Plastic Fantastic

What can you tell me about this board? It’s all sorts of delaminated and dinged up, but I thought about stripping the glass and seeing if I can reshape it a bit and reglass it. The fin box is about an inch wide. I don’t have much experience with vintage boards, and I’ve never seen a fix box this size. Does anyone still make fins to fit this size box. I’m guessing it’s from the 70’s? There are no dims and no signature on the board. Anyone know about the Plastic Fantastic?

http://www.surfboardpainting.com/sbp/blog/DSCN2934.JPG

http://www.surfboardpainting.com/sbp/blog/DSCN2935.JPG

I think they were originally out of Huntington Beach; that’s all I really know.

I got an old fish with the same logo; so, I’m also interested here.

(Mine’s also delammed and beat up. I think someone tried to “restore” it. Looks like they used an old crappy paint brush to add a coat of resin and didn’t bother to sand it, but that’s got nothing to do with your board).

yep-huntington beach…a play off the transition film by the same moniker-

there were some bootlegs in NJ in the 70’s

owned one

At one point in time Plastic Fantastic had some of the best surfers of the period riding their boards, mainly Jeff Hakman and Jock Sutherland amongst others, in the late 60s-early 70s. A previous Swaylock thread, http://www.swaylocks.com/forum/gforum.cgi?post=319008;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unead

should provide you with a lot of information. You might also want to check this link out: http://www.califmall.com/SP_Chapman01.html

While I’m no expert, your board looks to be somewhere circa 1972-1976, if the rails are turned down nose to tail. If the rails go from high in the nose, eggy in the middle and low in the tail, then it would probably have been made in the late 60s (1969-1970).

Your questions about the fin would be easier to answer if you provided a photo of the box.

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The fin box is about an inch wide. I don’t have much experience with vintage boards, and I’ve never seen a fix box this size.

So what? Current FU boxes ARE one inch wide.

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Your questions about the fin would be easier to answer if you provided a photo of the box.

Thanks all for the responses. The actual slot is about an inch wide. I’ve never seen a fin that would fit in this box, but then again I don’t have much experience with old boards or longboards that would have a single fin box. So, I was just wondering if fins were still made in this size?

Here’s a pic of the box… after I pulled up some of the delaminated glass.

http://www.surfboardpainting.com/sbp/blog/DSCN2954.JPG

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So what? Current FU boxes ARE one inch wide.

So what?? So, I was just asking a question… no need to be rude dude.

I’m not gonna be much help here, but indulge me while I remember the summer of 1970, and a 7’0’’ Plastic Fantastic

that came into my hands, bought out of the back of some guy’s van. I was an impressionable 15 year old grom, and

the guy swore the board was one of Jeff Hakman’s personals (right!), so it was an easy sale. It was about 17 1/2’’

wide, about a 12’’ tail, just perfect for Florida beachbreaks (not!). I don’t even remember what I did with the thing

once I realized I had no hope of riding it succesfully, but I remember the red and yellow resin color, and the just-right-

for-the-times hippy-dippy logo like it was yesterday…

Good luck restoring yours, that’s a nice little piece of history.

Looks like there’s a front and rear plate. If they’re moveable, I’d say it’s a safe bet it is an early Fins Unlimited box. The original FU box had a single screw at the rear, and a horizontal pin at the front. The second version was the “Vari-set” box. two screws/plates with room for adjustment front to rear.

Like this:

If you want to avoid replacing the box, try contacting www.oneworldsurf.com, or Fins Unlimited. Either may be able to provide a fin that fits, but you might have to spend a bit.

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Looks like there's a front and rear plate. If they're moveable, I'd say it's a safe bet it is an early Fins Unlimited box. The original FU box had a single screw at the rear, and a horizontal pin at the front. The second version was the "Vari-set" box. two screws/plates with room for adjustment front to rear.

If you want to avoid replacing the box, try contacting www.oneworldsurf.com, or Fins Unlimited. Either may be able to provide a fin that fits, but you might have to spend a bit.

Thanks! Exactly the info I was looking for.

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So what? Current FU boxes ARE one inch wide.

So what?? So, I was just asking a question… no need to be rude dude.

I didn’t intend to, “dude”. Just keep in mind that English is not my native tongue. Some nuances may be hard to feel. I do apologize if I sounded “rude” to you. Again, I just wanted to point out that most fin-boxes were 1" wide.

Would you have made it clearer that the SLOT was 1" wide, I would not even have answered. But maybe this is another nuance that I didn’t catch.

I read this short story once about Jock Sutherland in hawaii. He had taken some lsd from some famous lsd guru back then and surfed waimea i think it was until and through sunset while it was pitch black. Would like to read more about that guy.

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If you want to avoid replacing the box, try contacting www.oneworldsurf.com, or Fins Unlimited. Either may be able to provide a fin that fits, but you might have to spend a bit.

Fins Unlimited still sells replacement variset fins. They’re black, not the translucent ones, and pretty cheap - less than $20 if I remember correctly. I bought a couple last year.

Well, he is from France… just saying.

-Jon

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So what? Current FU boxes ARE one inch wide.

… no need to be rude dude…

Howzit foamdust, The Plastic factory on 4th st in HB had burned down before 72’ and the owner Gary Thurnagle had sold the name to Bob Highsmith of South Coast surfboards. Not sure who was building the boards then due to my move to the islands. Before Gary actually sold the company name I was with him a few times when he would sell P.F. lams to Bob for $10 each to make $ to invest in hollow board R & D which never worked out. I was glassing boards for P.F. after the fire to also support the R & D. We had a small shop in Costa Mesa and then Gary and Jim Mizell formed the company Aqutic Energy. Aloha,Kokua

Danny Callhoun was the guy that shaped Jeff & Jock’s boards.

Excellent shaper.

Howzit pointdog, Danny was one of the original owners of P.F. until they got tax problems and Gary bought it from Danny and his partner. Danny also shaped some plugs for the hollow board R & D and I ended up with one that was a 6’ 4" pintail that I brought to Hawaii and it worked great til I rode it to death.Aloha,Kokua

Wasn’t it Danny Calohan (or Callohan)? I met him 7 or 8 years after I had that board, and told him I might have had one of his shapes.

Kokua, you may well have glassed that needle I had. Proving once again that it’s a small world, but I wouldn’t want to laminate it…