Tag Archive: 70’s
R.A.C.O. Miller High Life
Josh Baker spotted this Miller Beer fiberglass skateboard made by the folks at R.A.C.O. and noticed it wasn’t among those in a previous post. Apparently, (allegedly?) the going rate is $315. Insert joke about flat beer.
Vintage Skateboard Ad Gallery Breaks 600
I just made almost 70 additions to the Vintage Skateboard Magazine Ads gallery, bringing the total to 617. This last batch is primarily from Skateboarder 1975 V2 N3 and Skateboard World Nov. 1977.
Pep #331 and “Tide Ride”
Pep #331 (November 1977) features a one page story with Archie skateboarding titled “Tide Ride,” as well as a Youth Opportunity Sales Club ad in which you can earn a skateboard by selling 16 boxes of greeting cards.
Stroker Trucks
It’s hard to believe that the parties involved in making the infamous Stroker trucks went on to build Independent, a brand that by any metric inspired loyalty above and beyond anything else in the skateboard industry. Check out some painful over-engineering after the jump.
Stupid Beagle
Lucy is so mean to Snoopy, and everyone else for that matter. Peanuts Wiki says this first appeared on March 26th 1979., otherwise I would have pegged this as being mid to late 80’s. Full frame after the jump.
Bugs Bunny #213
Bugs Bunny #213 is from October, 1979. It was published by Western Publishing under the Gold Key and Whitman labels, the former in newsstands and the latter in poly bags for stores. A disapproving Elmer Fudd looks on as Bugs prepares to go into a double-truck carve grind in the pool he must have drained. That wascally rabbit… There are no other skateboard illustrations in this issue except for the one in an Olympic Sales Club ad that features a California Free Former plastic skateboard.
GT California Woody
Brightly colored plastic boards are what comes to mind when I think of Grentec, which is was I was surprised to see this GT California Woody. It features Max-trax trucks and an aluminum flat bar on the bottom, something they used on some of their plastic boards as well. It also has a rare for the era 2 color screen printed graphic on the top.-Thanks to Bill Dowell for the photos.
When it Rains It Pours 3 Aces
I had planned on adding a few pics of a slight color variation to the last Tres Assi post I made, which was a follow up to a 9 year journey, but in the process I stumbled on a third color variation that I had never seen. And so here we are at a 3rd post, this time adding a less translucent yellow model, some alternate pics of another red board, as well as the new-to-me black variation.
Yeah but, somebody in Florida actually invented the Yellow Betty…
This is a good one. Lyons Maid is an brand of ice cream that started in 1925 and was retired in 1998, only to be revived a decade later. During their heyday in the 70’s they used to have all kinds of collectable cards and wrappers, including the Junior Champs Supercards seen here. These are easy to find for sale at anywhere from about $10-$70 for this particular card, or $20 for the complete set of 10 differnt cards, so go figure. The interesting thing is that almost every listing dates these to 1983, which seems unlikely given the content of Tony Alva’s card, and the inclusion of Pele in the set (retired in 1977) as well as some other athletes who were also at their peak around 1976-77. One possible explanation is that these might be reissues of a Tonibel series from 1979, in which case, wow… super lazy. By 1983 the “Yellow Betty” was no longer brand new and was called just a plain old frontside air. Makes you wonder if Tony was actually interviewed about this, and if so was he pulling their leg or was it actually briefly called the Yellow Betty, or was it a…
Sandy West – The Runaways Wild Thing
There’s a lot of staged vintage celebrity skateboarding photos, but somehow this one was new to me. It’s a 1977 picture of Runaways drummer Sandy West taken by Michael Ochs. Sandy was known as the Runaways Wild Thing. She died in 2006 from lung cancer. An alternate shot, plus a bonus pic of bassist Jackie Fox on a balance board after the jump.











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