Hey 56, Thanks for the nice comments. Back in 1963-64, I was in this dream "surf world" with my skills improving daily. We had seen photos of the coastal surf spots that weren't in the movies. I wanted to go on an extended surf trip all along the Coastal USA, ending up in the Northeast. Then a trip to France/Portugal/Spain was the next step. So, where was an 18 year old going to get some money for such a trip? I had some sponsors lined up, but they would supply the boards and clothes. But, the day to day stuff need some fast cash infusion. I looked at my mom and asked if she would sponsor me on this surf trip...she said, "Sure, where are you going?" She thought San Diego and Baja. I was thinking big time... When I told her, she fell over laughing and immediately fell into the parental..."You have to go to college" theme that every parent tells the teenage son. Well, the best laid plans came to a grinding halt, when she said that I would get drafted if I did not go to college and get a degree. This story always gets laughs at family gatherings as my wife shakes her head and chuckles. Jnaki So, I was a So Cal guy going to those rollicking, surf movies, hooting and hollering like all of the surf crazed teens at the time... like minds...
Hey IM, Nice Woody...When we lived in Laguna Niguel in South OC, our neighbor had a maroon 46 Ford Woody. Your woody could be an exact copy, whitewalls and all. He did not surf, but was an avid runner. He just loved old things and anything related to the beach, which was 2 miles away. That woody was fun to ride in, but it stayed in his garage most of the time. Once a week, he drove it down the PCH, just to keep it running well. He was always tinkering with it in his garage. Jnaki One day, the woody was just not in his garage anymore. We never talked about it after that. I have no idea where that maroon woody is located, today. Yours looks like a daily driver and one that would give tons of enjoyment. Very Cool...
In Sea Girt, NJ there is an Army National Guard Base right on the ocean. Back in the day it was pretty active, and restricted. We used to sneak on and surf the empty breaks there. Sooner or later the MPs always came and chased us out of the water and off the premises.
Hey 56, Wow, I bet that was fun...Out West, back in the 50s and 60s, Camp Pendleton between San Diego and Long Beach was miles and miles of empty ocean front. But, as we all know and have seen on the web/movies, "Trestles" is on the northern border and was totally off limits. Sure, San Onofre was a family club, camping, surf spot right next door on the base, but it was for private use only. "Trestles," on the other hand, had the best waves on the coast in three spots. (Lower Trestles, Upper Trestles and Cottons.) Many young surfers got caught and taken to the Provost Marshall's office in Oceanside. We were very lucky in all of those years of surfing those prime surf spots, we never got caught. We did have to paddle from Lower Trestles to Uppers to Cottons, approximately 2 miles in the ocean, to stay out of jeep capture range. Once over the fenced in public beach property at Cotton's, we could actually talk to the marine patrols without being arrested. Lucky us... Jnaki There are plenty of undercover, invader stories of sneaking through the thick jungle to get to the beach. It was a wild jungle and the antics were just as wild. But, the result, the pristine, fast waves were worth the effort. Today, it is a state park with full on, public access anytime. Surfers and families just have to walk along the long trail from the parking area to get to Upper Trestles/Cotton's area. Yes, it is crowded with a "pecking order" in full play out in the water. Vintage Surf Transportation: Sometimes the forest was littered with true vintage surf transportation hidden or trying to be hidden within the overgrowth. But, the key was how to drive into that thick jungle without being seen. No one took nice station wagons inside. If they were spotted by the Marines, they were reverse vandalized. So, it was usually "beaters" to meld within the foliage, then sprint to the waves. It took two years of these antics, until someone lit fire to the whole jungle to clear out all hiding spots.
We got "chased out" too, and lots of guys got their sticks confiscated if you weren't fast enough. Fortunately, once Nam was over, the USMC on Camp Pendleton lightened up.
This ones been getting my boards to the beach for over 20 years. Plenty of wax stuck in the carpet to prove it. Some great pics in this thread!
Absolutely no surfing experience and at 71 years old don’t think I’ll get any but have loved the surf scene since first viewing the Safaris album cover back in the mid sixties. Made this over the winter, 240 pieces of wood, 40 inches long.
J. This wagon belongs to HB’s Mike Chiavetta, freelance writer, artist & long term Woody owner. This woody literally has been everywhere and it’s mantra is” I GET AROUND!” . I’ve seen it myself for years in red oxide primer before it received its red color coat. Here it is with different wheels.
back in the last 60s while attending high school, I had a 1959 Morris Minor station wagon with wood trim. After I painted it Plum Crazy, I fab a surf board rack and installed a surfboard. Looked real neat but at that time I did not surf. On Friday at school, a new girl approaches me and asked if I usually go to the beach on Saturdays. Of course, every Saturday, why do you want to come. So I show up at her house 8:00 Saturday morning, she comes out and tells me to wait a minute while she goes in the garage. She comes out with a wet suit, wax, and a surfboard. Her father was in the Air Force and just got transferred from HI to Portsmouth NH (PAFB) and of course she could surf. Well we spent all day out there. By 5:00 PM I was sunburn (big time), had big bumps just below my knees and at the top of my feet and was freezing because the water is cold in the ocean by NH. Thank God the swells were only 2 to 3 feet and once in awhile up to 4 to 5 feet. I have to tell you surfing is a lot of work and for the whole day, I only had one really good ride on a 4 foot swell, that I didn't fall off. Thanks to her, I did learn out to surf. Oh yea, never get between the board in the water and the shore...always stand on the ocean side of the board.
Hey J, After one fiasco of wax dripping on the upholstery of our old station wagon, I was able to get some stuff called Astrodeck. (This was after the long board generation. Those old longboards never stayed inside of a vehicle other than a VW Van. They were underneath in the shade of the vans when not in use.) At first, it came in a long, wide roll that you could cut out to the shape of your board. It was a very smooth surface and had mini holes on it. The function was that these holes created suction and thus did not allow your feet to slip. Most of the time, rubbing a little sand on the surface, just before you went out surfing, made the traction better. This single fin Lightning Bolt surf board fit inside of the 40 Ford Sedan Delivery with the closed rear door. old days... in the rear window... The little holes were created in the building process. The hot pour was laid on a smooth table, then in the slow drying process, fine salt (real salt) was sprinkled on and the whole thing dried. When the Astrodeck dried, it was hosed off and the salt melted, leaving thousands of mini holes for traction. In the years of using Astrodeck, (and applied correctly) I never slipped and never had any melt downs in a hot car all day. Early Hobie twin fin definitely fit inside of an El Camino. Last tri-fin surfboard with Astrodeck strips, definitely fits inside of VW GTI coupes and other small, modern station wagons. (definitely, inside of a woody...) Since the Astrodeck was sold all over the world, the best selling forms were the deck patch and the tail patch. With the cold water use, booties and light weight wetsuits give the ultimate in comfort and traction. For the modern day long boards, there are several designs that can be modified to fit any style board. With this long board set up, the boards can stay on top of a big station wagon without worry of added wax on the surface. (The longboard kits come in all sizes) Jnaki So, there will be no more drippy wax and sand inside of the pristine station wagons on hot days. (hose off, air dry, off you go…) It is also pure traction on top for those awesome rides.
Yep. Had lots of Astrodeck pads throughout the years, but still prefer good ol wax over anything else.
A lot of those boards that were confiscated during the Vietnam war ended up in the surf club board pools at the R and R beaches in country. Right now at the California Surf Museum in Oceanside, there is an exhibit called "China Beach". It's all about surfing and the surf clubs that came to be at some of the R and R beaches up and down the Vietnam coast during the war. The exhibit was put together mostly by some of the guys who actually surfed and worked (lifeguards) those beaches. It covers all aspects of what went on at those beaches, from inception to the end of the war including US GIs, nurses and the beaches set up for Australian servicemen (many Aussies served in Vietnam), and a life sized replica of the surf shack at the beach at Da Nang (China Beach). Super cool, super interesting. Definitely worth a visit if you are in the area.
Hey Mike, That little place is very cool. It rivals the San Clemente Surf Museum and the Huntington Beach Museum. Here is the link: https://surfmuseum.org/ and the direct link to the Vietnam story. https://surfmuseum.org/exhibits/china-beach-surfers-vietnam-war-healing-power-wave-riding/ It is located a couple of blocks from the famous Oceanside Pier. One of our southern surf stops in 1961-68, when the swells were running. About 10 years ago, I gave this board to my niece's oldest son. My niece wanted some surf paraphernalia for decorating his room in this huge San Marcos house. It was prominently displayed on the main wall of his bedroom along with "surfy" stuff. The board was a custom shaped, 7'6" Lightning Bolt Surfboard with full Astrodeck on the top side, including the Bolt logo. One summer day, they took it to the Oceanside Pier for a day of trying to surf. A whole bunch of older surfers came up to their umbrella and asked who owned that board. They offered a lot of money for the immediate sale of the board. She did not know what to do, so she politely told them to come back next week and she would have more information for them. She called me and told me the story. She also wanted to know if I wanted to sell it. Yes, was the answer and the money could go to their family for college. We were talking big time money for a pristine, custom surfboard. Thanks for the memories of the Vietnam scene and Oceanside. Being by the big blue sea, Oceanside is a great coastal drive and place to visit. The beach is well kept and the surf breaks in the summer and picks up a swell during the winter that sometimes breaks across the Oceanside Harbor inlet. That causes some exciting moments for incoming and outgoing boats of all kinds. Sometimes, it is possible to take off on a big wave near that closed out entrance and ride it across the jetty towards the southern beach. It was/is an exciting place. Plus, inside, near both the north and south jetties there are some great surf breaks. Jnaki Where is that board today? It is still with my niece's family (on a wall) somewhere near St. Louis, Mo. Now, the value has increased 10 fold...yes! It was such a cool surfboard with an adjustable deep single fin to move back and forth to adapt to the wave conditions. AND... it fit inside of our station wagon and 40 Ford Sedan Delivery without out of trace of melted wax.
We used to show our military I.D's from USN and they had to let us thru because we were active Navy.. Pissed the Marines off BIGtime !!!!!!!!!
I've been to the museum in Huntington Beach many times (my wife lived there while going to school), and I hit the one in Oceanside about once a year. I have never been to the one in San Clemente, I will have to make time for it next time that I'm out there. I spent a week in San Diego (Pacific Beach) a couple of weeks ago. My wife and I blasted out there from Phoenix in my '65 Ford Country Sedan (wagon) with my 9'6" Hobie and my 9'3" Yater spoon strapped to the roof. That's when we went to the museum in Oceanside. Afterward, we drove the wagon down PCH back to PB, with a stop at Mt. Soledad. Bitchin' day. I also managed to get in the water with the Yater 3 times during the week. My surfing skills are limited, but it was as always, just bitchin' to be out in the sea and riding waves.
Hey M, A 9'6" Hobie and a Yater spoon? Wow, those are classics. I am sure that those boards gave out as much pleasure as possible, at least you are out there having fun. My first surfboard was a dark blue Hobie 9’6” board. It did fit into the trunk of our 58 Impala with the rear seat back taken out. It was so heavy… I have gone through many boards over the years, but the two best riding ones were the 11’4” Phil Edwards model by Hobie in 1964. It was number 4. I picked it up at the Ole surfboard shop in Seal Beach, immediately drove to the Huntington Pier for some of the best rides ever. Then tragedy struck on the same day. Some idiot ran over the board’s nose and cut off about a foot. I recovered the nose and had it reattached that day. It still rode extremely well. The second was not my board, but I was able to ride a 9 foot, Yater Spoon at this point break in Goleta during a week-long surf trip. It rode quite well and it was easy to cut back hard without falling off. The inside nose rides were epic. It was very stable and fun. Today, a well kept Yater Spoon will bring in high dollars on the market. (if so inclined…) You have a well-respected classic that is valuable… keep your eyes on it. Jnaki
Actually, both boards are only about 10 years old. They are the same classic shapes from the 60s, but made with the modern "surftech" construction. Basically no fiberglass, just super strong resin over the foam. This makes them very strong, super light and super buoyant. Just what a fat old man like me needs. I have a 9'0" Dewey Webber Performer that is only a couple of years older, with conventional foam/glass/resin construction and a balsa stringer, that board feels like a pig compared to the others.
Bob "Ole" Olson is in Maui and still shapes daily. He moved there in the early 70's. He might be, or at least is one of, the oldest shaper who shapes daily at 87 years old. He started in the late 40's. I visit him often and he is so full of stoke you forget how old he is. I own two Ole's. A $100 garage sale find from the early 60's and a 9-6 he shaped me in 2006.....
Ole had his shop just around the corner from our apartment, I had him build me a custom board. I bought an 8' 6" Ole surfboard single fin that rode great in all kinds of waves. I took it to Hawaii in the summer, all wrapped up in our king sized bedspread with tons of masking tape all around the bedspread. (no removable fins back then) I was worried that the fin would get broken off, but it made the journey well without any dings or breaks. It performed extremely well in the fast waves of Hanalei Bay in Kauai as well as at the local Huntington Beach pier and Trestles. Sorry, I had a great photo of him shaping my surfboard, but 50+ years has taken its toll... Hey IM, Wow, a blast from the past. I would love to sit down with him, again, and talk about the last 50 years. Just, wow… His old shop was fronting the Seal Beach Naval Ammunition site. The waterfront loading dock was directly across the street. If we climbed on top of the building, we could see the surf break at Surfside, just South. The front of his shop was Seal Beach Blvd. (formerly, Bay Boulevard) It was the local stop off to chat before the long drive to South San Clemente. Later, it would be the hang out spot with a line of station wagons, vans and surf cars parked out in front. That would have been some photo circa 1962-66. Jnaki Leo H. photo Baja Mexico These Seal Beach/Long Beach surfers were regulars at Ole’s Surfboards on Bay Boulevard in the 1960’s. “Barrymore…a fabulous local surfer…the best.” 2017 Ole’s old shop in the current transformation on Seal Beach Blvd. (formerly Bay Blvd) In the 60s, the surrounding property was barren on both sides. 50+ year old Jnaki photo of Bob Olson surfing a secret spot just steps away from his shop . It was a great, fall, overhead, off shore wind day...a very rare day of surf. When Bob Olson was not in the shop, his friend, Mickey Munoz ran the shop. Many years later, Ole opened a different shop down the Coast Highway in Sunset Beach, somewhere near the post office. This was his last So Cal shop before he made the transformation to Maui. We lost contact ever since. But, he is still shaping and riding the waves, everyday... 8’6” pintail, OLE Surfboard with the red fin. This Bob Olson, Ole surfboard handled everything from 3 foot shorebreak , to fast hollow waves at a Waikoko’s, the famous, Hanalei Bay left, point break and the big down the line walls (rights) at Hanalei Bay, river mouth. Finally, a ½ mile out paddle to 10 foot + fast waves at the South Shore, Longboat, surf spot. Thanks, Bob…"live long and prosper..."
Hello, Right after we flew into Kauai one summer, we were transported to my friend’s house in Hanalei. We needed a form of transportation for our month’s stay. My friend said that a 1932 Ford Sedan could be had for cheap as well as a couple of older hot rods and station wagons. (heard from a friend, who heard from another friend…etc.) We were now on the hunt for a transportation vehicle for 5 adults and one little kid. Cruising up to the Kauai surf spots in a 1932 Ford Sedan would be a happening event for sure. As we drove up, the hot rods were a 31 coupe with an SBC and an old beat up station wagon. The look on my wife's face as we drove up was priceless...These are the cars we are going to use for a month? Do they run at all? The wagon could have held all of us, but the 31 coupe was just for two and a kid. We decided against the wagon because it looked like a long term project and not for our daily surf trips all around the island. But, something caught my eye…where was the 32 sedan? Well, the daily pipeline on old cars on the island was not as accurate as it should be. When we were wandering around a small town called Kapaa, on the western side of the island on Kauai, we came across this scene. sepia tone It was sitting in the back of the yard in almost 4 foot tall weeds. The grille was missing as were the chassis and motor. It was a rusted hulk of a 2 door sedan. As Neil Young has told all of us, “Rust Never Sleeps.” (especially on a daily, wet climate type of island.) My friend was astonished that it was in such bad condition. The owner said he had been parting it out over the last couple of years. Original B/W photo (later on, I got an “A” for a great depth of field photograph in another college photo class.) Jnaki Well, we were on a summer vacation, so we did not have time to spend fixing up a car. So, a trip to the used car dealer in the big city was the last step in our surf transportation search. We picked out a cool, used, British Army green, 4 door, 1962 Nash Rambler American for $350.00. It had 30000 miles and was in great shape. We drove it back to our house and it ran great. We all fit neatly in the car. We were now ½ owners of this pristine 4 door sedan. Since I had brought clamps from the mainland for surf racks, we measured and cut some hardwood for the custom, wide, surf racks for this Rambler. Our boards fit neatly on these custom racks. Hardwood flat racks with old carpeting glued on to the top surface. Custom home for 30 days, Hanalei, Kauai
JNAKI I really enjoy all your post. I think that the old sedan body you found,is a 33 or 34 Dodge. Notice the window reviles. They match the ones in my 34 sedan delivery. They are pretty hard to find. You may want to snatch those up. THANKS Ron....
Hey Ron, I am a fairly, detailed person when it comes to photos (this one has been sitting in a box for over 30+ years…) and such, but what an eye you have for details. Your sedan delivery is one of the best around, with lots of time spent driving to all of those cool places. Back when we were in Kauai, the hot rod pipeline was not as accurate as it should have been. We were told it was a 32 Ford, not a Dodge, but in looking at your photo, great eye for details. At the rate the owner was parting out stuff back then, he probably did not know it was a Dodge. When people hear 32 Ford, all eyes pop open a few notches and listen. I am sure it is long gone over the years. We have not visited our friends since that time. Jnaki Back in those days, stuff was all around the island, but over the years, I am sure the hot rodders from the rest of the island chain have come over to check things out. There was one scrap (junk) yard that had a ton of stuff, but like I said earlier, it was a summer vacation in Kauai. “Look but do not touch,” was the word I got from you know who…
a rare woody Hello, One of the rarest, woody wagons in existence is the 40 Willys woody. This treasure is completely stock in appearance, as if it it ready to roll out to the “south 40” on your estate. Texas and OKC, are in the middle of “Trucksville,” but this one could have been part of a large ranch compound back in the 40s-50s. Today, it sits proudly and safe in an automobile museum on the West Coast of the USA. It does run and gets driven occasionally, too. Jnaki It would have been the best, cruising down Pacific Coast Highway in So Cal in the 60s. The woody wagon making the long drive from Rincon, near Santa Barbara, down to Windansea in San Diego with a couple of scruffy, teenager surfers out looking for the best waves on the coast. One can dream…
The Jalopy Journal
