Mark Conahan dug up some of his own old photos from 1978 while he was in the process of helping me identify the skateparks in a different pile of old photos. All of these were taken in 1978 at Skateboard World in Torrance, California. It’s mostly MC and Kevin Anderson, plus a bonus shot of a wee Eric Dressen.

Thanks to Dan Hakes for allowing this repost of some old photos from an unnamed skatepark in 1978, possibly in the San Bernardino county area. Concretes Disciples list two dead 70’s skateparks in that county, Colton Ranch, and Skate Crater. If you know, drop the name in the comments. Update. It’s two different parks. The snake run and half pipe have been identified as Skateboard World in Torrance and the bowl is The Runway in Carson, thanks to MC.

First time visitor? I’m a sucker for vintage skateboard packaging. This is a box that California Free Former model #CF-26 came in. Thanks to Andra Malczewski for the picture. That’s her and Joe Collela on the box, photographed in Redondo Beach, California. Glorious!

After decades of only ever seeing this in an advert, in 2017 I managed to score a block print (actual block) of the Wheelee Board logo from Ebay and sat on it for a long time. I think I was going to try and print something with MC but like most of my grand ideas, never got around to it. I’m not sure about the authenticity of this, becasue it wouldn’t have been used in magazine printing of the era, but who knows, maybe for stationary or handbills… That is if these things actually existed, because I’ve never known anyone who has claimed to see one. Flash forward to couple of weeks ago and someone posts images of an actual Wheelee Board!

This is not a picture of a cored wheel in the traditional sense. You’re seeing an intact wheel surrounded by a second pour of urethane at a later date. I had never seen anything like this, but apparently it was a tactic used at some point in the 70’s used to sell old stock of smaller wheels that were no longer popular. In this case an open bearing Cadillac wheel was used as the core. Most of them look like these do now, many decades later. Mr Owl, how many licks does it take to get to the center?

– Thanks to Dennis Kilian, Mark Manbars Baxley and Harvey Gallent for the pics.

Super Skate Spray! While sifting through hard drive buried treasures I rediscovered these pics from a 2018 auction, and remembered Super Skate Spray from the Vintage Skatemag Ad Gallery. It came from the Lubri-Kote company in Texas, circa 1976. There does not appear to be a Lubri-Kote anymore, but there is an international Lubrikote company based in India that was founded in 1975. Are they related? Who knows. Maybe Super Skate Spray was so successful that it launched an international lubricating empire…

Some 9 years ago I posted a pic of a package of Flex-o-Thane wheels, and now it’s time for an update. Surprisingly, since that time I have not managed to add any Sport Fun advertisements to the Skatemag Advert Gallery, but I did find photos of Flex-o-Thane wheels in different packaging. In the original post there was some question about what the extra long bolt was, since it was too long to be a kingpin. It was suggested by a reader that this was for a slip-through axle, and here we have photographic evidence that this is indeed the case with Sport Fun Wide Track trucsk.

Chris Carmichael used to work for Gullwing and can remember shipping 3-5 thousand trucks a week, and he swears that went on for at least 15 years. One thing he cannot remember however, is which model this sand casting mold is for.

You know we’re suckers for vintage skateboard wheels, especially when they include packaging, not to mention Sears skateboards. This set of Sears Sidewalk Surfer replacement wheels currently has a buy-it-now option of $169.99 from an Ebay seller named “Lots O Camera Stuff.” The box says these wheels are compatible with skateboards “equipped with rink roller skate wheels.” So they basically stuck half set of rollerskating wheels in a special box. Check out that open bearing wholesomeness.

A “must” accessory for every skater! It’s the skateboard horn! Push the button, make the horn warn.

Not a lot is known about this skateboard horn, but it seems to be mid to late 70’s vintage. Turns out the UM-2 batteries are basically Japanese C-cells. I like that the person riding the skateboard is also wearing some sort of safety monitor or crossing guard sash. Good stuff.

– Thanks to Alphonzo Mills for the photos.