I first road on a skateboard in about 1974 when I was 5. My big sister Cindy, had a long, clay-wheeled skateboard, wich I would love to find today. That board is long gone and I didnt get my own board until 1982, when I bought a used 10″ pig with Inde T-Hangers & Yoyo’s on it—then it was on!
I mad a quarterpipe like most skaters did at the time. My little sister, Amy, was stoked to skate with me so I bought an undrilled Sims Taperkick at the El Cajon swap meet for $7. I set it up and it was on for her daily for five-plus years. We built a lame halfpipe in our back yard without ever seeing a picture of one. We got Gullwing to sponsor a contest on our halfpipe and had Reese Simpson and bill Danforth show up, along with many others from Del Mar skate Ranch. Bill kicked me a new dagger tail airbrushed Alva! Thanks, Bill. Then we had to move and trash the first ramp in E.C. which was not so bad. I found I was able to do alot more on the streets, skating every curb, bank, ditch, and parking lot in El Cajon. We started flying off jump ramps, floating big ollie airs all day , every day. I took a jump ramp with my bro, Mike Garcia, to Santee Pro Shop and made the guy (Jeff Weddle) come out and check us out. He sponsored us on the spot and flowed us some product, and then got us on the Madrid flow team. This is is where I started keeping all my boards and hunting out any and all old skateboards.
Then we got sponsored by Christian Hosois street team, the Flying Aces, of which Dennis Martinez was the team captain. This was Danny Way’s first sponsor. He was the youngest as well as the best of us at 14 years old. NHS sent cases of killer collectible boards for all of us. We traveled some and skated with NATAS and many other old-school street pros. We were exposed to the pro party scene and hung out with Christian’s dad, Ivan.
A few years later Jeff Weddle got me in on the ground floor of the San Diego Zorlac company with Dave and Mark; I ran their warehouse and team for a few yars. I hung old Zorlac decks that shops would send back to trade for newer product.
Now I had some money to go out and hunt for old Skateboards like a ;madman on a mission. I went to a minimum of 10 yard sales and 4 swap meets every weekend. I started a cave of old boards in myu bedroom plastering the walls with my finds in the late ’80’s. The my bro, Mikey Whaley, got the bug and now knows its a lifelong disease. I made sales calls coast to coast, asking everyone if they had any old skateboards. In the early ’90s I bought dead stock from a few factories, like orginal Gators for $4 each and 1984 Santa Cruz Duane Peters decks for $6 ea. I still have some of these invoices from my early days.
By that time I already had hundreds of vintage skateboards, which all ended up in storage until about 1997 when I found the internet and eBay the following year. I sold off a few high-dollar skateboards, which lead me to my man, Steve Shook, who is my webmaster for www.skateboardcollector.com and continues to update my website in trade for product. Thanks alot Steve!
I have talked to and traded with hundreds of thousands of you cool, old school skaters all over the planet. With daily requests for single kick boards, the birth of sk8supply.com was born in December 2002.
Some of my super old school skateboard scores:
1. a box of 10 NOS Dogtown decks from the mid-80’s for $1 ea
2. 1962 35″ BunBuster for $20 at a yard sale and some Gullwing split axles.
3. An original Jay Adams Z-Flex -yellow for .25 cents at the El Cajon Swap meet.
4. A case of 12 NOS Roller derby boards in a barn.
5. Rare Hobie SunDancer in trade for a new set-up.
Use the comments option to share your killer Old School Skateboard Scores! I’d love to hear them
