I picked up a Vintage Hansen Longboard off the side of the street that someone was throwing away which is in remarkably good shape. It is a 8’10" Longboard, 21" wide, 2" thick, with a 3/4" Stringer and a large old style glassed in fin. It has the classic Hansen Surfboards Cardiff, CA logo but no other logo and no signature or numbers under the glass that I can see. The board only has 3 small fixable dings, one on the deck and 2 on the bottom, but is in good surfable condition and hasn’t discolored that much either.
Questions:
What year is the board?
If I’m going to sell it should I fix the small dings if I’m pretty good at it? Of have a pro do it or not fix them at all before I sell.
Is there a way to get a drop and run of paint off the board. I used firewater to clean it up and it looks great but someone dripped paint on it.
Someone said you could sand the entire board with a super fine sandpaper to “clean it up” make it look polished? Is this accurate?
Thanks for any advice about this board and getting it into tip top shape. I’d love to keep her but unfortunately I live in a small house with a quiver already and out of room but couldn’t let it just sit on the side of the road?! Had to save it and would love to get it to a collector or someone who could appreciate it.
Thanks! John[img_assist|nid=1075426|title=Logo on Board|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75][img_assist|nid=1075427|title=Vintage Hansen Longboard|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=75][img_assist|nid=1075428|title=Vintage Hansen Longboard|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=75|height=100]
Can you get a closeup photo of the deckside tailblock area? That is where a board number would normally be. The number will tell quite a bit about the board. The tailblock will too.
That’s because it’s an early to mid 60s board and NOBODY wrote dimensions or signed boards back then.
Markings on or near the tailblock may tell who shaped it.
Maybe.
[img_assist|nid=1075437|title=Vintage Hansen Tailblock|desc=|link=none|align=center|width=100|height=75]Bill - Here’s an up close look at the tailblock but I don’t see any numbers at all?! Any other ideas?
Beside looking for a board number, I’m looking for details on the tailblock. Your photo is too small to tell, but does the tailblock have a balsa strip between the foam and the glass material of the tailblock? If so, it’s most likely late 1964, or very early 1965. If the tailblock glass material is in contact with the foam (no balsa strip), then it probably dates from early 1965 to mid 1965. I’m really surprised there is no number visable. Most were done with ink. Some were done with pencil, and were difficult to see. With rare exceptions, all numbers were written on the stringers.
Thank you for the blow up of the tailblock photo. Looks to me like a 1964 board. I suspect that there is a number on the stringer, under the crazed glass near the tailblock. The balsa transition strip, was no longer in general use when I started shaping for Hansen in mid 1965.
Bill - now that I really look at the picture - I think there is a number barely visable right at the end of the stringer -I’ll get the board and check this out and see if I can make it out exactly with a magnifier or something. Will let you know. I called Hansen earlier today and they said they started fin boxes in 65 so it’s probably a 64 as you said. Thanks - John
I was there when the Hansen fin box was developed. It was 1967. You spoke to someone that was uninformed. Along with a four digit number, will be a letter, C, B, T, or a dot before and after the numerals. Those letters or symbols will identify who the shaper was.
Were you able to see anything? I think I know who the shaper was, but I want your input. Were there two ‘‘dots’’ at the end of the number? What say you?
