I remember seeing Taylor Press order cards, coming through production. I know that I shaped a goodly number of them. So, yes, some of my boards were shipped there.
The first use of the term “wonderbolt” for a fin application was Dewey Weber’s proprietary fin system, around 1966. It coincided (more or less) with the introduction of the Weber Performer. It was a lateral bolt contained in the back end of the fin and it tightened against the rear of the box.
The second use of the term was the name given to a type of fin bolt designed to be used with Fins Unlimited boxes. The very same box design still in use today. The concept of the '70s Wonderbolt was for leash attachment, which was a very bad idea. It led to damage of the fin box, and often caused the leash to rip through the rail. I swear by them. Not for the leash usage, but because you can use a number of things to loosen/tighten them, rather than just a screwdriver or allen wrench. My favorite being an 8d common nail.
Here’s two pics to illustrate the difference. One is a scan from a Weber ad, ca. 1967. The other pic is a photo of one of the bolts I use, which is the 70s item known as a wonderbolt
so its got no numberand a decal/ laminate
abused beyond belief a full resurection
nessicisitan… got the fin but reshaped
to death with base and a finger of plasti-
injected molded erectile uv decomposing
shadow of its former self… ,
my current state of grace is getting
a clean lam to look at to know where the
begining and end of the label is…
opaque pigment is the request
‘‘the green board me and my friends drooled over in the shop when we were kids’’
then back to the fin …
Over the months thinking this through
molding the base and freeshaping the fin in fiberglass
is my thought… original dims make for heavy rendition
with a mold could make multiples for fine tuning…
Make no mistake this is an early hustler 8’er
roll bottom in the nose yacht cut off sq tail colored stringer
and it is way light,making it worth resurecting…
One world?surf shop? fla orlando tala st pete?
…ambrose…
#8 Numbers: (25.084); 1/8 rdwd x 1/8 balsa x 1/8 rdwd T-band.
“mini tee band” a dead give away…
Fun shit, yeah?
As you can tell, the Hustler started as a longboard in 1967. Like many models from the early transition era, a lot of the names were carried over from the 9’ plus versions.
Here is a better image of the lam, but it has octagonal bits of Astrodek stuck over it.
taped sticks and lam
opaque white the deck
and bottom
clear gloss the sticks
and lam…
next fine tune sand
to prep for final pastel lime
green…ambrose…
There ya go. One of the early ones. Must be over 9 foot?