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Boards used to break right in front of the back truck then, due to the tapered shapes.
Cellblocks were designed to prevent that.
Interesting, I assume they worked since people used them but went away as vert died off and woodshops got better. I kinda want to get a NOS set and see what's up
I think it was also the fact that those fish shaped decks were suddenly being used on jump ramps a whole lot more, which meant people were going through them so much more quickly, heavy landings on the tail, breaking through the most narrow part of the back bolts from the big drops after launching, but then as boards went to a more street style, smaller wheels (compared to the usual 60mm wheels) and risers were being discarded so there wasn't quite the need for them.
The extra height on the board, being the half inch riser height of most of them was what ultimately killed off the interest in products like that, although I do recall seeing a quarter inch version some time, along with metal versions and other things from that same era.
Either way, the jump ramp craze caused a lot of headaches for people, but then shops sold a lot more boards as a result, so board sales went through the roof for the "street pros" as the "vert pros" board sales became almost non existent.
As for getting your hands on any, there are still some around, but many collectors have hiked the price of that sort of stuff right up and unless you can find some (or even just one for the back truck) from a clearance lot, it is going to cost you a fair bit to get hold of one.
They are all the old school truck pattern as well, but that would still be easy enough to drill out a deck and use the six hole baseplate from the bigger standard indy truck sizes.