Street Warrior

This month’s counterfeit is a Street Warrior with a top side that bears a strong resemblance to a Per Welinder, courtesy of a French auction site. The bottom side looks like a knock off of a sideways glance at a Nash board, or a 7-Up advert.

- Thanks to David Maes for the tip.

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Gator bootleg

On this edition of counterfeit skateboards we have a completely generic looking Gator rip off found all the way over in Belgium, complete with a Tony Hawk Skategear sticker that definitely looks like it’s an 80′s vintage, but I’m wondering if it (sticker) is of a later vintage, because it doesn’t look familiar to me.

- Thanks to David Maes for the tip.

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Faux Thiebaud

On this edition of counterfeit board of the month we have a Jim Thiebaud bootleg that surfaced in Portugal on the local equivalent of Craigslist or Ebay, or something, Custo Justo. ON the left is an actual Jim Thiebaud model from SMA, circa 1989. On the right is cheap knockoff.

- Thanks to Samuel Silva for the tip.

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Bootleg of the week: Freeformer Gator

Spotted on Craigslist, a Free Former board with Gator style graphics. According to Wikipedia, California Free Former went out of business in 1981, which means this is another Frankenstein graphic. I love how the owner put an actual Vision sticker on the top to try and throw everyone off the counterfeit scent.

- Thanks to Seth Levy for the tip.

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NATAS CAUPAS [sic] rulez!

One of the joys of bootleg skateboards occurs when the perpetrator can’t quite decide which board to rip off, so they combine two or more into one. In this case we’ve got a Natas / Grosso hybrid that was literally printed on paper and then laminated on both sides of the so-called deck. So sloppily in fact that the panther looks like it’s about to slide off the side of the board. Available on Ebay, where the seller calls it a Natas Caupas. - Thanks to David Maes for the tip.

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Counterfeit Counterculture Cornucopia

In honor of Thanksgiving, here’s a cornucopia of counterfeit skateboards. There’s the Roger/Roskopp on the left, a Vallely ripoff that says “sports,” and tying in nicely, another World Industries knockoff, a generic Flameboy. The two on the left are from the same company, Rolls Racer. The funny thing about the Flameboy knockoff is that it’s a mid to late 90′s era (or later) graphic on a bad 80′s style board. The Flameboy was spotted in Peru of all places. (Thanks to Seth) The fake Vallely hails from the land of Ebay, and the Roskopp is from a French auction site. (Thanks to David Maes)
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Jess Kendall

Jess Kendall model, courtesy of an entrepreneur in China and reader Benji Haecker. Jess rode for Stan Cruz, right? If you’re going to counterfeit a board, why not make it an exact copy?

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When one cease and desist isn’t enough

If you’re going to bootleg someone’s graphics, why not rip off two companies at the same time? In this case, a later era Rob Roskopp and Sims Screamer second generation, which looks like it was taken from the band the Screamers in the first place. Actually, I think the second generation Sims Screamer was totally different. This might just be an appropriation of the band’s graphic. Where do you get one of these? A French version of Craig’s List? Try Leboncoin.fr.

- Thanks again to Jerome, (the French Matthijs)

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The Highway Fox Dolphin

Err…. Wha? I’ve never seen the “Highway Fox” brand, but there’s a Highway Fox “Dolphin” model on eBay that looks like a Jason Jesse Neptune “tribute.”Also amusing, the seller claims the board has “has great vintage 60′s 70′s graphics.” And now I’ve officially gone over the limit for using quotations in a post. Check it out.

- Thanks to Dennis Dreiling for the tip.

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The Powell board you never saw

This is a closeup of a bootleg Powell Peralta deck with a Per Welinder themed graphic on the bottom. If that’s not enough, it has a Tony Hawk graphic on the top. It’s from an old 80′s Brazilian skateboard magazine sent in by Luciano Fleck Peixoto. It’s funny that the bootleggers thought they had to improve on the originals. Thanks to Luciano for sending this in. Check out his new skateboard company called Yerbah.

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