Sunday, May 12, 2013

New Life for a Classic '62 Gordie

A couple of years ago my brother Frank brought this early 60's Gordie to my house.  He had found it at a garage sale and purchased it for .......ten dollars.  Frank left it with me and asked if I would do some ding repair whenever I had the chance.  I immediately admired the board for the memories it evoked of my early surfing career and for its classic style, including the wide balsa and redwood T-band stringer, the curved outboard stringers and the custom fin that so identified the elements of surfboard design that were emerging during the first few years of the 60's.   The second board of my young surfing career in 1963 was a Gordie, a 3-stringer with sky blue resin panels on the outside rails and the same template fin, with a different glue-up pattern, as on this board.  I wanted it!

Fortunately, Frank was not similarly attached to the board as I.  I traded Frank a Simm-21 as I recall for the Gordie and it became mine.  This board was very straight and solid with no delam issues and the stringers and logo were in superb condition.  It was a great candidate for a like-new restoration.
So that is what I did, including Gordies original fin.   Check it out.











1 comment:

Stewart stoute said...

I'm about to restore a gordie early sixtys board. They are awesome craftsmanship.