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History Surf Or Die!

Discussion in 'Traditional Hot Rods' started by Ryan, Jun 13, 2011.

  1. Ryan
    Joined: Jan 2, 1995
    Posts: 21,633

    Ryan
    ADMINISTRATOR
    Staff Member

  2. NoSurf
    Joined: Jul 26, 2002
    Posts: 4,461

    NoSurf
    Member

  3. 33-Chevy
    Joined: Nov 30, 2007
    Posts: 267

    33-Chevy
    Member

    That is interesting. I am probably about his age. I wasn't from a wealthy family but I made Hot Rods with junk yard parts further up the West Coast in Portland. We go to Southern California once in a while to visit our daughter and her family who live in Costa Mesa, right next door to Huntington Beach. We went to the Grand National Roadster Show earlier this year, and stayed in a rental in Huntington Beach, which is also known as "Surf City". My wife was driving through Huntington Beach and I noticed the vehicle next to us, a typical large van that had the words "Surf City Senior Citizen Transport" painted on the side. Holy Crap! Another illusion shattered!
     

  4. Thanks Ryan, great story. Just put a surf board on the rack of the wifes freshly done van yesterday and she said "get that off there"..... She must be a Hot Rodder!
     

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  5. Retro Jim
    Joined: May 27, 2007
    Posts: 3,854

    Retro Jim
    Member

    What a great story ! I bet many of the kids on the beach back the 1960's would have loved to have had well off parents to be able to do all those things as well . Sad thing is , we all have to grow up someday but we can still always have our hotrods ! I to grew up near a beach in New England . Did some surfing but enjoyed the fishing much more and the hotrods that were at the beach just burned into my mind that I would have one someday . It took a long time but I got 3 now . I do miss the ocean and the salt air but surfing was a lot of fun back then with those long boards ! Can't do that anymore but the hotrods are hear to stay !

    Retro Jim
     
  6. mason-d
    Joined: Jul 22, 2009
    Posts: 146

    mason-d
    Member
    from san diego

    it is funny that surfers and hot rodders never really got along in the early days when the two really go hand in hand being the original so cal counter cultures. for me they go together like peanut butter and jelly. I make a living making surfboards and working in the surf industry which pays for my hot rodding addiction. I cant get enough of either!
     
  7. as always.. cool story.
     
  8. 1950ChevySuburban
    Joined: Dec 20, 2006
    Posts: 6,187

    1950ChevySuburban
    Member Emeritus
    from Tucson AZ

    Cool story. Nice to see someone doing it their way.
     
  9. Looks like a very cool Hot Rod, Bob!!

    Coil overs, headers outsides the hood... home-spun woodie body...

    Let's see more pics!

    Sam
     
  10. Von Dago
    Joined: Feb 13, 2007
    Posts: 504

    Von Dago
    Member
    from New Jersey

    Great story. Is he on here?
     
  11. Chevy54
    Joined: Sep 27, 2009
    Posts: 1,413

    Chevy54
    Member
    from Orange, CA

    Great story and history to hear as I surf HB! Would like to have seen it in those days!
     
  12. Along the lines of the thread title, I just read a little thing from a guy I grew up surfing around, Corky Carroll (google him if you don't know of this Surf ICON) about the actor James Arness. Here are some excerpts from what he has to say;
    "As most of you know by now we lost an American Icon last week with the passing of James Arness. What many of you might now know, however, is that "Big Jim" was a hard core surfer and one of the main crew at San Onofre Surf Beach for decades before he hurt his knee and had to give up riding boards about 20 years ago.

    His go-for-broke goofy-foot stance was well known from Makaha to Cojo and many unknown point breaks in Mexico that you could only reach by boat or plane. Jim got his pilot's license just so he could fly into some of these places and get perfect waves all to himself or with only a couple of friends.

    One of those friends was me. We got to be pals in the 60's at San Onofre and I would also see him at Makaha in Hawaii every winter.

    Jim loved to surf. I remember him blowing off scheduled filming of his hit Television series "Gunsmoke" more than one time for a good swell. One time Jim, Rolf (Jim's Son) and I were surfing in Barbados when CBS called and said they need him for some retakes for one of the shows. Jim just laughed at them and said the only way he was coming back was if they sent a private jet to pick us up and only after the swell went down in a few days.

    For all he cared they could air a rerun – he wasn't missing some good surf just for a T.V. show. A few days later we got picked up by a swank CBS private jet. Kinda cool for me, but Jim was sorta miffed because we had a few more days scheduled to be there.

    What people didn't realize was just how big a man James was. He was 6'9" and weighed in at about 345 pounds. One time Rolf and I got into a pair of his surf trunks, one in each leg. It was pretty funny.

    In his later years after he couldn't surf anymore he moved to Montana so that he didn't have to see the surf and be bummed out that he could not go out there and grab a few. That dude loved to surf as much as anybody else I have ever met, including me. And that is saying a lot.

    He had it in his heart and soul."

    And that's the point of this - just like Bob Carney that Ryan posted about, when you have that "Surfer" in you, not much else matters
     
  13. Before my time but I think Dale Velzy and Gordon "Grubby" Clark (Clark Foam) were surfer/greasers (hot rodders)....there were a few back then.....Good read...
     
  14. Great story Ryan, I surfed in the 60`s rode a 10 ft Bilbo. I had read about Rolf Arness but didn`t know Jim Arness was a Surfer, my other hero`s were Korky Caroll, Skip Frye, Micky Dora & David Newiva. Pic`s of my Surf wagon`s over some great Golden years...[​IMG]....Bri
     
  15. seatex
    Joined: Oct 24, 2006
    Posts: 2,670

    seatex
    Member

    Way cool story, both of them!
     
  16. TERPU
    Joined: Jan 2, 2004
    Posts: 2,372

    TERPU
    Member

    [​IMG]

    Not of wealth or privelage but I certainly know the love of both. Just short of my wife and kids it's the "one thing"


    Tim
     
  17. Rolf was fast becoming one of the great surfers ever and would win the World Championships in Australia in 1970. Even though his professional surfing career was very short, he is recognized as one of the best surfers ever. Rolf blew everybody away at that World Championship and on the North Shore of Hawaii that winter riding giant surf at Makaha and Waimea Bay. Having won the championship, Rolf seemed to lose interest in surfing, took up playing improvisational jazz piano for a time, and married an "astrologer to the stars," who died of cancer in 1978. This, combined with the shocking deaths of his sister Jenny (in 1975) and his mother (1976), sent Rolf into seclusion at his father's property at the Hollister Ranch in 1980, where he gradually resumed an active surfing lifestyle and worked on developing high-speed hydroplane surfboards.
     
  18. J.Ukrop
    Joined: Nov 10, 2008
    Posts: 2,789

    J.Ukrop
    SUPER MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    I'd love to see more shots of carney's model A. that's the only one i've seen.
     
  19. abone1
    Joined: May 16, 2011
    Posts: 7

    abone1
    Member

    Always surfed since 1958, always had hot rods, always been poor. When were not running the funny car, I'm with the grand kids at the beach.
     
  20. hiboy32
    Joined: Nov 7, 2001
    Posts: 2,796

    hiboy32
    Member
    from Omaha, NE

    like how Nosurf was first to reply.
     
  21. rixrex
    Joined: Jun 25, 2006
    Posts: 1,433

    rixrex
    Member

    I'd like to meet the guy, catch a few waves, then spend some time in the garage bench racing and nursing margaritas...I am a Texas surfer which is almost oxymoronic or at least moronic..We would drive the 140 miles to Port Aransas from San Antonio and surf three-foot jetty breaking pea soup with a man-o-war wrapped around your leg..Our big surf trip was the 300 miles further south to Port Isabel for some decent waves, caught some hammerhead there..I did surf in Northern California when I was in the Forest Service but could not believe how freaking cold the water was...
     
  22. oldthudman
    Joined: May 12, 2010
    Posts: 85

    oldthudman
    Member

    Cool "surf buggy" and well done custom..................Has nice details (taillights).....

    I can hear the Beach Boy, Jane and Dean........:)
     
  23. autobilly
    Joined: May 23, 2007
    Posts: 3,123

    autobilly
    Member

    Never surfed myself, but admire Bob's determination to follow both seemingly divergent paths.
    Good on yer Bob!
     
  24. buckd
    Joined: Nov 29, 2008
    Posts: 336

    buckd
    Member

    Laguna Beach Highschool class of 1966. Everybody surfed and rode dirt bikes. HotRods and gassers just seemed like part of the lifestyle. OCIR was just out Laguna Canyon to El Toro.
     
  25. dodored
    Joined: Feb 5, 2007
    Posts: 641

    dodored
    Member
    from Concord NC

    Very cool story. I have only taken up surfing the in the last 2 years, but have always done hot rodding. They seem to naturally go together, and I would encourage anyone, regardless of age, to give surfing a try. It has a very spiritual aspect to it that is hard to describe. Its when the wave comes and grabs you and just thrusts you forward. There is nothing like it!
     

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  26. chevpickup
    Joined: Aug 25, 2009
    Posts: 196

    chevpickup
    Member
    from Australia

    Love this Post - 2 of my greatest loves covered here! In Australia in the 50's and 60's greasers and surfers were constantly at war my dad tells me but these days the 2 cultures seem to have alot more in common. Lots of californian shapers and pro surfers are into hot rods now. Mason who posted on here is one (didnt know he was a hamber.) Dano is another rodder who shape boards. Brian Bent from hotrod church. The Stopniks are into bobber Motorcycles even and are die hard surfers (look up cycle zombies!) Great Story
     
  27. firerod
    Joined: Jan 20, 2008
    Posts: 568

    firerod
    Member
    from Colorado

    Thanks for the very cool story.
     
  28. racer756
    Joined: May 24, 2006
    Posts: 1,559

    racer756
    Member

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