Just a enough patina and use to hint at its past life, but a beauty to display. Its of the era whereby these first wooden boards with metal wheels were meant to teach you how to surf by what was assumed to be easier… Tenderfoot was a model of wooden sidewalk skateboard-often called a “sidewalk surfer”-manufactured by Nash Skateboards in the 1960s. These boards featured metal wheels and a wooden deck, long before the advent of urethane wheels and grip tape. They were known for being both rugged and risky to ride! Crafted of solid wood with metal wheels-early models lacked the smoother ride of later polyurethane versions. Decks often bore bright paint and a distinctive “Tenderfoot” logo. Nash was one of the first companies to mass-produce skateboards, helping shape skate culture. Full Name: Nash Manufacturing Company. Founded: 1918, in Fort Worth, Texas. Original Focus: Sporting goods, fishing tackle, and toys. Nash quickly became known for affordable, mass-produced recreational gear aimed at department stores and catalog sales. Nash & Early Skateboarding. By the mid-1960s, skateboarding was emerging as a national craze. Decks: Solid hardwood or plywood, sometimes painted in bright colors with decals or silk-screened logos. Wheels: Early models used steel or clay composite wheels (fast but rough), later moving to improved clay and eventually urethane in the 1970s. Trucks: Stamped steel assemblies, not the cast aluminum trucks we see today. Tenderfoot (entry-level board for younger riders). The Tenderfoot was smaller and simpler than higher-end models, marketed as a starter board. Nash skateboards were built to a price point, not high-end performance. Ads often showed smiling kids in Keds sneakers riding in driveways – safety gear was virtually nonexistent in marketing. Why Nash Matters in Skate History. Accessibility: For many kids in the 1960s, Nash boards were their first skateboard because they were cheap and widely available. Cultural Footprint: Nash boards introduced countless riders to the sport, even if they quickly upgraded to higher-performance brands. Survivors: While many were ridden hard and discarded, surviving examples (especially with original decals, wheels, and hardware) are collectible for their retro graphics and nostalgia factor. Beyond skateboards, Nash made. Fishing rods and tackle. Badminton and tennis sets. Other seasonal sporting goods. However, before skateboards there were scooters, sometimes known as kick scooters and push scooters. Varied forms of scooters have been traced back to the early 1900s, most of them made from wood, metal, or a combination of the two. Scooters had anywhere from two to four wheels. Some of the wheels were metal and others were similar to the wheels on pedal cars. In the 1940s and 1950s, crate scooters made popular sidewalk vehicles. Most crate scooters were handmade. They were relatively inexpensive and simple for kids to construct by using a milk crate or wooden fruit box and metal roller skate wheels attached to a wooden 2 x 4. Eventually kids started removing the boxes and handlebars and just started riding the board with wheels, reminiscent of the famous skateboard scene in the 1985 film. Back to the Future. By the early 1960s, skateboarding started luring participants from the surfer scene. In 1962 a southern California surf shop, Val Surf, began making its own brand of skateboards and struck a deal with Chicago Roller Skate Company for the wheels. The skateboards began to attract everyday surfers who could use the boards when they weren’t in the water, and thus the term “sidewalk surfer” was coined. Additionally, skateboarding gained popularity when Larry Stevenson, publisher of. Promoted it in his monthly magazine. In 1963, Stevenson made the first professional skateboards using the Makaha brand and organized the first known skateboarding contest. That same year saw an evolution in skateboard design with the use of clay (also known as composite) wheels that replaced treacherous metal ones. Moving ahead, in 1964 surf and sailing entrepreneur Hobart “Hobie” Alter joined forces with Vita-Pakt company to make a line of Hobie skateboards; the Hobie line also sponsored several contests and professional skaters. Later that summer, the musical group Jan and Dean performed Sidewalk Surfin. On Dick Clark’s. An event which helped further popularize skateboarding with mainstream society. In 1965, the skateboarding sport peaked as manufacturers tried to keep up with the demand, cranking out an estimated 50 million skateboards between 1963 and 1965. In May, the world’s first skatepark, Surf City in Tucson, Arizona opened to the public.. Skateboard with metal trucks. Old wooden skate deck. 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