When you think of skateboard companies based in Texas, one word comes to mind. Zorlac…. oh wait. Did you know Nash had it’s manufacturing plant in Fort Worth Texas? I would have guessed China, if anything. In 2006 there was a fire at Nash Manufacturing that destroyed the facility. The cause was said to be under investigation, but nothing ever surfaced, at least not on the Interwebs™. I’m going to make a case for industrial espionage and sabotage, because Nash is a true industry innovator. Proof after the jump.

Issue number three of Preparation S is courtesy of the collection of Sonny Robertson of SPS fame. Preparation S is from Palestine, Texas, circa 1987. It’s all meticulously hand lettered, and almost every page is covered down to the last bit of white paper. This issue is mostly comprised of the “Staff” of Preparation S, except for a spread on Art and Steve Godoy, and a few other pics of Texas locals like future Zorlac pro Rob Mertz.

I forgot to mark where I found this, so my apologies to the person who originally scanned this, but it wasn’t this site. This is not quite as wacky as the more recent bike and skateboard hybrids, but it does appear to be the first one. It’s the Wham-O Wheelie Bar. If they made one of these now, they have to call it the “Wham-O Manual Bar!” See the full ad and watch an old TV commercial after the jump.

I think I found the 70’s Power blog while researching the Wham-O Wheelie Bar – because it looked like it had skateboard trucks on it. I couldn’t find a decent close up of the wheelie bar, but I did enjoy surfing 70’s Power. It’s kind of like the 4Q blog if you replace the motorcycles with old VW’s and rewrite a lot of text in French. A few items of interest clockwise: Quality Skateboard Accessories manufactured by Jupiter International out of Bellevue, Washington!, Yabassi skateboard helmets. I can’t find anything about them on the web, can anyone elaborate? Lastly, some of the vintage skateboard collection belonging to the guys who post to the blog.

This week’s Shot of the Week is Lewis “Iowask8er” Brundige skating a demo on a quarterpipe at the 1982 Iowa State Fair. There are so many small things that add up to make this a great shot. There’s the combination of the Van Halen t-shirt and Joan Jett sticker on the bottom of the board juxtaposed with “Disneyland” on the tail. Then there’s the quarter pipe demo. Lewis must have had to push his ass off to get that high up. It’s a nice size air, as you can see by the shadow of the photographer and ramp on the asphalt. Lewis is still skating, and has a page full of skate video info as well as a collection of mostly vintage photos. Check out this week’s Shot of the Week.

He’s got a foundation, a skatepark, and a contest named after him, and he’s been honored by the Smithsonian, but what do you really know about Tim Brauch? Pete Koff is producing a documentary for release in 2009. He’s looking for your stories and photos of Tim to make this community project and help round out the documentary. More information and the trailer after the jump.

For the second installment of Saturday Starrs, I bring you this short clip of the 1979 Rose Parade in Pasadena California. The City of Lakewood had a float with one of the clear plexiglass ramps on it, and of course, someone was skating on it too. From the archives of Scott Starr.

I’ve just about exhausted the collection of John Drummond. I was looking at my collection of skate zines, trying to decide how to proceed, but the decision has been made for me thanks to the generous loan of one Sonny Robertson, whose pictures have appeared once, twice , three times (…a lady). You can look forward to such titles as Preparation S, Dirt Rag, Pad Rot, EA Zine, The Abandon Manifesto and The Page. There’s also an issue of Underbelly that dates to the year 2000 thathas some interesting items in it. Don’t get you panties in a bunch. These zines were carefully placed for the photo above. Click to enlarge.

I realized I forgot to put up a Shot of the Week, so I decided to continue today’s theme of skateboarders of color. This is Ron Allen back in 1988 at an N.S.A. contest called the Bluegrass Aggression Session, held in an almost empty arena in the city of Louisville, Kentucky. (GBJ was there.) If I remember correctly, Ron was very accommodating for this photograph during a warm up session. This was a massive flatground ollie with a kick out. Most may remember Ron from his days at H-Street, but did you know he’s still skating and riding for a company called Creation Skateboards? Check out this week’s Shot of the Week.

Skate Punk #4 is another from the collection of John Drummond, and the second one of this title. June 1982 is the date on this one, and it’s got a lot more pages than #2 which came out in January. Caballero must have been busy that year.

Check out Skate Punk #4

UPDATE: Comments have been moved to the gallery.