I have a Con surfboard fom the early to mid sixties hanging in my garage. It is eight feet eight inches long and weighs about thirty pounds.
I did a search at your site, but couldn’t find any info on Con boards. The board is in good shape for its age with only a small scarf along one rail.
I’d be interested in any feedback as to its value.
Without photos you are not going to get much info. If the board is 8’8" it is probably from the late 60s. If it really is 8’8" it should NOT weigh 30 lbs. 22 would be more like it.
I don’t understand how you were unable to find anything about Cons on this site. There have been many posts about them lately. Try learning how to use the search function here.
Again, no photos = no info.
Provide clear pictures of top, bottom, nose, tail, label, and especially the fin box if the board has one. Fin boxes changed a lot in the late 60s and can help determine a board’s age. Within reason.
Sammy,
The picture is up there now…
Mike
If that’s an 8’8", it is really short for the era. It looks like it might be early or mid 60s.
But, the one picture doesn’t help, at all. Please re-read my previous post.
In 1959, and 1960, groms at La Jolla Shores were showing up with 8'6'' and 8'0'' Velzy balsas and foamies. I made and rode an 8'8'' balsa then too. Boards started getting longer again in 1961.
Well, yeah. I’m just saying that an 8’8" is a bit rare for the period. Of course, I’m just guesstimating the age of that board because the one photo posted is almost useless in making any assessment of its vintage. The fin would indicate that it pre-dates 1966, in all probability. That’s about all I can surmise.
Boards under 9’ were atypical by the mid 60s. Though some folks did prefer shorter.
Such as LJ Richards and Linda Benson.
Early 1963 ad featuring Hobie riders.
Thank you Sammy A and Thrailkill for your comments. I don’t have a digital camera, but I’ll take some
more detailed photos of the Con board and post them when I get them developed. I’ll also remeasure
and reweigh the board for more accuracy. Thanks for your suggestions.
In the early sixties most manufacturer’s weight charts started at 8’6.
I remember a hot surfer named Wayne Spencer who had moved from California to the Lavallette, Seaside, Toms River area in the early sixties. He had a really nice 8’6 Jacobs.
Boards between 8’6 and 9’ were used primarily by kids, girls.and lightweight guys. They weren’t uncommon in the very early sixties although there weren’t a lot of them either.
The photo above gives a few more clues upon detailed inspection.
The laminated wood sunrise fin, solid pigment job, the size, and the overall shape all taken together would put the board no later than '63 and probably earlier in my opinion.
I don’t know when Con started making boards but this is a pretty early one.
Under the Con label? 1959
Hey Painter,
This site has some of the history:
http://www.consurfboards.com/history.html
May contact this guy:
http://lisurfingmuseum.com/Surfboards.html
scroll down to his Con collection-resembles second from the right.(though very very hard to tell with that one picture)
perhaps look further into the “Ugly” and the “Super Ugly”
Pictures showing the deck, rails, tail and fin may be useful- I’m sure one of the many seasoned surf gurus on swaylocks can tell you exact model with some better pictures.
If it is an original - the one picture shows remarkable shape.
I take it your not the original owner?
Good luck finding more information
I had a 7′ Con Crystal Butterfly board that I bought from Pete Smith’s Surf
Shop in the late 1960’s in Virginia Beach, Virginia. It was 23″ wide with a kick
in the nose and a diamond tail. It was my favorite board and I still miss it.
Would love to find some pictures of the butterfly if you know anyone who has
some. Thanks.
Here are more photos of my 1960s Con board. I hope these new shots will help determine the type of board it is.
The board is 8 feet 8 inches in length. You mentioned that the board should weigh closer to 22 lbs., but the fact that the board has been re-pigmented, may add a little to the weight. in any event, the board weighs exactly 30 lbs. ---- no mistake. I’ve weighed the board several different ways and the weight remains the same: 30 lbs. I would appreciate if someone out there could also venture an opinion as to its current value.
You mentioned "repigmented" . who did the repigment job, and how do you know it was repigmented? If it's a repigment job you got to ask why? was it because it was a dinged up beast and the guy wanted to clean it up, add some weight, kill the value, make it a wall hanger, or just make it pretty?
If it's a resto board, the current market value is about $400-$700. If it's original it's worth $700-$1,000 or so. it's hard to tell in this market. Surfers are the cheapest bunch on the planet. And the economy isn't helping much. There is a bumch of great old boards for sale out there right now, and not many are buying. Not many that have a couple of thousand $$ laying around to buy an old heavy crappy surfing chunk of foam
Not pointing at you... but, lot's of guys show up posting boards here or on ebay thinking they found the holy grail of old surfboards. Your board if original is very nice, .....just saying.
It's a very nice board, but no history, or clear story on repigment, or who surfed it, or where it was bought, etc...it's just another old surfboard that worth some cash, but not mega surf cash.
By the way I have a 1959 Dave Sweet that's 8'8" and it really heavy, like 25 lbs.
Hello Resinhead,
Thank you for your somewhat brutal remarks which I can appreciate because it can be a cruel world out there. Having said that, I’m afraid
I’m not able to offer much of the board’s history. I obtained the board in a trade for services while I was an Ocean Lifeguard in Venice, CA
during the late fifties through the sixiies. So it’s strictly a Southern California board. To my knowledge the board wasn’t ridden by anyone
famous unless some of my lifeguarding experiences accidently rubbed into the wax. I got the board in its present condition and who, why or
when repigmented the board is unknown to me. The repigment determination was made by Tak Kawahara who used to shape boards for
Colburn in the early years. I talked with Tak about the board around ten years ago after he viewed photos of the board I had sent him.
I’m currently living in the foothills of the western Sierras, not exactly surfing country and with 76 year old knees I’m not about to take the board
down a wave.
No one can appreciate the board hanging in my garage so my hope is that someone out there would like to have a relic from the good old
days.
Thanks again Resinhead and “All the Best”.
Painter
hey painter,
just curious if have sold the Con or not?
thanks, Mike
Hello Mike,
I have not sold the “Con” board. I’ve been busy covering canvases with oil paint in order to make them look like seascapes.
There didn’t seem to be too much interest in the board so it’s still resting in my garage, gathering dust.
All the Best,
Painter
I would love to fix her and ride her. I live in San Francisco and can pick her up anywhere. If she rides good I would definitely make you an offer.
(from 1964 Con ad)
My highschool was just down the street from Con’s shop so we’d sometimes hang out there during lunch hour. That fin outline was standard on his early-to-mid '60s boards. If memory serves, the “D” fin was starting to be superceded by fins with cutaway trailing edges starting in '65 or '66. Also, that “rising sun” lamination pattern was more of an EARLY '60s fad: glass fins becoming more popular in the mid '60s. And the fin placement was being moved forward off the tail block a bit as well. At that point, Con was starting to use fins with a different, longer, more swept-back outline. Based on that, I’d guess your board is almost certainly pre-'65.
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