A day at the races! The inaugural Wheels&Waves California event on California’s Central Coast included an open day at the Santa Maria Raceway, open to all comers under a general ‘vintage’ category, although there were Alta Redshift electric bikes and even a new Indian touring ‘bagger’ on the track at various times. It was all about fun, although it was a race, with prizes donated by event sponsor Baume&Mercier watches, to the winner of the Vintage class, and the Indian/Roland Sands ‘Hooligans’ race series run after the Vintage circuits.Vincent Prat of the Southsiders MC with his 1958 Matchless G12CS, largely original barring the blue metalflake flame paint job(!) and P11 front hub. [MotoTintype.com]As Paul d’Orléans wasn’t racing, he had a chance to jump in and out of his ‘wet plate van’/darkroom, and shoot a few wet plate/collodion/tintype portraits during a lull in the racing. A full portfolio of MotoTintype portraits of the ‘alternative’ motorcycle scene can be found on MotoTintype.com.Strange bedfellows? Not if you’re Brat Style! Go and Masumi Takamine’s H-D Panhead chopper and ‘full patina’ postwar Indian Chief. [MotoTintype.com]Bryan Thompson broad-slid his Speedway racer elegantly around the decomposed granite track. [MotoTintype.com]Jérome Allé of the Southsiders MC with the BSA A65 dirt-tracker he bought sight unseen, and worked on for hours when the shiny restoration proved to hide many cut corners! Beware the shiny ones! They haven’t been sorted…[MotoTintype.com]
Cheetah from Cheetah Custom Cycles Japan with his exquisitely crafted H-D custom dirt track racer. It started with a WL motor, which was tuned and bronzy cylinder heads added, along with a totally custom chassis fabricated by Cheetah. The triple-stay rear frame was the tip that this was a very special machine, as was the Druid-style forks with hydraulic shocks! [MotoTintype.com]Brian Bent’s amazing Ford kookbox carrier and all around groovy ‘don’t care’ wagon. Brian is an event! [MotoTintype.com]
Paul d’Orléans is the founder of TheVintagent.com. He is an author, photographer, filmmaker, museum curator, event organizer, and public speaker. Check out his Author Page, Instagram, and Facebook.
