Another blast from the past.

back in the 70’s there was a different approach to skateboard company logos. A lot of times they were treated as car racing graphics, like say the Super Bee. Jim Phillips made a career out of the cartoonish design style for skateboard product logos. Nowadays a more distressed look and hip hop styles are in vogue. Other companies have maintained the cartoon like art direction, but I don’t think they are as memorable as some of the old 70’s stuff. In the mid 80’s I received a well worn stack of old Skateboarder and Action Now magazines. I never actually saw any of the old Alligator wheels, but the logo was burned into my mind as an archetypal 70’s skateboarding graphic. Bennett Truks has resurrected the Alligator Wheels product name, but curiously enough, doesn’t have them on their sparsely populated web site. They are the same color and rough shape as the old ones appear to be, although it’s hard to tell. I had some of Madrid’s reborn Cadillac Wheels and found them to be good for completing a nice vintage look, but not very useful for riding, even as a cruiser. It seemed to be a fault of the old design stlye. Although still not center set, these new Alligator’s seem to be more useful for some types of riding. They are being billed as longboard and park riders.
[Source: Tail Tap]