Gary , I'll go with you, Monday is gonna be pretty messy and decent size, do you need a board ? Let me know. Don't forget you have an open invite to come and make a board anytime.
Tom
I find some of the old stuff on the eastern boards pretty interesting. I’ll bet just a few remember the 'ol Glass Research on Lanes ave south in Jacksonville that supplied most of the east coast with boards. We were a doggone good sized company back then. Started doing three sizes in pop outs (smallest was a 9’2") and then hired a bunch of west coast & Hawaian guys and went to customs. Lot of stories about those friends of mine…yep, most were true.
Glass Research was huge. Here today and gone tomorrow. It amazes me how few people are aware of just how big it actually was. It could be a long interesting story in itself. I only know of a few people that are even aware of it and all of them are in Jax. Ought to get em together and document it before we are all gone. I had an Allen TP a few years ago. There is another one here in Savannah somewhere. It keeps eluding me.
AllenTP…Wow!!! Yep, that was our custom board named after Al Foss who was the shop boss for awhile before he went back to California. I started out as a “Rail Rubber” and My top production record was 65 boards a day which was “smokin” at the time and then they flew a California foamer in for a week to show me how to “blow foam”, as the process was called at the time. We used a 2 part chemical from Reichold Chemical here in Jax and I found a way to keep most of the catalyst streaks out of the boards in the foaming process so I was the foamer guy until they closed the doors in about '67. Whenever you would see a board with more than the usual pigment on it that was the glosser having to cover up the catalyst streaks and air bubbles in the foam. Clark was the top foam at the time and they knew it and kept the chemicals top secret. What a great bunch of guys though! I thought the world of all of them and will always have fond memories of those days. It saddens me to learn of the passing of Wayne Land and Wilton Keuma. They were good friends. I calledcWilton when I went to the island years ago and he wasvworking at the Polynesian Cultural Center at the time. Wayne would call me when he came through Jax. George Miller had his shop on St Johns ave last time I talked to him in the 60’s. I wonder what ever happened to our sander Nick. He was a ex Marine like myself and lived in a old 4door Fiat he called “Frank” right there in the parking lot. Nice guy though.
Gerorge Miller here. I’m the “Miller” in “Land and Miller”…
Wayne, Wilton, the “Giant” and “Benji” and myself made the trek to Jacksonville from Hermosa to set-up “Glass Reseach”…
Interersting story…
BTW: Wayne Land, Harold Iggy and myself were all contepempory shapers at Dewey’s shop in Venice…
Great times…
This is an old Challenger Eastern ad written by Tinker, photo by Deane Yamane. The text goes:
"WHAT IS A CUSTOM SURFBOARD
Is it a shape. Is it a custom because it was hand shaped? A board can display a well known name and be hand shaped and not be a custom board. Unless a board is made for you, shaped for your style of surfing, and the average sized wave you ride, it is not a custom board."
It goes on with the same purist sentiments (which I subscribe to) …
Dances with Waves …
Back cover of an issue of Atlantic Surfing mag.
Rider is Butch Yamashita, correct?
Great board photo. I look at it and it's like listening to an old favorite song that has the ability to recapture some vibe from 40+ years ago.
The older we get, the better we were.
Yep thats 'ol Wayne…third from left. Gosh…we never took pictures back then…couldn’t set down a beer long enough i reckon.
Welcome to sways, gmiller. Is it correct to assume that you were the owner of Daytona Beach Surf Shop?
SammyA,
(asked about the surfer in the ad)
Yes, that is my understanding.
Randy W
Jbirdsurf,
That looks to me like a four-layer rails era board. Probably from the Neptune factory era before it burned down.
Randy W
Dances with Waves
PLC,
“the older we get the better we were”
I like that. But remember that being old is not all that bad, especially since many that were here among us never get to experience it.
Randy W
Dances with Waves
Hey guys picked this one up at yard sale. The serial # is 362 so I was thinking it was from the early days, maybe '65?
Howzit mgarbutt, who made it or should I say what name is on the logo? I can see the D fin shadow and the tapered stringer is cool so it probably is a 60's board. Aloha,Kokua
I don’t know who shaped it, the only marking is the serial number. Here is a pic of the fin and logo.
mgarbutt,
That stick is over 40 years old rapidly approaching 50.
Randy W
Dances with Waves
Hey guys,
I’ve been reading this tread with a lot of pleasure. I recently stumbled across an ‘old’ challenger twinfin (60’s?). It has a green challenger logo running along and over the stringer, which is placed on the topside in the midlle of the board. I can see an overlap on the rails with a red pinline. I’ve only seen pictures of it so i can’t give you any more info now.
Can one of you give me any info, based on the limited details i provided, on the board. I’ll try to upload some photo’s when i’ve checked it out in person.
Thanks, Dick