I forgot this one when I made the Wheel Packaging post the other day. It’s Banzai Products wheels. The corresponding check boxes are all blank, so it’s impossible to tell which ones these are. It’s curious that Banzai Products repackaged another companies trucks (ACS) and sold them. ACS stands for American Cycle Systems, by the way, and were still seen advertised in the early issues of Thrasher, if my memory serves correctly. Getting back to it, these NOS Banzai wheels sold for $47 on eBay. Banzai also made a wicked aluminum board too. It’s funny how in the U.S., anything Japanese was considered exotic in the 30’s, evil in the 40’s, cheap and crappy in the 50’s and 60’s, and then Radical in the 70’s and 80’s.
Cool packaging, except the guuy on the board looks like he’s wearing corrective shoes, or possibly Buster Browns.
Another thing common in the 70’s was the exploded diagram of skateboard parts. They really want you to succeed! Check out the diagram and instructions on how to mount your trucks. Can you imagine the hassle of having to drill your own board when you bought it? They even had special guide rigs to help skateshops get it right.
Here’s a close up of a wheel. I can hear the vacuum formed plastic crinkling in my hands… Something about the dimensions and proportions of that wheel are really pleasing to look at. Makes me want to heft one right now. Maybe it’s the Golden wheel.
6 comments
Bevilacqua
Muchas gracias Veggie. Some 800 are still available for sale in UK (check the usual suspects: Conflict skates, todd twist)
Vegetable Lasagna
Cool link there Bev. I forgot they made big trucks for a
while there.
Bevilacqua
More about ACS: LINK
Banza
freezine
They aren’t the Speed Seals. My first wood board was a solid oak wedge kick Banzai, with their generic trucks, and Speed Seals. They had precision bearings, and recessed letters like Road Riders. My brother had a longer version, with ACS 651’s and orange Sunburst wheels that looked like OJ’s.
JC Penney, Anaheim, 1978. was where we blew our savings on a family trip.
skaterhusseindave
The best part of aluminum boards was after you dragged the tail enough times, you had something fairly heavy, that was sharp enough to cut to the bone.
Vegetable Lasagna
ACS trucks weren’t all that bad. They had decent
geometry. I have a set of magnesium’s sittin’ around
somewhere. I once owned a purple Banzai aluminum with
purple anodized Banzai trucks (not ACS) and Sims Pure
Juice. Too sweet.