Hoverboards of Yore

Posted on by scott

Because we never get tired of hoverboards:

This is from a spread in the June 1960 issue of Popular Mechanics. I stole it from Finkbuilt, after it was pointed out to me by BoingBoing. (It’s all one big collaboration, these internets.)

This proves that the dream of hoverboarding is an ancient one. At least as old as crew cuts. And notice that 1960s-kid is riding a Special Circumstances board, with the front-and-back blades! Kewl.

Maybe I saw this when I was three years old . . .

Who else had a snow day?

45 thoughts on “Hoverboards of Yore”

  2. theres 6-8 inches here…and it all turned into ice. its like shoveling bricks! its horrible haha
    maybe you were that boy, and you just dont know it

  4. no snow in austin, just cold. blood freezing! literally. this is wrong. it is not supposed to be freezing this far south. why else would i live here? plus, it is freezing inside.

    that is an awesome hoverboard!! 😀 and by the way, i’m coming to see you and justine when you’re in houston for the teen lit fest! yay!

  5. We had snow here in Tucson a couple of weeks ago, which was a miracle in itself, but no snow day – it melted at dawn. Some friends who live up in the mountains did have actual snow that stayed around for a while, but we didn’t have time to go visit them. :'(

    I think that hoverboard would have trouble getting up high in the air, but that’s not to say it’s a bad start. After all, the first computers were the size of rooms, and now look at them.

  6. oh my god thats amazing! I want one!! But nope, no snow day, thats the one problemo about Texas, always so hott! Never any snow!!! We got a little a week or so ago, and its insanly cOLd outside, to me anyways, but boy, I would kill for a snow day right after Valentines!!

  8. I had snow days in November and last month. In total (both months) it was 8 days off. When we got back my teacher kept saying “Hope you all enjoyed the first week of summer vacation!” Which got annoying after a while, but was funny at first. We also had a day off because of our huge windstorm/power outage.
    I really want one of those hoverboards. It sooo beats taking the bus!

  9. That is cool…I wonder what happened to it?
    I’ve had two snowdays!! One on Valentine’s Day and one today. It almost makes up for having to shovel my whole driveway filled with 12+ inches.

  10. I’m on my third snow day of the week currently. We got bombarded by more than a foot of snow on Tuesday. And the week before the wind chill never rose above zero.

    After I read how you moved hemispheres, I’ve decided I must copy. I can’t deal with this cold much longer. I just wasn’t genetically built for cold.

    So…at this rate I’ll be going to school in July. Oh boy!

  12. I had a snow day yesterday and a delay today! And despite the delay I was still late to school– but they didn’t care, which is glorious (especially since I have like, 7.46 absences or some nonsense like that due to being late like 22 times, har har harrr).

  13. I had a very snowy day yesterday. School was canceled and today there was a 90 minute delay. We got like 10 inches and lots of sleet. After shoveling my friends long driveway (aren’t I nice?) it felt like I had just fell of a hoverboard and my crashbracelets had kicked in. Ouch!

  14. ugh. We Alabamians never get to have wintery fun. It snowed in the morning (much to everyone’s amazement) but it stopped before anyone could get really worked up. it isn’t fair. We freeze, but it NEVER snows! oh well. the hoverboard was really cool.

  15. sweet!!!!!! thats kewl!!! and yes, that does look the way a special circumstances would have been with the blades and all!
    louisiana never gits snow, only cold rain!

  16. We had a bunch of snowdays a little while ago. The school was closed and the big joke was that we were going to have the first ever: Fourth of July assembly…
    I know, it’s very pathetic.

    We haven’t had anymore snow for awhile though. Just Washington rain. 🙂

  17. we had a snow day yesterday and a two hour delay today. my dad usually drops me off early at school in the morning so he can get to works so today when he went to drop me off, i was almost an hour early.so we went to staples to get a program for our new computer but it turns out we already had it at home. borders is right next door to that so i was like, hey dad lets go to borders. and my dad was lik, why? and the i told him “to get peeps!!!!!!:)” we was totally confused because he didnt know peeps was a book so i had to tell him what it was about and all. i was almost late for school, but it was totally worth it.

  19. That’s a hoverboard? looks more like a small army tank…
    I had a snow day! and since you said ‘who else’, I’m guessing you did…but aren’t you in Australia? Where it’s summer?

  21. I hate the snow. It is Evil in its fourth purest form. The first purest being “The Maltese Falcon”, the second being “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, and the third being pink. The color. I could care less about Pink the singer.

  22. [url]http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/44211860/[/url]

    some people are preparing for hoverboards right now ^o^
    i really want those logos on a hoodie or something XD

  23. “Tale As Old As Time” Lol. Funny.

    No snow day! It is cold and cloudy, about 50-90 miles from me in Flaggstaf they had a snow day, where my mom works.

    No, I was in Biology! (Although it’s been fun lately since we’re studying a little about parasites -wink wink)

  24. yeah, snow day. its only 80 degrees here in california. that is a cool hover board. it looks like it would explode if you used it though! ahh, scary

  25. I live in NorCal. It’s about 60 degrees up here. In fact, today it was so sunny that, well, it was hot. Weird, huh, it’s still sort of winter. It’s so warm here that the swim team started outdoor practice a month ago. GO CALI!

  26. We had a five-day weekend!!! Monday was Lincoln’s b-day and then we got tuesday and wenesday off as snow days!! Plus, they solidified the graduation date a week ago, so we won’t have to make the days up!

  27. Nope, no snow here. Though that’s not too suprising, seeing as I live in Texas. Never-the-less, I don’t have to go to school. We have the whole week off. Ha! Who says you need snow?

    I envy that lucky guy on the hoverboard. I wish I had one, maybe Santa will bring one someday… despite the fact that I fed his mini-me, stuffed toy to my dog. That hoverboard looks like it can cause some serious damage to a certain someone… If Santa asks, I never said that- he’d never get me one then! Hehe.

  28. That hover craft looks so cool. I wish I had one. In science, me and a group of classmates actually designed a hoverboard. It was a small version, but with the right equitment it would have worked. I can’t wait until a hoverboard is actually invented. I would buy one right away!

    No snowday here! Not a big surprise though, this is Pheonix, Arizona. Today it was in the upper 70’s. It doesn’t seem like the middle of February, but haha to the people who can’t even go outside due to snow. Ha ha ha!

  29. When it snowed here I could have gone outside. But I didn’t. Only once, to take out the recycling. Snow is no excuse not to recycle! But I hated it, and was not dressed correctly at all. In pajama pants, no less.

  30. MMM… upstate New York… more lake effect snow than a body can handle! Nothing like seeing them load up dump truks with snow to cart off and dump by the lake either.

  31. Wow. Did the hover…uh…craft more like, actually work? It looks way too big to get off the ground. But a good attempt all the same!

    If I was better at building things I’d make one myself. My dad is a guitar builder, but he has all sorts of nifty talents, maybe he can build me one….

  32. The hover craft looks so awesome! My friend and I read the Uglies trilogy as more of a group book and were sad to see it end. We always laugh about how bubbly it would be to hoverboard around town. I hope they are invented…maybe one day. =)

  33. i had a snow day. I live in Staten Island and it was valentine’s day! kool.. i went to school anyway though i had tests………..ugh

  34. Wow! I guess us Rusties had some smart ideas after all! Even if it is a specials board…

    Snow? yes. No School? No. Gwinnett County (Atlanta, Georgia) doesn’t believe in snow. No complaints though. I’m out of school monday. Life is grand.

  38. yeah i got a snow day wed and thurs…over 3 feet too my mother’s car was a white lump because she forgot to pull it into the garage. i wonder if that hoverbaord actually flew…

  42. Uglies is totally bubbly-making. I love it. So is there gonna be a movie? *crosses fingers*

  43. Is that REALLY the size of the hoverboards in the story? I mean, I thought they’d be the size of skimboards or something.

  44. so THATS a hoverboard? i always pictured a hoverboard as a frizbee but larger with glowing lights.

  45. That is an interesting hoverboard…not very conventional if your going fast though.;…

    we didnt have a snow that then, but we DID have TWO snow days this year (but we need to stay two more days in the summer… is it a worthwile compensation? :D) the first was the day of a concert which I was to perform in (my school’s Crystal Concert!) we got to perform for that…so all is well in the world!
    and THAT *looks up* is the stoy of the snow day of December 1st…the first snow day in our district in *counts* (1..2…3…)SEVEN YEARS!!!!!!!

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