Thanks to longtime reader Will Heespelink who was cleaning out his closets and sent me the August 1987 issue of Transworld. So now there are 900 vintage skateboard magazine adverts in the gallery. Incredibly, with the doubles already posted this came out to exactly 900 and I didn’t have to pad it any. A few of my favorites from this batch include JFA for Kryptonics, Del Mar Skateboard Ranch t-shirts, ol’ Steve Rocco for Vision Street Wear, SLAM! wrist guards, and Radicool!

Another obscure note in skateboarding history. This is the Gary Horeskowsky pro model, dating back to 1987. You may point out that you’ve never heard of this fellow, and that could be because he may never have actually existed, and if he did, he resided in Finland, home of Statum Skates. According to Mikko Antero (thanks for the pics) it’s a local brand from an era when American pro models were still hard to come by. In the end of the eighties this changed and Statum went dormant, only make a come back in 2012. Statum is indeed a thing again! You can buy decks online. They have a history page online but it’s very short and very light on the details, even if you view the translated page.

It’s never simple. I’m already wasting a lot of time compiling a Huffy skateboards resource, and in the process I find an 80-ish skateboard that looks like someone accidentally included the Instructions or marketing materials on the actual graphic. It’s absurd enough to warrant its own post, but then I find another wonderful example. No board manufacturer is visible, but some well crafted googling unearths two more models in a couple different color variations, as well as the manufacturer “American Sports Services. Barry E. Smith.” You’ve heard of them before, right? Giants in the industry! But what, there’s more! Update: Found a radical Koala too.

While it may look like product placement, this post is actually a PSA. In 20 years from now when some other nerd skate historian finds a beat up board with this graphic, they will know it actually came from Brand-X Toxic and was not another weird 80-90’s bootleg mashup. Technically, this model is called the Weirdo Stick, and it is essentially a mashup of the classic Brand X Weirdo and a Vision Psycho Stick.

Because this site is part of the Skatewing Preservation Society, enjoy these pics of a gray Skatewing. Also, this site is the only member of the Skatewing Preservation Society. – Thanks to Terry Daniel for the photos.

This is Laugh comics #16 from the second Laugh series that ran between 1987-1991. It looks to be a bit of a sendup on the movie 9-5 but that was released in 1980 and the publication date of Laugh #16 is 1989. I suppose that movie could have been lingering in the pop culture zeitgeist almost a decade later. Then again, Archie comics aren’t really known for originality and they frequently re-use story lines. Everyone looks like a super 80’s yuppy in this flying jet powered skateboard story titled “Working Lass” and inexplicably does not take place in the future. Let’s read on and discover the answer to the age old question: What if Pop’s Pizza and Jet Skateboards were involved in a corporate merger?

This edition of Australian pro skateboarders and companies I did not know existed is brought to you by Ken Macleod, who posted a picture of a Ken Gibbons pro model. I tried to find something about it/him (Ken) and that led me to the photography of Chris Stroh, whose portfolio is primarily surfing, but also includes some 80’s era skateboarding. That’s Ken in the photo above, in the bowl at a place called “Five Dock,” circa 1986. Unfortunately, Ken was the victim of a hit-and-run and died in 2006. I scraped the web for more bits and pieces on Ken and Bonzer and managed to find a few items.

This unassembled Ben Lexan Skatewing was won on a cruise many years ago, and has sat in storage since then until Jamie Shain decided to help their mother-in-law do some cleaning. It’s funny because I’ve often wondered how they packaged these boards for shipping, being as unwieldy as they are, and now I know. Trucks (regular, and auxiliary) and handles came unassembled. – Thanks to Jamie for the pics!

I saw a post online from David Whitney looking to sell an 80’s era “Wizard Pro Model” from Action Sports which appears to be a graphic that they barely modified from their 1986 Brian Martin pro model, as seen in our Vintage Skatemag Ads gallery. Barely modified? It looks like they cut out Brian’s name on the black plate and hastily replaced it with the word “Wizard.” You can see where the “Martin” has been knocked out of the blue plate. Brian Martin himself chimed in on the original post in the gallery, and we’d ask him for the rest of the story, but sadly he passed away some time circa 2021. Sure, you can read your Disposable volumes and all to get the low down on your Powells and Sant Cruz variations, but Skate and Annoy is here for your c-grade company minutia!

On the right, you’re looking at a personal Christmas card that Mark Sellman illustrated in the style of the famous John Lucero jester model seen on the left. Skateboard photos via the Madrid Facebook account. Greeting card art courtesy of Mark Sellman