Trying to Find Out What Board My Dad (picture included)

[ccwilson88]

Hey guys!

A little disclaimer, I'm new here! So please forgive me if I sound like an idiot in any part of of this - I just started to surf and hardly know anything about it other than the few lessons I've had.

Long story short. I found this photo of my dad back in 1968 ( I believe).

He's from a ranch in Oklahoma and ran off to go live in LA and surf for a summer. He always talks about those days and how much fun he had. I would love to do something special for him for this Christmas. I would love to get him a vintage board that looks similar to the one in photo. I have a budget of about a few hundred...I am assuming this is probably way to low of a budget but maybe someone could at least point me in the right direction?

Thanks again!

[oldmansurfer]

interesting dilema. Most boards that old will be falling apart and my guess is the only decent ones would likely be with collectors who aren't likely going to part with the board.Perhaps one of the others who surfed during that time could say something about that board. To me it looks like it has a huge fin and a huge stringer. Not familiar with that board but the tshirt looks familiar

[Naeco78]

It looks like a fairly standard board from the late 60's but there's a good chance it was made by one of the local SoCal surfboard shapers of that time. Surfing was a very localized sport in California back then and people usually only rode boards that were made near there specific location or beach break.

If you know which specific area of LA (or even better which surf spot) you could probably really narrow down the list of shapers that would have been likely in the area you Dad surfed. The board people rode was a big part of the localism whithin the surfing community back then, especially in SoCal from what I've read.

The big names from the 60's have become very collectible unfortunately so they might have a steep price tag in good condition. Hobie was probably one of the biggest around LA at that time (Dana Point) and does have some similarities to his boards from that era. Bing was another big name in the Manhattan Beach area. Gordon and Smith also produced lots of boards in SoCal around that time, but most of their boards moved away from the D Fin in those years.

You might wanna try the list of shapers at the link below, if you know the city or surf spot he went to most. Hope it helps.. I wish you luck!
https://montjuichboards.com/en/surfboar ... 0s-and-70s

[dtc]

Jaffa (a regular poster) is the guy who will know about the boards of that era. But I very much doubt you can find a board like that, certainly not for a few $100. Plus not sure that a 12ft hunk of wood around the house will be all that practicable for a non surfer

What you could do is get some posters/paraphernalia from that era (Endless Summer was 1966 and may have been an inspiration for your dad, plenty of stuff from that movie available) or maybe a smaller replica board? Etsy has a few ranging from small (10 inches eg https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/7171370 ... 7053&cns=1 ) upwards. You might even be able to find someone on Etsy who can custom carve one to match your dads

If your dad is handy and has a lot of spare time, you might be able to afford a ‘surfboard kit’ where he builds his own surfboard eg https://greenlightsurfsupply.com/collec ... -longboard or http://www.woodsurfboardsupply.com/gordos.html

Keep in mind for the ones I linked that (other than knowing nothing about them other than they were the first Google hit), the kit doesn’t come with quite a few things that will have to be bought for probably a few $100 more plus needs tools etc. also it’s a lot of work if he doesn’t actually surf nowadays, but if he is a guy who likes building things then it might allow him several hours of reminiscing time

[jaffa1949]

Jaffa rises from his zimmer frame, throws off his hand knitted rug. and says “ Summer of love California “ .
Pretty much Endless Summer, let’s cover costs first, are-lica of that sort of board. say $1000, a good condition board from that era, $10,000+
A really good suggestion, there are anniversary box sets of The Endless Summer Film, DvDs,

So now a description of the board somewhere between 9’6” and 10 ft, wide stringer, volant glass ( most likely ) D fin it is a pig shape, pity there is no logo visible, but find out where your Dad surfed, local shaper most likely.
Posted it here and I see if I can help further.

[ccwilson88]

Jaffa (a regular poster) is the guy who will know about the boards of that era. But I very much doubt you can find a board like that, certainly not for a few $100. Plus not sure that a 12ft hunk of wood around the house will be all that practicable for a non surfer

What you could do is get some posters/paraphernalia from that era (Endless Summer was 1966 and may have been an inspiration for your dad, plenty of stuff from that movie available) or maybe a smaller replica board? Etsy has a few ranging from small (10 inches eg

That's a great idea thanks so much!

So now a description of the board somewhere between 9’6” and 10 ft, wide stringer, volant glass ( most likely ) D fin it is a pig shape, pity there is no logo visible, but find out where your Dad surfed, local shaper most likely.
Posted it here and I see if I can help further.

The man, the myth, the legend! Thank you Jaffa. That's exactly what I'm after. I will see what more info I can dig up and get back to you! Appreciate you guys.

[jaffa1949]

Your Dad may remember the brand we usually do! You could also reproduce the picture and have it done to a professional standard.