I added 3 new ads from the July 1977 issue of Wild World of Skateboarding, including some Lan lovelies on a sailboat, dog paw themed gloves from KIP, and one from Torque skateboards hyping a new downhill speed record and the advent of the first Skateboard Supermarket. With these additions, I have cracked the 300 threshold in the Vintage Skateboard Mag Gallery.

I started adding some scans from a new addition to the Vintage Skateboard Mag Ad Gallery, the July 1977 issue of Wild World of Skateboarding. This first batch includes ads for novelty, foot-shaped skateboards, a generic company called Formula, Brewer Trucks, and Russ Howell Bowlriders with Power Paw.

The End of Transworld, Volume 1, #3 that is. Just posted the last of the adverts in the gallery, including Bob Denike for Seaflex, Lester Kasai for Sims, Chris Baucom for Walker, Rector Riot Gloves, and other gems from 1983. So far that’s a grand total of 295 ads in the the gallery. Currently on the scanner: A July, 1977 edition of Wild World of Skateboarding.

I added 6 more ads from issue number 3 of Transworld Skateboarding, dating back to 1983. First up is Sidewalk Surfer West, a shop that had difficulty spelling Santa Cruz, Zorlac, and even Skateboard. After that we have a Madrid ad with an even split between freestyle and vert, featuring Diane Veerman before she married Primo, Desiderio, and became “Primo and Diane.” Next up, a free subscription to Kona’s Skateboard magazine. It was a borderline zine, but it did act like a legit magazine at times, and not just a thinly disguised skatepark newsletter. Then there’s Rock Socks, company that sold everything you could want if you were an extra on the movie Rad!, except for socks. Gentlemen prefer Hanes, but Infamous surf-skate types prefer Bones. Lastly, here’s a rare shot of Gator on his short-lived pro model for G&S.

I added six more ads to the Transworld Volume 1, #3 vintage skateboard ad gallery. There’s Brand-X, looking sharp as usual with a new lineup that would stick around for years. What shoe company did Gator ride for before Vision Street Wear? It’s gotta be Vans at demo on a Firestone Ramp with Tony Magnusson. There there’s someone named Keith Butterfield winning freestyle for Bucci Sunglasses. Ever heard of him? What about Street Surfer Trucks? We’ll end with another Val Surf ad and Hawk leather skate gloves.

Only in the 70’s (and 50’s, 60’s 80’s and 90’s) could you get away with a line like “Unfortunately, the chick is not included” coupled with a headline like “Your pad or mine?” The black and white photo is from product release news in the 1st issue (1977) of Skateboard Scene. It’s about a new line of safety gear from Syndicate (no relation to the US company) that was an offshoot of the Skuda brand. With a ? of a page product announcement, it’s no surprise that there were also ads for Skuda and Syndicate pads. The dapper fellow on the right is from the Skuda advert. Surprisingly, a 2008 post about a plastic Skuda was one of the first Skuda mentions on the interwebs, and was pretty popular here. It still gets the occasional odd comment. Can you tell I’ve updated the Vintage Skatemag Ad Gallery? I also added a cool, slightly goofy ad from a company called Roncastle, and Wharfdales Skateboard Centre. I never get tired of the centre spelled with “re” at the end. I only wish there was an ad for Ye Olde Skateboard Shoppe. (follow the individual links) After you read/see the product announcement for…

Two skateboard shops from Wales, Dave Friar’s Surf Shop and the Welsh Skateboard Centre. Then there’s Mercury Flyer air freighted skateboards direct from the USA, and the Superb Sitco Rocket.

I’ve got two magazines worth of vintage skatemag ads scanned and posted in the gallery, one from the 70’s and another from the 80’s. I’ve got loads of scans from the 70’s ready to add and some interesting UK-based ads to scan from the 80’s but I figured I’d better do at least one mag from the 90’s or I’d likely never get to it since that’s the decade I find inherently less interesting. Shoe adverts are in abundance. Companies and pros sprung up overnight like mushrooms and disappeared just as quickly after you come down from the bad trip. There are companies I can’t ever remember seeing and due to esoteric ad copy I can’t even tell what the product is that is being advertised. For instance, this ad for Silverstar has me scratching my head. While I actually like the aesthetic and the nonsensical message has a certain poetry, I can’t tell you what Silverstar is without a historical reference. One thing I do enjoy about the ads from this era is seeing the once mighty gasp for new life in the changed industry landscape, with companies like Vision stooping as low as to republish pictures of Mark…

Hey, have you heard of Thrasher? Yeah, me either until just recently, but I guess they’ve been around for a while. I thought I’d throw them a bone by directing some web traffic their way. I hope they succeed. The images above are from the always entertaining Certified Pieces of Suck, and this compilation has some actual LOL moments. I only wish they’d tell you where they are located.

I’m trying to decide how much retouching and color correcting to tackle in the Vintage Skateboard Magazine Advert Gallery. Here’s a comparison for this Zephyr skateboards ad from 1975. Not surprisingly, the forty year old pages are discolored with age. Do you prefer the scanned image with minimal color correction, or the adjusted version that is closer to what the page originally looked like but has a slightly artificial look to it? There’s an enlargement to compare after the jump, but really this is just an excuse to get you to check out Zephyr Skateboards: Young dudes in heavy spots.