Here’s the double page ad we did with Claude in the June 1970 Surfing Magazine. In 71 or 72 he changed the logo to the Indian on horseback.
Whoops, hate to pass on bad information. From the thread that I started a couple years ago.
“Guidance System: Variable, no metal parts; dates of manufacture 9/1969 through 1/1970.”
A board off the racks in '71 could easily have that box. If they produced enough of them and manufacturers bought huge quanities they could have kept using them even after the company folded. Hell, I have a Clark blank sitting in my garage. One day it’ll be a board.
I have nothing to add to this thread, other than to say it is so cool that Bing Copeland lurks here occasionally. Bing, if you read this, I ordered a light blue Nuuhiwa Lightweight back in the day, from Val Surf. Sure wish I'd kept it.
Mike Wonder
Yeah, it is pretty cool when you can post a board and in about 12 hours get an almost complete history.
“Bing, if you read this, I ordered a light blue Nuuhiwa Lightweight back in the day, from Val Surf. Sure wish I’d kept it”.
I know what you mean. I wish I would have taken one new board of each model we ever made and packed it up and put it away in storage. Imagine what that group of boards would be worth today.
Pretty cool, nothin!
I thought this board was sweet when I picked it up... Now after learning it's lineage, (and from none other than THE Bing, OMG!), it's priceless to me.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Thanks to Sways I've been fortunate enough to be directly inspired and informed by the true pioneers and giants of the surf industry, and for that I'll always be grateful.
Yup its a great place I didn’t have to even ask and I found out more about the one I’ve got in the attic!!! Might have to try to pretty up the pre-sways repairs I did and make it look decent.
Then don’t.
Such as…
That is wrong. Not sure where you got it, but I’ve already found three or four ads from 1971 that mention Guidance as the fin used by Con, Newport Paipo, and a few others.
When and where did I say I bought my board “off the rack”? Mine was a special order because I wanted a certain tint job.
The fact remains that a few name brand boards were still using Guidance Fins as late as Summer of 1971.
Anyway, where were you in 1971?
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Anyway, where were you in 1971?
[/quote]
Now that's a great question! Nothing quite like being there, eh?
Yup. At one point, he used the name Sunshine Designs. Not sure if that was later on.
Here’s the cover of that issue of Surfing (June 70), with none other than BK.
Double page ad for Sunshine. May 1971. Artwork by the great Jim Evans.
Bing ad from May of '71. Detail of page, plus partial page with detail hilighted in red.
Two more ads from May of '71. Harbour and Surfboards Australia. Both were still using Guidance Systems.
LMAO at that Ing cover, "Florida's Secret, Sebastian Inlet''. Those were the days.....
Speaking of Claude…
Back around '78 I was visiting friends in Cocoa Beach. Claude saw me shooting pics at 2nd Light and asked if i’d do some for him. He needed some pics for Body Glove and a certain surf trunk company. For possible use in Surfer Mag ads.
This photo got me my first ‘rejection’ letter from a major magazine.
Bonus points if you can guess the brand of trunks (wink-wink)
That's easy, but where's balsabill to answer it himself?
(BTW, go easy on rachel, at least she cares about history, a lot of kids don't. Not to say you shouldn't correct her when needed...)
Yup.
I hear ya. But it’s frustrating when you try to give the right info, and someone who wasn’t even alive then thinks they should correct you by repeating bad info.
I’d say Sundeks, judging by the rainbow stripe. I think I still have a pair.
OK, Here’s the deal on Guidance Fin systems. A group of the major manufactures (of the time) called the SMA (Surfboard Manufactures Association) consisted of myself, Hobie, G&S, Weber, Hansen, Rick, Challanger, Con, Greg Noll & Harbour consigned and had the fins and box designed and produced exclusively for our own use. This was at a time when the back yard builders were able to by their blanks directly from Clark at basically the same price as we paid. Our only discount was the volume discount and that didn’t make much difference in the cost of building a board. We were getting under cut by the back yard guys who had no overhead costs and it was really affecting our business. The idea was that we would have a fin system that they couldn’t get. Unfortunately things were changing so fast that it didn’t make much difference and we all went back to Fins Unlimited within two years.