It’s my opinion that cars and skateboards go together. I may get raised eyebrows for saying that but I believe it’s true, at least in Southern California. Surfing and cars work, don’t they? Just because there was never an ultra-popular ‘60s band named the Sidewalk Boys (thank God) doesn’t mean skateboarding and hot rods don’t have something in common.
Think of it, anybody crazy enough to go 100-plus mph at the far end of a dragstrip (or dark street) when they were 18, or however fast at the dry lakes, didn’t just suddenly become that nuts when they became old enough to drive. It had to start a little earlier.
When I was a kid our neighborhood was crawling with cool machinery powering down the streets we were not yet allowed to be in the middle of. That 40-foot strip of forbidden asphalt became more alluring every year, and when my good-time buddy a few houses up got right out in the center on a piece of wood with a set of tiny wheels, he might-as-well have been in a rocket car calling out “Come on! Give it a try!” That road could be ours, too.
The first thing I learned about skateboarding is that you should be of at least average athletic ability before you get on one. At least with enough practice one can become average. The next was about attitude and hardware, like don’t show up at the local hot spot in front of the mean guy’s house acting all cocky when you have metal wheels. If it meant risking that big sister might miss the roller skate you were gonna have to part out to get a nice set of compositions, so be it. Crashes came soon and frequently, along with tricks like the incredible daring ride-right-off-a-curb that was six inches high. After a summer’s effort I hadn’t gained much skill, my bud was better, then we all tired of the fad and it was on to other things.
Urethane wheels came along in ’74 and boarding was hot all over again, this time with fancy store displays and dedicated magazines. The old wooden boards were uncool; fiberglass or clear Lexan was better, but the best going was aluminum and thus began my first serious metal project. Once I had a few extra bucks I got out the phone book and discovered the local metal supply house. It took an hour on the city bus to get there but the salesman must’ve spent 20 minutes with this dumb kid, picking out a likely-looking piece of T-4 Plate which he cut down to save me on cost. I used a woodworking bandsaw with a metal-cutting blade to get the shape and then my dad offered to take it to where the ends could be bent up to, uh, how far? Specify! Say where, say how much…learn some engineering! I polished up the completed board, which just meant I had to worry about scratching it, then for the first time I’d “built my own ride”. It (along with the bus) was my transportation and pastime until I had a regular job and could afford a car.
Those days come back to me when hanging out at my buddy Jake’s, where you will find rat rods and ‘50s-style cars under construction, a yard full of mouthwatering vintage raw material, and a contest-quality 40×40′ vertical skate ramp in the backyard. Pro and former pro skateboarders, the kind like you’d see at the X-games, come by all the time. The other morning I sat looking at that monstrosity, with someone’s up-to-date coolest-possible wood board laying nearby. Lance Conklin, former rider for DC shoes, called out with sparkling blue eyes that I’m sure drive the ladies mad.
“Come on! Give it a try!” The man is pure evil.
Guys my age do not belong on skateboards and I’ll skip saying what happened except to mention I did a credible “backside-something-or-other” and then landed on my butt. Yeah, maybe I’ll try again when I’m more up-for-it. In the meanwhile, some cool cars are getting built at Jake’s and lots of skating still happens with guys who are a far past adolescence. Cars and skateboards? I think so, others do as well.
