Well now… this is something. Is this the ultimate eBay auction? You’re looking at roughly 3,000 cut (but not finished) skateboard blanks, NOS from the 80’s wood shop of “Wee” Willi Winkels. Yes, he of the famous Corvette hippie jump fame in the 70’s, and most importantly, the person who brought laminated maple to the world of skateboard decks. The asking price of 90k (!) works out to $30 a deck. As amazing as the find is, it doesn’t seem like a reasonable investment considering they are mostly unfinished and in need of multiple passes on the router, not to mention painting, sealing, and screen printing. It’s an interesting auction for sure.
The inherent value of these is that they are the actual shapes and boards pressed from the original molds. How does that transfer to the world of collectable boards if they don’t also have the appropriate graphics? Assuming you were able to secure rights to the graphics and screen these decks, they would become some sort of hybrid of a re-issue and NOS. If you’re going to go the re-issue route you could get these made for cheaper than $30 a piece. Even if you purchased the lot, you’d have to imagine a sizable percentage of these would be warped after decades of neglect.
In any case, these decks are more than likely legitimate. Winkels branch of his father’s door factory did actually manufacture boards for Sims, Hosoi and other companies. The uncredited photograph above is from an article on Willi in Mountain Life. Some of those shapes are definitely recognizable, like Hosoi Hammerheads, Sims Lester Kasai, and Alva Eddie Retagui. Who knows what else is in there… The seller claims they are “not skateboard history experts” but have identified shapes belonging to Hosoi, Alva, Lester Kasai, Eddie Reategui, Santa Cruz, Sims, Fantasy, Toft Designs and Jason Catalano.
Here’s a pic of Willi jumping over that Corvette. According to Mountain Life, the original photographer remains unknown. It’s a famous picture that was all over the place in the 70’s, in adverts and even record covers.
Here’s the auction listing text for posterity.
ROUGHLY 3000 ORIGINAL, UNTOUCHED SKATEBOARD DECKS FROM THE 80’S!
HOSOI – ALVA – KASAI – SIMS – SANTA CRUZ & OTHERS
MORE PHOTOS BELOW IN DESCRIPTION
Here is a once in a lifetime find! A true time capsule from 1985! Roughly 3000 original NOS skateboard decks from the mid 80’s from some of the biggest names back then! Start your own skateboard company with OG boards!
Roughly 3,000 NOS (New Old Stock) skateboard decks manufactured by the legendary skateboard pioneer, “Wee” Willi Winkels. Willi was one of early skateboard inventors to first create the multi-ply laminated skateboard deck. His father owned a door manufacturing business and this is where Willi came up with the idea to make a stronger wooden skateboard from. These decks were made by Willi from 1984 to 1987. All of the decks are made of seven ply Canadian “Hard Rock” Maple wood.
Based upon our research (we are not skateboard history experts) from what brands he was believed to be manufacturing for and by the deck shapes, they appear to be Hosoi, Alva, Lester Kasai, Eddie Reategui, Santa Cruz, Sims, Fantasy, Toft Designs and Jason Catalano decks. It is likely they could also be be other brands/models, as most of the decks were made by very few manufactures in the early to mid 80’s and they all shared the same shape/design. We have not had a chance to go through them all, but they are in different stages, from raw uncut laminated sheets, to drilled painted decks. There are also others that appear to be prototype designs and shaped boards. They are in all excellent condition.
The possibilities are endless, but I feel they would be perfect for an ultimate reissue project! Imagine doing a reissue graphic on the real deal OG deck from 1985!
Although I have indicated that shipping is local pickup only, I would be willing to ship at the buyers expense. They would obviously need to be packed on pallets and shipped freight, as they are very heavy. Contact me if you would like to obtain a shipping quote.
About Willi Winkles:
“Wee” Willi Winkels, an avid Canadian skater and skier, begins making his own boards at his father’s door manufacturing company because skateboards were so expensive to buy from the U.S. He creates one of the first maple laminate decks, and forms a skate team to promote it. His new board design soon comes to Tom Sims’ attention, and Sims switches to having their boards manufactured by Winkels. Soon, many other board companies begin having their boards made in Canada. Winkels is also credited to developing the first snowboard and a pioneer in developing modular, mobile half-pipes.
4 comments
Jason Stricklin
Are these decks for sale? Please email me back.
Colin Matthews
Hey There,
The Corvette Hippie jump photo was taken by my dad – Arnold Matthews. I grew up with that image on my living room wall. My dad just found the contact sheets from that photo shoot, about 45 pics, taken on a Hasselblad. So great pics of Willi jumping bikes, kids and a fail of jumping the Corvette.
Mike Spohn
These appear to be the lost shipment of decks returned by Hosoi to Willi when he couldn
erik m
whenever I have searched about wee willie winkles I keep finding stuff about knock off hosoi and sims decks? are these boards legit???