Got this board at the car boot sale this morning - a complete lucky dip. I quite like buying them like this when you've got no clue whats under the spray paint. Sometimes they turn out not worth it , sometimes they're a result. My friend Lloyd was selling this at his stall, from what I could tell it was mid 70s, and through chips in the paint I could see it had green tinted rails and bottom, and the original gloss finish hadn't been sanded before spraying, which is always a bonus as it can sometimes scrape off easily. I could scrape off bits with my fingernail. It also had a thick wooden laminated fin, which made me think of quality Devon makers like Creamed Honey. Lloyd even said himself theres a chance its a Honey, like the first board he owned. I said it could be , or Bruce Palmer because of the finger thick fin.Anyway I bought it, got it home and headed straight for the logo area; no luck at first and then some lines started appearing, and as soon as I saw them I knew it was a Palmer. I must be some kind of geek for guessing the shaper so early.
Its in clean condition really, with nice gloss and pretty light green tint with yellow pinline, 7 ft x 19 1/2 with the classic Palmer rounded pin. The deck has said hello to a rock at some point and theres a big ding, but can sort that out easily enough. My 4 year old Kitty was gutted I scraped the flowers off, but you can't please everybody ! The underside even had shiny stars glued on - definitely a female owner previously. Restoration is underway , to be continued.....
With an almost identical outline is this great condition Palmer from the Gul collection, and it has the similar thick fin. Bruce was an Australian who came over to Croye area in the mid 70s and started his own label shortly after Kevin Cross had arrived to start Creamed Honey. The two became lifelong friends, often helped each other out with materials, and produced great boards. When Kevin went home in '77 Bruce stayed on shaping and worked under the Lightning bolt licence for a while. He was a good surfer too and won the 1975 British championships. As you can tell from the infamous blue carpet - photos by Alex.
