Ultra Flex Primo Alley Cat
Ultra Flex. I’ve never heard of this company before, but they made skateboards and Primo brand wheels. The parent company was actually Special Products, a division of something called I.I.I., located in San Diego. I couldn’t find anything definite for them via google. They must have spent some cash on this brochure though. In the 70′s you couldn’t get a 1000 full color brocures for $100. You had to have the photos set up in a studio, pay for the color separations, type setting and professional film developing. Plus there was stat camera graphic work too, none of this scanning and resizing in Photoshop, and then emailing a PDF. It was all done mechanically, and this would have been expensive.
This is an eight panel brochure. This is the cover and the back cover. Click to enlarge.
These two panels are the first thing you see when you open it. I love how they stamped “VOID” on the offer to “Buy three and get one free!” I wonder if they actually meant individual wheels and not sets.
Here are two pages of aluminum boards, both made by the Reynolds Aluminum company, you know, the same company that makes Reynolds Wrap! It says triple I beam construction. I’d like to get a look at one of the bottom of these boards. The Primo comes with sealed bearings while the Ultra Flex comes with loose bearings, and is also available for OEM purchases. They like to point out that these aluminum skateboards are reflective at night, as if that would be some huge safety benefit if you caught on the streets after dark.
The Alley Cat is the “value added” lineup, and is available in fiberglass and molded plastic, both with loose bearings. Funny thing about the term “Value Added,” in reality it usually means value decreased. The fiberglass one has neoprene shock pads. I don’t think I’ve seen that combo in the flesh. Primo Cat is their finest fiberglass board featuring the neoprene shock pad and sealed bearings.
I couldn’t find much about the old Ultra Flex skateboard brand. Someone is using the term now, but I don’t think it’s related to the old company. I did find this old advert for an Ultra-Flex floor display targeted at skateshop owners. You can see the full size graphic at Cal Streets.
Posted by: kilwag on December 16th, 2009
More posts by kilwag
Categories: Back In The Day, Skate
Tags: , 70's, aluminum, fiberglass
wow would of loved an alley cat model for x-mas
nice shorts mom!
I think I used to buy smoke from a dude named primo cat
Funny to look back. We’re waaay more sophisticated nowadays.
Look at ultra flash go! Bombin’ hills with his
cape all flowin’ and jumpsuit to boot.
haha 7990 dagget st. is a few miles from my house!
not that surprising because a few skate companies have been in that industrial/business park area since i’ve been skating. pretty sure Maple and Arcade were, and as far as i know, Osiris still is.
not gonna lie, the primo class and ultra flex do look fun.
i have a primo class in green
I just bought an aluminum deck Ultra Flex skateboard at a thrift store in Phoenix (with Challenger trucks and Ultra Slick wheels). It has the “triple I beam” construction that you mention. It has the original warranty sticker on it, and here is what it says:
LIMITED WARRANTY
ULTRA FLEX skateboards are warranted against defects in workmanship and materials for 1 year when they are used for the purpose intended. This board will be repaired or replaced at our factory if found defective in workmanship (covers only factory defects in wheels, bearings or trucks) and/or materials when accompanied with its sales receipt. Ship prepaid postage along with $4.00 for handling and return postage to: SPECIAL PRODUCTS, 7990 Dagget St., Suite 105, San Diego, CA 92111.
Any idea when the board was made?
Let me know if you want me to send some pics.