Roller Derby Skate Board
Skateboard
1959-1960 (manufactured)
1959-1960 (manufactured)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
5-ply rectangular board painted red with the name in white on the upper surface. The board has one straight and one curved end. There are two sets of steel double wheels attached to the underside of the board, one at each end.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Roller Derby Skate Board (manufacturer's title) |
| Materials and techniques | Painted plywood deck with steel wheels and trucks |
| Brief description | Roller Derby Skate Board made in the USA in 1959/60 |
| Physical description | 5-ply rectangular board painted red with the name in white on the upper surface. The board has one straight and one curved end. There are two sets of steel double wheels attached to the underside of the board, one at each end. |
| Dimensions |
|
| Style | |
| Production type | Mass produced |
| Marks and inscriptions | 'Roller Derby / SKATE BOARD' (Painted on deck) |
| Gallery label | Skateboards
Many of the earliest manufactured skateboards had plywood ‘decks’ (boards). These designs, made of simple cut-out sheets of flat ply, could be easily recreated at home by attaching repurposed wheels to a sawn piece of plywood. Board shapes changed to suit new styles of skateboarding, most obviously in the late 1980s when they started to be moulded with kicktails at either end. From the late 1970s skateboarders began to build large, plywood-clad DIY ramps so they could skate in the freestyle way that increasingly defined the sport.
1. Roller Derby Skate Board
1959–60
Manufactured by Roller Derby
La Mirada, California, USA
Painted 5-ply plywood; steel trucks and wheels
V&A: B.9-2017
2. Junior Flyer Skate Board
About 1969
Manufactured by Mettoy
Solihul, Britain
9-ply plywood with printed graphic, steel trucks, rubber wheels
V&A: B.10-2017
3. Homemade plywood skateboard
About 1975
Maker unknown
Trucks re-used from a Pro Class skateboard, with Free Roller wheels
9-ply plywood, steel trucks and polyurethane wheels
USA (possibly New York)
V&A: B.11-2017
Plywood: Material of the Modern World
V&A 15 July - 12 November 2017(01/06/2017) |
| Production | The Roller Derby Skate Board was the first mass-produced skateboard. After 1963, when Roller Derby Skate Corp had begun to release newer models, a '#10' was added to its name. |
| Associated objects | |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | B.9-2017 |
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| Record created | October 13, 2016 |
| Record URL |
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