Surfa Sam Fred William Landsurfa Vintage Skateboard 1964

Surfa Sam Fred Williams Landsurfa Vintage Skateboard 1964. This is an original Fred Williams model made in 1964, with the original trucks and Landsurfa wheels that are spinning freely. Leo Kalokerinos, original owner of Surfa Sam, approached water skiing legend Fred Williams who was recognised as one of the world’s leading water ski manufacturers. Mr Williams would sell water ski off cuts to Leo who would then use them as the basis for his new design. Depending on what leftovers were available at the time the ‘Landsurfas’ would be shaped with whatever ply pattern was available, resulting in various stringer designs being released to the market. Due to its construction, these boards proved costly to produce and were only manufactured for a short period of time in 1964.

THE HISTORY OF SURFA SAM SKATEBOARDS

In 1963, Dr Leo Kalokerinos, a 29 year old medical student, transformed his parents’ small family home in the suburb of Rose Bay, Sydney into Australia’s first "Sidewalk Surfer" company. Leo conjured up the idea after seeing a friend’s young son riding a crude home-made skateboard he had built using a plank of wood with a roller-skate nailed to the bottom. Seeing a business opportunity Leo set out to manufacture and sell this new 'toy', filing for a patent on the 27 August 1963 for 'A Ski-Board for traversing over land surfaces' called the 'Landasurfa'.

It wasn’t until 1965 when the name Surfa Sam was introduced, and the much loved face of the company "Sam" was conceived. Created by a Sydney advertising agency, it was creative director Victor Violet who coined the name "Surfa Sam", whilst a colleague created the loveable surfing character. Sam’s debut was on a 24" square tailed board shaped out of Tasmanian oak, a timber that has become synonymous with Surfa Sam and skateboarding during the 1960’s.

Sold 1 April 2021