A seasoned board collector should be able to spot fibreglass treasure in almost any situation - whether driving down the shops, going for a walk in the countryside, walking past a skip, or as happened to Jason - getting his van repaired down the local garage....
''I took my trusty camper-van to have a new fan belt fitted and ending up coming out with a vintage surfboard! I thought the recent price hike in vintage surfboards (caused by someone going on the Antique's Roadshow,sorry!) had left me behind, but I have had my faith restord that there are a few old gems still around, in fact there was a battered 'Creamed Honey' and a home made thruster there as well. I paid what a car machanic gets paid an hour, so it wasn't that cheap!! But I reckon it was heading for the land fill and with such a great logo that wouldn't have been right. I know nothing about this board apart from a quick bit of research that points towards it may have been made by G&S around 1968-1970, can any of your blog watcher's throw any light on it?''
If you're sitting at work bored with half an hour to spare - this is a good interview with Floyd Smith about his early days of surfing and shaping.
G,day Alasdair, the Surfboards Australia board was made in the USA. in 1969/70 in the Gaines st San Diego G&S Factory . Floyd Smith went back to San Diego in 68/69 to sort out business with Larry Gordon after establishing G&S IN Taren Point rd Caringbah in late 1965, and because of family issues his stay was prolonged, so he capitalised on the Aussie influence in surfboards and started Surfboards Australia in San Diego. I was the glasser/ sander at G&S as Floyd had taught me everything about surfboard manufacturing, so the workers in Australia were going to go over to the USA in our winter and work for Floyd and some of thier workers would come to Sydney in the USA winter which is our summer. Floyds business became bigger and he branched out into other business ventures and eventually sold G&S Australia which made it a totally owned Australian company with no ownership rights to G&S USA. I eventually bought the company with Trade marks in 1995 and my son Dane Wilson runs the company ,Floyd is one of my best mates and was out here in 2010 with us, Larry Gordon is a good friend also. Enough raving, the reason i know the board is a USA model is because i glassed all the boards from 1968 to 1975 and we never used any of those decals ever. As a matter of interest i now restore old 60s/70s boards back to their old glory, i supply all the big auctions in Australia[Noosa, Sydney Melbourne etc] and collectors , because of my old skills with pigments and tints they come up amazing ,i have a large collection of old Australian boards on hand ,so selection for collectors is no problem. Dont rely on all the info on Surf research, he,s made lots of mistakes with G&S in the past because he does,nt ask. Hope i have,nt bored you , and if you,d like to contact Floyd for any further info just contact me......Regards David Wilson
ReplyDeleteHi David, I just picked up one of these boards. Is there any way you'd be able to get in touch with us to discuss the story behind Surfboards Australia in more detail?
DeleteSincerely,
Kyle
hello@daydreamsurfshop.com