I designed this board back in the late 70's when I owned San Diego Surf Shop. Bill Minard shaped it, Tony Channin glassed it and Sam Codey did the color on it. Sam used pigment not airbrush on it. It was double glossed and there is not one ripple on the deck indicating that it was hand pigmented. It was a perfect color job by Sam Codey.
This board was an advertising gimmick of mine. At the time when surfboards were costing around $150-$200, this board I put a price tag on of $1,000.00 At the time it was the most expensive surfboard in the world. It was perfect, it was black and the dimensions were extreme for then; 10" tail, 18" wide, 12" nose, it has a hollow wood fin with a glass bead. The board hung over my counter for everyone to see but (NOT TOUCH!!). The main idea behind making this board and the crazy price tag was to see how fast and how far the word of mouth would travel. There was no information, no ad about the board. Before I knew it people from all over came to see the most expensive surfboard in the world.
To this day, 26 years later, I still have people paddle up to me or see me somewhere and ask if I still have the Black Surfboard. And YES I do!
