As prices for vintage surfboards soar, a growing number of surfers are pulling old boards out of garages and storerooms, hoping they're now worth thousands of dollars.

A Gerry Lopez Lightning Bolt surfboard, which cost about $150 in the '70s, is now worth about $10,000. Even the old Pop-Out surfboards that once cost $39 at Longs Drugs back in the '60s fetch at least $500 today.

"That's pretty good appreciation," said longtime surfer John Wade, 52, of Pupukea, who has a collection of classic boards.

This growing value of old surfboards prompted collector Randy Rarick to organize an "Antiques Road Show"-style appraisal of boards open to the public as part of his fourth biennial Quiksilveredition Hawaiian Islands Vintage Surf Auction in July.

Top appraisers in the field will assess the value of vintage boards and other surf collectibles, the stuff most people store in closets or garages.

"I've seen thousands of boards," said Rarick, a surf promoter whose Sunset Beach home is filled with vintage boards and other surf memorabilia. "Sometimes they're just pieces of junk, not worth anything. But at least one in 250 is worth something."

For years Rarick has crawled under houses and through attics looking for those surf treasures.

He spotted a 1920s redwood plank board at an estate sale in Waikiki, a board valued at $10,000. He also found a rare Gordon Woods balsa gun — never ridden — under someone's house in Australia, worth up to $12,000. Rarick declined to say how much he paid for the boards.

It's those rare finds that Rarick lives for. And this summer he hopes other people dig through their basements, storage closets, attics, garages and spare rooms for old surfboards that may be worth more than just memories.

"I hope this will stimulate people to do what I do," Rarick said.

Like his other auctions, this event will feature dozens of hard-to-find collectible surfboards including a 5-foot redwood board built in 1895 and a rare 11-foot Buzzy Trent Model elephant gun expected to fetch at least $15,000.

Over the past three auctions, more than $750,000 of surf collectibles — mostly boards — have changed hands. This year Rarick expects to pass the $1 million mark.

PRICEY CLASSICS

Greg Lui-Kwan, a 57-year-old lawyer and longtime surfer, is already saving money for the auction.

Last time, he bought a limited edition 10-foot-6 Hobie gun shaped by Dick Brewer — only 88 were ever made — for $7,500.

Now he's got two.

"It's an addiction," he said, laughing.

He'd love to own an 11-foot balsa gun shaped by Joe Quig or a mint condition 11-foot Buzzy Trent Model gun shaped by Dick Brewer circa 1964. Both are valued at around $15,000.

He said the high price is worth it to own these rare pieces of surf history.

"They represent for me an art form that has changed over time and whose craftsmanship has come and gone," said Lui-Kwan, who lives in Hawai'i Kai. "It reminds me where I came from. ... That's why I collect surfboards. It's a review of my past."

Vintage surfboards — those older than 25 years — have long been collectors' items, especially among surfers who grew up riding them.

"These are the boards they saw in surf movies or what everyone was riding," Rarick said. "Now (these collectors) have got some disposable income and they can afford to buy the boards they coveted."

EXPERIMENTAL BOARDS

Fifty years ago, shapers were crafting boards by hand and experimenting with shapes, sizes and materials. Over the years, the resulting surfboard designs, such as V-bottoms and turned-down rails, were carving up waves in Hawai'i and across the United States.

Many of these classic boards — shaped by such legends as Dick Brewer, Phil Edwards and Gerry Lopez — are hard to find today. Their scarcity, coupled with the growing popularity of surfing, are fueling the demand and driving up prices.

And with mass-produced epoxy boards gaining in popularity, a growing number of older surfers, who have a little more money to spend on such luxuries, are longing to reconnect with the boards of their past.

"I've definitely seen the interest grow," said Neal Kido, who runs SurfboardShack.com, where surfers buy and sell their boards. "Obviously, surfing is really popular, it's booming, so the increased interest in the sport is definitely attributed to that."

About 2 million people in the United States consider themselves active surfers, according to Action Sports Retailer, the leading board-sports industry trade show. That's twice as many as 20 years ago.

But many surfers don't have the desire — or the money — to collect vintage boards, which can cost up to $25,000 at public auctions. (Some boards have sold for more in private sales, Rarick said.)

These classic — and pricey — boards are snapped up by serious collectors with serious cash.

"It's like any other antique item. It's not functional but it's a piece of history," said Kido, who would love to own a classic Hobie longboard circa 1970. "They're wall-hangers. It's about saying, 'I have the original Lightning Bolt that Gerry Lopez rode at Pipeline.'"

THRIFT-SHOP FIND

Lui-Kwan began collecting in 1978, when he walked past a Downtown thrift shop and saw a 9-foot-4, three-stringer Wardy longboard in the window. It was the same board he had sold in Hilo 10 years earlier.

"I was, like, 'Holy mackerel! I gotta get it,' " Lui-Kwan said. "And I still have it."

He bought the board for $15 — he had sold it for $100 — and now it's worth at least $500.

His Hawai'i Kai home is littered with vintage surfboards, from a 10-foot-5 balsa board shaped by Pat Curren in 1957 to a rare John Kelly hydroplane surfboard circa 1965.

He has about 130 vintage boards in all, stored in his attic or in racks in his garage. There are a dozen more stretched between his kitchen and living room.

"Some people collect them as an investment," said Lui-Kwan, who now rides an 11-foot epoxy board shaped by Donald Takayama. "But I collect them more for nostalgia than anything else."

Reach Catherine E. Toth at ctoth@honoluluadvertiser.com.