I’m wondering…
Does anyone know anything about Plastic Fantastic…? China or am I wrong?
I’m talking about the newer poly boards from the past couple of years-- it seems like someone, somehow, revived the lable of the early 70’s ?
Who shapes for themnow? What’s the deal? Are they any good? Where are they shaped?
And Longboards by Plastic Fantstaic seems ironic, no?
Bill Fury is Plastic Fantastic…
…everybody/thing else that calls them that… is an imposter…Herb
Howzit E-Pacman,Classic picture, I’ve seen one like it before but it didn’t have as many people in it. Gosh it brings back memories of the old days on the North Shore. I still see Linda Espere-Durone all the time, she’s the one in the back row on the far left. Lots of HB boys in it also.Aloha,Kokua
Howzit Herb, So Bill now has the name rights, good for him he’s a good guy. I remember Bob Highsmith had it for years after buying it from Gary T. who was my glassing mentor, before he sold it he would sell Bob lams for $10 a piece to finance a hollow board project I worked on with him. At the time Highsmith owned South Coast Surfboards but he knew the boards with the Plastic Lams would sell faster and for more money. Aloha,Kokua
Hey Kokua:
I’m one of the HB haoles…
without the facial hair…
does anyone recognize a young Brewer?
or B Hamilton (pre Lance)?
those were a different time at a special place…
I think that our kids will say that this was the
golden years… so sad…
Surfteach
Not just Brewer and Hamilton…
I’m pretty sure that shot is from the Winter of 69-70.
Here’s a shot from the same roll of film, probably.
Scanned from a mag.
1 - Tiger
2 - Sam Hawk
3 - BH
4 - BK
5 - Looks like Owl. Not sure
6 - Jackie Baxter
7 - Brewer
OK, then where is Bunker?
PS: 100% correct, Tony, you da’ man!!
I had a link their website, but can’t find it. I saw a couple of guys riding modern thrusters with the PF logo out at Rocky Pt. a couple of winters back. They said a guy I think they reffered to as Jack Cerritos was shaping them in HB. I always thought they had the coolest logo.
I agree. Great logo.
Here’s a bumpersticker, from around 1973. Still in near mint condition, never used.
I had one on my '66 VW bug. This one got stashed away in a box.
Yes, Jack Cerittos is the owner of Plastic Fantastic, I have done a number of balsa blanks for him in the last few years,
When Highsmith and I believe Jim Misell (sp) had the lable in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I built the boards in Rhose Island for sales east of the Mississippi and yes it has to be one of the all time bitchin lables
Howzit Jim, Actually Gary Thernagle owned it after buying out Danny Callahan and his partner who were in trouble with the IRS.Danny and his partner started P.F. After the factory burned down Gary started working with Jim Mizell ( a long time friend of mine ) doing business as Aquatic Enegy ( Jim's company) making or should I say attempting to make Honey comb boards. I made molds for the boards and also we made regular boards to help finance A.E.. Also Gary would sell Bob Highsmith P.F. lams for $10 each to get money, Finances were very low. Than Gary and Jim tried making hollow kevlar boards by heating the kevlar in a hot box and hope the kevlar would soften enough to fit into the mold and take it's shape. The big question was how to put the 2 halves together and Gary looked it to it and was told that the prototype would cost $10,000 but then it would be cheaper. Gary figured out that if they could make the process work that the cost of making these boards would be $18 apiece. It was about this time that I moved to Oahu, Jim had moved over a couple of months before me and he stayed till around 73 when I moved to Kauai. I think Gary sold to Highsmith sometime after I came to the islands. A few years later after Jim had moved back to OC he and Gary had a 10,000 sq ft factory in Costa Mesa and were doing pe boards ( I believe these were Aquatic Enegy ) and I also remember seeing some Steve Bigler boards that had recessed decks with rubber in them, some thing new. Gary went on to be an EMT and Jim went back to bartending but still dabbled in board making until he started his new epoxy board business. Bob Brown( Russel Surfboards ) told me a couple of years ago that Gary had died. Did you ever know Gary , he was the best laminator I ever met and he was my mentor. Gary used to tell me that some of his east coast accounts would take forever to pay him and he once sent Wayne Land to collect some $ from a guy on the east coast. I remeber Wayne telling us how the guy picked him up in a Corvette and after finally getting the money owed ( took a while) that when the guy dropped him off at the airport Wayne put a pound of sugar in his gas tank and you know what that does to an engine. We got a good laugh out of that story. Aloha,Kokua
Howzit Tony,Greg Weaver is in there also and I think John Boozer. There is another pic like it but with a few less people, that’s B.H’s wife standing next to him.Aloha,Kokua
Hey didn’t Tom Sena of Rockaway Beach Surf Shop NY do an EC and registered the PF name along with other old labels like Canyon, Natural Progression, Challanger and Surfers Alliance and has the boards built in China?
I heard that some folks where outright hostile to TS when he was showning the boards at the last Florida Surf Expo. Here a link to a thread in the SM forum that sheds some more light on the subject:
http://forum.surfermag.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=535242&Main=535005
hey guys i got an old plastic fantastic single fin from the 70’s that i picked up at a garage sale. I did some minor ding repairs but it still has the original glass. Any Idea how much its worth? I also think the logo is pretty cool on it!
Thanks in advance
Josh
I just want to say, thank you everyone for your replies. I’ts amazing how much collective knowlede is channeled thru this site.
Hey didn’t Tom Sena of Rockaway Beach Surf Shop NY do an EC and registered the PF name along with other old labels like Canyon, Natural Progression, Challanger and Surfers Alliance and has the boards built in China?
I heard that some folks where outright hostile to TS when he was showning the boards at the last Florida Surf Expo.
In that thread on the SM BB, someone wrote: " The guy has to make a living in a really difficult business and, as long as he’s honest about his product, I got no beef w/his boards."
Well, I think it’s somewhat dishonest to recycle those old brand names. Of course, 99% of the people who might buy one have never heard of those labels in their original incarnation.
I recall when Sena launched that enterprise. The ‘board’ section of an issue of LB Mag had 3 or 4 of his ersatz labels listed side-by-side. It was odd to me, to see Oceanside, Surfboards Australia, and Challenger all using an address on Long Island.
He should have used Keoki, Dextra, Healthways, and Tiki, instead. More in keeping with origin of those boards.
When Highsmith and I believe Jim Misell (sp) had the lable in the late 60’s and early 70’s, I built the boards in Rhose[sic] Island for sales east of the Mississippi
Jim- I never knew that some of the PF boards were built there. My home state. I did know that you shaped for Phillips out of RI. I’ll bet we knew some of the same guys, back then. BTW, did you know Bill Wise, from your days spent around the mid-Atlantic states? I just found out he died, back in February. Shame. He was an East Coast pioneer, for sure.
Yes I did know Bill Wise, when my dad got transfered from Hickam AFB to Dover AFB, Bill became my first east coast surf industry employer.
Dick Metz had given me a job at his Hobie shop in Honolulu the summer before and I left with his blessings and a great letter of recommendation.
This was the the start of my foot in the door to where I am 43 years later.
Good things take hard work
