superb. Chris learned glassing from doing Midget's boards, I believe, and was a real artist. I think it was $150, brand new. Pre-leggies, I lost it plenty of times at Copa but never got a ding. It was blessed.
I had a series of Crozier boards shaped by Paul Connors in 73-74. It was a pretty busy place in those days. I met a kneeboard rider a few years ago in Rote with an immaculate Crawford style slab from that era that he was still surfing everyday. There were a lot of them made and I suspect that there are still a few around Dee Why in various garages and under houses!
Stu, are you just scoping gumtree and eBay or is there specific board sale sites your watching ?
Just those two Blowin, though I've had a few people contact me with info, photos etc. of old boards.
Anybody have any info on the shaper Gary Mead from I believe the 70's - 80's?
50 Young, I've seen a few of his boards for sale but don't know much about him. Where was he from? Who did he shape for?
Stu, I know as much as you, I just picked up a single fin of his and was interested in a bit of history
Very little is showing up 50. I went six pages deep into Google and found zip, there's no 'Gary Mead's' on Facebook who look like ex-shapers, and the font of all surf knowledge, Surf Research, has only one entry and it's a logo without any info.
A mystery...
You buy the red railed single fin?
did the same 6 pages nothing, so I tried mead surfboards nothing - drifting off topic but up came a patent from a Kirby j Mead for surfcraft .......headfuck trying to decipher what its all about ? A low drag fin foil system of some sort .
Roy Stewart translate if you can.
Sure did Stu, going give her a Reno and use her for a few retro ride days
Thanks for he effort I did the same searches, just thought a fellow swellnet member may have local knowledge, worth a try
No worries, 50, and good luck with the reno. Shoot a few photo through when you're done.
Will do Stu
Hey Stu, whats an e-mail address I'll shoot you through a few photos of the reno project?
Here you go 50:
[email protected]
The MR for a dollar didn't sell?!
I got $100 if he still wants to sling it
sweet board
Spiggy and Blindboy,
fantastic crozier kneeboard restoration on lyttlestreet
best resto ive ever seen !
Thanks udo.
Stu, seller has changed auction finish time ....extra 24 hrs added.
Awesome buy Des, that's a board with impeccable bloodlines; North Shore lineage (Yater, Pat Curren) cross Hollywood (Apocalypse Now). You just don't see many Yater's around, especially here in Australia. Think it's one of those boards where the people who know know. Good on you.
Hey im really interested in the watercooled maurice cole board but cant find it on ebay ! Can anyone help put me in touch ?
Here you go Mal, follow this link, you'll see the users eBay contact (dancinali_girl):
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Vintage-surfboard-Watercooled-Single-fin-/111349300208?pt=AU_Sport_Surfing&_uhb=1&hash=item19ecef7bf0&nma=true&si=dafaHW4wd98gKYPvp2F11b3F%252Fhg%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
Hey Stu thanks for your help - i am now the proud owner
of the MC Watercooled - cant wait to get on it!!
Ha ha! Good on you Mal, looks like a great board and shaped by one of Vicco's - and indeed, Australia's - best shapers.
Damn you Stunet. You've awoken a previously unbidden desire within me with your contagious affliction of trawling the net for surfboards. I only had to avoid garage sales till I read this thread, but now .....
Just don't lowball the boards I'm looking at Blowin and everything will be fine...
re : Gary Mead.
Not sure but I seem to remember some connection with the Cronulla area or the South Coast ? Pretty sure there is some mention or photo of him or his boards in an old Surfing World mag.
anyway maybe this will trigger someones memory .
Jim Banks 6'10 on ebay with a style of finplug I haven't seen before anyone know the brand.
Yeah, it's Four Way Fin System. Rather than just change fins 4WFS controls the cant and toe of each fin.
See http://www.4wfs.com/
I thought so but wasn't 100% they were 4wfs ...fin didn't look centered in the plug ?
Should be mandatory fitment in all surfboards.....a couple degrees tweek here and there ......have only ever seen one surfboard fitted with them { Dan Ross]
Thought I'd offer some insight beyond the interview Stu did with me recently on my collection and selling it. Buying boards for investment is a pretty slow way to make your coin, but you can guarantee it will turn a dollar in 20 years time...buying them because you love what they represent is another thing. Buying them to surf like Damion and I is even better I reckon, and the only way to really know what suits your waves and condition are to have a go. My personal preference is to ride guns when it's solid as I reckon you can get into the waves so much easier with a big chunk under you and cut through the chop with the solid rails.
This is a great time to experiment in surfboards with so many amazing ideas out there and I find trying boards so inspirational, really helps me to hone my ideas and understand what works, especially as I creep closer to 50 - good article on Muscles and backs guys, btw
Just look at the market for second hand contemporary thrusters...why buy a new board when you can try out a second hand one for $350-400 max? Try it out then palm it off and try something else or better yet go to your favoured shaper and sort out one that suits you based on what you've tried. My shaper of choice Pete McCabe is a bloody legend, has shaped with the greats and has so much history and knowledge that I will never be able to understand or feel. He's cool with me trying out different boards and even takes some of the ideas on for his own boards. I generally ride a 5'11 contemporary shortboard these days, and have a range of riders from 5'8" to 8'0" guns. Ive actually found riding SUP's a massive improvement in my rooted back, so when the waves are small it's SUP for me.
As an aside, the MR listed for .99c was a dud - had a big twist in it and the seller choose to avoid telling anyone, ended up selling for $400-500 from memory. Ask the right questions before bidding!!!
I've got a heap of insane Lightning Bolts coming up for sale if anyone has deep pockets!!! They are valuable and will stand the test of time, like buying a Ferrari !!
@tripper g feet, a very nice Wayne Dale 6'9 double flyer swallow on evilbay for you ?
Matson are you watching this one.
snorkle10_0
mate if it sells buy yourself some new thongs youre missing one.
Listed as Vintage surfboard , wild looking quad thingy this is -Tail ,rails and fin setup and placement.