Category Archive: Bootleg Boards
Santa Cruz Ramp/Street bootleg?
You might question if the ‘Zoner’ complete deck on the right is really a copy of the Santa Cruz ‘Optical Illusion’ deck from 1985. Anyway, the Zoner seems to use the same pink and blue and looks from the same period according to the pig shape and wheelwells. I found this deck on ebay a while ago, the deck on the left appeared in eBay watch from February 2012. Details of the ‘Zoner’ after the jump.
Rob Roscopy
I really hesitated a second to buy this ‘Roskopp’, since I will probably never be able to afford a NOS one and this complete looks not bad at all. Of course there are some differences with the original Santa Cruz deck from 1988 by Jim Phillips: the graphic isn’t all over the board, the shape is different and the Santa Cruz logo is not there. Still, if you’d remove the plastics and trucks, this thing might confuse any collector and would look good on your wall. Some more pics after the jump! Found it on leboncoin. – Thanks to Kamer Kermad for the pictures.
Fake ghost
This is an almost identical copy of the Vision ‘Street ghost’ deck from 1986, originally designed by John Grigley. The only thing the bootlegger changed was ‘Vision’ into ‘RB SKEBO’, whatever that means.
Phony Alva
The graphic on this Rolls Racer ‘Conqueror’ deck is clearly stolen from the Eddie Reategui ‘Warrior’ deck from 1988 by Alva. This bootleg even has wheel wells and comes in a vivid green, it sold on eBay a while back, but I forgot for how much.
Double bootleg
Why bootleg just one graphic when you can combine them for twice the potential profit? The “designer” of this deck obviously used the Powell ‘Ban This’ deck from 1989 for inspiration on the top. He even copied the name ‘Caballero’ or at least a part of it, but it’s very hard to see in this blurry picture. The bottom of the deck is a copy of a Variflex graphic.
Smokin Joe Fake Eric Nash
This graphic is clearly stolen from the Sims Eric Nash Bandito deck from 1987. That Deathbox sticker is huge (And awkwardly placed.) I always liked the big Deathbox teapot as in my youth, but I thought it was more like an Aladdin lamp and missed the whole point. Anyway, I bet the guy here spent more cash on the stickers than the whole complete was worth, I did the same when I decorated my California Pro with 2 Vision stickers and a totally useless, too small Rip Grip on the nose.
Slasher Bootleg
This ‘Thrill Seeker’ is your typicall, cheap 80’s skateboard and it’s also a bootleg. The top design is some Jaws-like creature (I think), but the other side is definitely stolen from the Keith Meek ‘Slasher’ graphic. Found it on eBay a while ago.
Iron Maiden complete deck
I remember New Deal and ATM making Iron Maiden decks in the past, but I don’t think this crappy complete was official Iron Maiden merchandising. I found out this is the design from their 1981 single ‘Purgatory’ and that’s about all I need to know about Iron Maiden. It sold for $99 on eBay after 1 bid. Details of the design after the jump.
Hosoi knock off
This is a bootleg of the 1986 Air Rocket deck by Santa Cruz/Hosoi. (This time) the bootlegger changed quite a few things in the design like the haircut, logo and even the shape of the Hammerhead board in the drawing. Sold on eBay for a ridiculously high $80.
For leisure use only
Fake Valterra (and Variflex) decks with graphics like the ‘Ramp Champ’, ‘Skate Zombie’ and this 1986 ‘Land Shark’ show up all the time and are hardly worth mentioning, since the graphics are mostly identical to the original ones and look like they were produced by the same manufacturers. This ‘Land Shark’ is a bit different: it has the worst shape ever and it comes with the original box! It’s a miracle the seller kept the box for all this time, maybe he used it to hide this piece of crap while he was not skating. For sale on eBay.











Recent Comments