Cartop Find #22 ...

Here's a transition era hull, Punta Rocas, Peru, 1968. Leo Hetzel photo.

It's probably one of George Downing's boards, from the look of the fin. Dropped rails in the back, moderate hull in the front. Very sophisticated for the era. Felipe Pomar would be a good guess as to the board's owner.

Bitchin' car! And note the early use of canvas board bags...the first truly lightweight boards demanded them for travel.

Cartop Find #7

OK, there's cool, then there's really cool...

This is a Ron Stoner image from the late 60's, taken in Baja. Looks like a couple of transition era V's, with fins set well forward. Can't tell if they are glass-ons.

This would have been when the highway was freshly paved, I'd say. Don't recognize any of these guys, but this is a poor quality image, so it's hard to tell...

Cartop Find #11

This may well be the earliest photograph of a board being transported to the beach via vehicle. Nice hull!

Cartop Find #4 ...

Nice hulls...but maybe a bit too much tail rocker ???

Cartop Find #10 -- Greenough Division

Before the shortboard era really got going in Australia, there was an embryonic period when surfers embraced Greenough's design progress by cutting down their longboard fins. The result was an immediate uptick in performance and surf stoke...

When more potent shortboards hit a few months later, harder breaking spots like Lennox became a daily check for the locals...

A VW bus parked in front of the "Wildnerness" house on the north coast of NSW, home to luminaries like McTavish, Greenough, Brad Mayes, Gary Keyes, Chris Brock, et al ...

McTavish Surfing Tools...

How long ago was the transition era? Check out the truck transporting these leading edge shortboards !!!

Cartop Find #18 ...

50's era San-O, a nice Porsche 356, and a nicer balsa hull...

Cartop Find #3

Back in the late 60's, Huntington Beach had nothing on Oahu when it came to cool clusters of surf shops.

And wouldn't you know it? Even the Islands had their share of interest in displacement hulls back in '69 and '69!

Cartop Find #17

 

A couple of Phil Edwards-style reverse fins.

Mid-60's.

Somewhere in The Queen's Realm.

Cartop Find #12 ...

1965 Barracuda promo photo...not sure who the guy is, or why they chose him to model with the car. No surf racks, so the board is clearly a prop, implying some kind of youthful virility or something!

Cartop Find #13 ...

'57 Chevy Bel Air 2 door? Check.

Hubcaps removed? Check.

Aloha racks? Check.

D-fin longboards? Check.

G&S sticker in the rear window? Check.

Black Butch getting ready for a go out? Check!!!

Cartop Find #25 ...

Sometimes the car is cooler than the boards on top. Other times, the car is A LOT cooler than the boards on top!

Wonder what the trophy was for?

Cartop Find #2

I found this photo on someone's Santa Barbara surfing blog a while back. That's a Wilderness hull on the (matching) Aloha racks, during the heyday of Mike Cundith's displacement phase.  (c.1969)

You have to hand it to the Wilderness crew during that era...they didn't fudge it when it came to nose belly!

Cartop Find #9

1949. Sunset Cliffs. John Elwell and Tom Carlin.

"The car is 1931 Ford Model A four door sedan. The boards are a hollowed out red wood plank and a reshaped plank by Simmons on top. A good comparison between the old planks and Simmons’ light displacement boards.

The Ford was marvelous in Mexico. It rode over rough roads, traveled on beaches with the tires deflated, and could be repaired easily. It had a gravity fuel tank. Tom and I were likely the first to discover the Tijuana Playa which was a dry wheat farm, we went into the area through a swinging unlocked gate on a dirt road, and found huge untouched lobster nests. The Playa is now a huge beachside development South of the Tijuana Sloughs and Imperial Beach. No one was there and it was a pristine, a virgin area full of lobsters and fish. We traveled with pliers, a screw driver, and bailing wire to fix things on the car if we had too. We often had too. We never saw any surfers or divers in Mexico during this time. We were the first and went often. It soon changed fast!"

Cartop Find #19 ...

We'll start 2016 with something different...a Datsun Wagon with a matching deep V on top. The AZ plates and exterior ventilation system seem well-matched as well! (For more authenticity, ignore the leash anchor on the board...)

Cartop Find #1

1970, Victoria, Australia.

Reno, his girlfriend Joanna, Dale Dobson, and a mystery man hover near a car topped with an impressive hull.

Who's the guy on the right...and who's board was that???

Cartop Find #6

Displacement surfers have known it for decades...hulls on the roof of your car is a chick magnet!

Cartop Find #8 ...

"Bing Copeland, Bev Morgan, Greg Noll, Dick Medve and Bob Hogan with their trophies won at the 1951 paddle races, held in Santa Monica and Santa Barbara. That's Bev's chopped Chevy in the background. Photo: Bing Copeland Collection."  From the Surfing Heritage archive.

Cartop Find #5 ...

What a great image...the transition within the Transition Era.

A couple of Deep V's, plus some nice roundpins that came next in the evolution.  All with glass-on flex fins.  Plus, the people seem cool as well! What an interesting time it was.

Not sure where this is. Looks like Victoria plates...Lorne?

Cartop Find #23 ...

So the legend that Dennis Wilson was the only Beach Boy who surfed turned out to be a crock!

Here, Bruce Johnston is shown on the road with a buddy in an awesome XKE, a couple of boards, and the de rigueur set of Aloha surf racks.

Cartop Find #16 ...

A very young Clayton Dillion with what has to be the coolest stuff any kid anywhere ever had!

1966. Balsa board. Quarter midget racer. With surf racks.

Too cool for school!