well I don’t know for sure, but “TOM” sure has the appearance of being written right on top of the glass… don’t know if I’ve ever seen a lam between coats so I don’t know how to recognize it… but it just looks like if you took a sharpie to it… haha your probably right about not having sharpie’s back then, so i dunno…
I acquired the board from a guy that doesn’t surf… he said someone had traded it to him about 15 years ago and it had been sitting in his garage ever since… so it’s in pretty decent condition.
wish I could take a trip back in time and see how Tom would ride a board like this…
I have seen all manner of Overlin logos on Tom’s boards. Some with his first name, some not. Jim was the first to have his own label, but he wound up working at Tom’s operation eventually. A board I bought from Tom was dinged at the factory and I was told it was the victim of a “Jim attack” . I do not think they were both doing separate labels simultaneously. Tom started his after Jim’s thing folded. I’m guessing that lam might be a composite of a blue one without the the word “Tom”, and then Tom was cut from another lam and placed over it.
There’s a few Overlin logos on the Stanley’s pages. Both Tom’s and Jim’s. Scroll down:
Pretty awesome read (sorry to bring up an old thread). Jim was my dad and I spent my summers growing up at my uncle Tom’s house. My wife just found one of my dad’s old boards and I was hoping to find some info on it. I will have to post some pics when I get to the house though. Thanks to everyone for the family history though, pretty amazing!
I actually have one of those boards that my pops bought when he was a kid surfing in Jersey. It is for sale and is a sweet board if anyone is interested. I’m located in North Carolina and can ship. It’s between a 6’4" 6’6" single fin with cool lines. E-mail me at jpatrickhalligan@gmail.com if you’re interested in making an offer.
In 1969 or around that time, I worked for Jim Overlin at the shop on Swift Avenue. I did artwork and glassed boards. A number of there boards were packaged and shipped to Japan. The Overlin shop was in the same single story building behind the Haut Shop on Swift Street at the west end of Santa Cruz. I have a number of memories of things that transpired there at the time. I was in high school and learned a lot about surfboard manufacture and glassing in particular.
I didn’t read all the comments on this thread, but going back through them, I realized that #44 is a laminate that was made off the original artwork that I have.
To answer SammyA’s question, The artwork is 2 pieces. The bottom piece is made of heavy poster board, and the top piece is heavy plastic sheet, like in the old overhead projectors in schools ( for us older folks). To R.Overlin, you asked how much I want for it… nothing, it comes from your family, it’s history, part of surfing history. It should be framed
I’m going to gift it to you, I will pm you. Thanks
Deadshaper, my name is Steve Dwyer. Originally from Southern NJ, I’ve been in CA since '79. Carpinteria till 87, then Nor Cal/Pacifica since then. I occasionally write freelance pieces for surf publications. I’ve had Michael Grassley on my mind for decades. He repp’d and sold Overlins to my local shop - Reef Surf Shop in Margate, NJ. He also made and sold some of the first carve skateboards w/flexi-ply w/the trucks way forward and back - was anyone doing that at the time? I rode and snapped several of them. Anyway, Mike became friends w/an older NJ surf crew - mostly those connected to Greg “Grog” Mesanko and his brother Chris who were buddies w/a guy who mentored me - David Scibal who met Joey Thomas in Florida in the early to mid 70s when he migrated east and did production shaping w/the crew that formed Natural Art: Pete Dooley, Rich Price, and Greg Loehr. Thru David, Joey sold a bunch of boards in South Jersey including the crew I hung with. David connected me w/Joey who became my first board sponsor. I’m planning a series of articles I hope to have published by The Surfers Journal. Two of them are on Joey Thomas and Mike Grassley. I have been researching Grassley and coming up empty. Your mentioning of him is the first online reference I’ve found. This probably due to his murder occurred well before the digital age and I’m guessing all newspaper hard copy records of his death are either in racks or microfiche reels. I am hoping this message finds you and you can share more info on Mike. His story was totally neglected by the surf mags I’m guessing bec of its connection to O’Neill and more specifically Pat. Anyway, I’d love to talk w/you about Mike and write something that gives him his due. He made a big impression in NJ both for his surfing and entrepreneurial talents. I saw him surf live in excellent contest surf at Casino Pier in Seaside Heights - he was the fastest surfer I’d ever seen! The telling of his story is decades overdue.
