Hi Chris,
Thanks for the questions! I fell asleep waiting for someone to send me a question... anything!... but I'm awake again now.
All of the vintage Bing Bonzers I've seen were made between 1973 and 1979. There is no written record saying exactly when each board was shaped and who ordered it, unlike all the Bing surfboards made prior to mid-1971. However, because I have been recording every detail of every Bonzer (and all Bings) I see, I can probably estimate the date your board was made, if I knew a bit more about it. Knowing your board's serial number will help, though the numbering sequence changed at least three times in the 1970s. Based on certain key features of your board and where its serial number falls in the sequences I have recorded, I may be able to pin it down.
Mike Eaton, who shared the shaping of the earliest Bing Bonzers with Bing, shaped all of them from 1974-79. He frequently signed them and sometimes dated them. He usually did this right next to the serial number.
The first Bonzers, in 1973 and 1974, had pointed runner fins and deep channels in the tail half of the board, with a scalloped out channel on the deck at the tail tip. As the Bonzer design evolved, the runners tips were rounded off (the pointed ones tore up your calves when you swung your board around to catch a wave), the channels on the bottom became shallower, and the template was varied, creating five or six distinct models.
If you send me some photos of your board, along with its serial number and dimensions (length and width at the nose, middle and tail), I may be able to tell you what you have.
The center fin used a Fins Unlimited box for a Rainbow fin (colored layers of fiberglass). I'm not sure if FU made the fin or if the Bing crew made them, but they matched the colors of the board... Makes me sort of wonder, which came first - the fins or the boards? The fins were 6-7 inches in height and pointed. Later, by 1976 or 77, the center fin became more rounded and shorter, and even said "Bing" on it.
Once I hear back from you and see your photos, I'll be able to tell you more about your board. Please send them to me at setwave@msn.com . Thanks.
Tom |
