Million Dollar Babies

With the recent sale in Las Vegas of the first confirmed Million Dollar Motorcycle (at auction), let's have a look at our list of other bikes that have sold for seven figures.  Only one is confirmed, as auctions are generally the only verifiable sale, although of course trickery is always possible, and auction houses have been known to tout sales that didn't actually happen - as with the 'Captain America' chopper a few years back, and a Winchester motorcycle, each of which laid claim to the 'highest price ever paid at auction' in their PR, but both of which proved false on examination [see our 'Money Talks: the Rest Send Press Releases'].   Private parties have claimed big sales, and newspapers have reported them too, so I've kept my list to motorcycle sales that seem legit, and some on this list I've verified personally with the buyers.

There are very likely other private sales of over $1Million, but I have yet to find details to support their inclusion; one of those rumors concerns a Honda RC166 six-cylinder GP racer, possibly sold to the Honda Museum for seven figures.  There are others, with less credibility, but for the following I've been at least able to follow a trail, and ask a few questions.

Does a Million Dollar Baby mean anything to the motorcycle market, or the culture of motorcycling?  No.  But it's fun to watch from the sidelines, as let's face it, you and I were never going to own a 1915 Cyclone or an original-paint 1912 Henderson Four, so let the collectors have at it; a duel of credit cards at 20 paces!  En garde! 

1. 1915 Cyclone: $1.32 Million (Mecum Auctions January 2025, Las Vegas)

[Mecum Auctions]
In the auction business there has been talk of the first Million Dollar Motorcycle for years; since the 2009 sale of a 1915 Cyclone racer at MidAmerica Auctions in Monterey, in fact.  I happened to provide 'color' for that auction, my very first auction gig, and when the Cyclone came up I instructed the whole audience to raise their hands at $100,000, so they could all claim to have made a bid on the bike!  16 years later, it finally happened; from the amazing Urban Hirsch collection, a Cyclone with a 'clean' string of ownership, restored by Stephen Wright, and now apparently headed to the Legends Motorcycle Museum in Springville, Utah.  Worth a visit, I'd say.

The auction action was thrilling: I was working Mecum's TV coverage of the sale, and we had anticipated a big price, but when bidding topped $1Million, I knew we were in for some entertainment.  You can watch the sale on my Instagram channel, as I filmed my monitor screen during the action, with live TV commentary.  You don't get to do that but once in a lifetime.

2. The 'Captain America' Chopper: ~$1.3Million (private sale, 2014)

[Profiles in History]
 Without a doubt, the 'Captain America' chopper from 'Easy Rider' is the most famous and recognizable motorcycle in history.  Unfortunately, three of the choppers used in the film were stolen before the film was finished, including the two 'hero' bikes, and a 'Billy' stunt double.  The machine pictured was the subject of intense media scrutiny in 2014, when it appeared at a Profiles in History auction, complete with an affidavit from 'Grizzly Adams' (Dan Hagerty) that it was built from the remains of the last original movie bike, from wreckage he possessed after the stunt bike was blown up in the film's climactic scene.  The original stunt bike was built by Larry Marcus under the direction of Cliff 'Soney' Vaughs, with (Marcus claimed) a silver spray-painted chassis, and none of the fine details required of the 'hero' bike ridden by Peter Fonda.  Dan Hagerty kept the remains of that chopper for decades, until finally building a replica of the 'hero' chopper from the parts.  But there was a problem; Hagerty had previously sold another 'Captain America' chopper, and given the very same affidavit of authenticity!  That machine was displayed in the Guggenheim Museum's 'Art of the Motorcycle' exhibit during its Chicago iteration.  The owner of the Guggenheim machine called foul, Peter Fonda refused to certify the Profiles in History bike, a story was done in NPR about the whole mess, and although the bike was reported in the LA Times as 'sold' at auction for $1.65M, the bidder backed out, unsatisfied this was the real 'Captain America'.  But, in a secret deal months later, the chopper was sold to a Billionaire memorabilia collector and philanthropist in the Seattle area, for an awful lot of money.  The bike has recently been exhibited - catch it if you can!

3. 1970 'Triple Crown Special' gold-plated Speedway Champion winner - $1,260,700

[Orange County Motorcycle Club]
Ivan Mauger is the widely considered the greatest Speedway racer in history, having won the Speedway Individual World Championship 6 times (and 2nd place 4 times), taken the Long Track World Champion 4 times (and twice runner-up), and the Pairs Championship once (with 5 runner-ups).  On the verge of winning his 3rd World Championship title in in a row in 1970 - nicknamed the 'Triple Crown' - two American arch-fans (George Wenn and Ray Bokelman) promised that if Ivan won his third World Final at Wrocław (Poland), they would have his winning bike gold-plated. Mauger won the race, and the bike was taken to the USA to be gold-plated, and was dubbed 'Triple Crown Special'.  Mauger recently sold all his motorcycles and memorabilia, and in a private sale, the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand purchased the gold-plated Speedway racer (plus assorted memorabilia) on Aug. 4, 2017 for  NZ$1.8M - about $1,260,700 on the day, making it the third most expensive motorcycle sale known to date.

4.  The 1947 'Bathing Suit' Vincent: ~$1.1Million (private sale, 2011)

[Photo by Kevin Hulsey]
Old racing bikes are usually like 'Caesar's Axe'; authentic certainly, but they've had their heads replaced twice, and their handles four times.  The ex-John Edgar Vincent, developed by Rollie Free in 1947 in cooperation with the Vincent factory, is probably the second most famous motorcycle in the world, as the image of Free at the Bonneville salt flats, 'flat out' in his bathing suit at 150mph, is one of the most popular postcards ever reproduced!  The actual machine was retained in a slightly de-tuned, road-going form by Edgar, until he had a minor crash and stopped riding it. The bike kept most of its original parts in the following 60 years, and was restored by Herb Harris back to its Bonneville configuration.  It was eventually sold to a Hong Kong-based banker, who reportedly keeps the machine at his manse in Carmel Valley, CA.  To his great credit, he has allowed the bike to be filmed for History Channel shows with Alan deCadanet aboard at Bonneville, and is shown at motorcycle events on occasion.

5 (tied). 1936 Crocker Big Twin Serial #1: ~$1Million (Private sale)

Al Crocker's V-twin was the fastest production motorcycle in the world in 1936, not that there was much production: it's estimated less than 75 were built between 1936-43.  The Crocker predated the Harley-Davidson Knucklehead as the first OHV V-twin built for the street in the USA, and it was probably 20mph faster than a standard Knuck, especially if the customer ordered the full 100ci engine capacity available (they were usually 61ci - 1000cc).  Al Crocker offered a money-back guarantee to any Crocker owner who was beaten by an Indian or Harley-Davidson, and there was never a need to make such a refund.  Crockers have only grown in demand, with prices topping $600k in 2019.  But Serial #1, the very first Crocker Big Twin, apparently sold to a California collector for a cool $1Million a few years back.  I've heard the rumor from Those Who Know, and the purported owner could certainly afford that - he has quite a few Crockers in his warehouse! (Sorry - no photo available)

5 (tied): 1912 Henderson Four $ 1Million (Private sale)

[Mecum Auctions]
The only known original paint 1912 Henderson Four, this machine set a record for any Henderson back in 2017 at the Mecum Las Vegas auction, where it fetched $539,000.  There is no denying the authenticity of this machine, and while slightly oxidized, the paint and nickel plating are still present, and the pinstriping and logo clearly visible.  A superb motorcycle!   Henderson Fours were rightly known as the 'Duesenberg of Motorcycles' for the quality of their engineering, construction, and finish, and their smooth elegance.  A machine just like this one became the first motorcycle ridden around the world, when Charles Stearns Clancy commenced a journey eastward in 1912, finishing in 1913.  Clancy did write about his journey, but events overtook his story, ie World War 1.  His tale remained unpublished for generations, only appearing in 2010 in the book 'Motorcycle Adventurer.'  I recommend the book, as it is the ONLY pre-WW1 round-the-world travelogue (on a motorcycle - there are earlier books with travel by boat and train), and it was clearly a different world before everything went to hell.  We included a different 1912 Henderson to honor Clancy's achievement in my exhibit 'ADV:Overland' at the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles: check out that story here.

 

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.

 


Thunderbirds are Go!

The success of any group ride depends primarily on the character of its participants, and how they get along.  By that measure, the Thunderbird Ride, organized by Jared Zaugg, was superb, bringing together an interesting mix of folks, from wealthy collectors / museum owners, to world famous artisans, to racers, to journalists and filmmakers, to folks who simply love bikes.  Of course, #2 critical point for a good ride is Location, and the Thunderbird Ride had me at 'Moab Utah', the heart of everything magical in America's canyonlands.  Third on the list would be the mix of bikes, and again, the Thunderbird scored on variety, combining world-class customs by Shinya Kimura and Max Schaaf, several vintage Triumph/BSAs/Moto Guzzi/Harley-Davidsons, a couple of newer/hotted up Harley-Davidsons reserved for long-traveled guests from Austria, and a pair of vintage choppers.  The photos tell the story: this was a mix not found on any other ride, as rallies tend to be all antiques, or all choppers, or all new bikes, with rarely a mix of everything on wheels.

The 2024 Thunderbird Ride blocking (nonexistent) traffic at Forrest Gump lookout near Four Corners. [Jude Zaugg]
A sticking point for group rides is pace: some folks ride fast, some cruise: some bikes will cruise at 75mph, and some bikes feel flogged at over 60mph.  Jared Zaugg addressed the issue in a morning rider's meeting...which I misinterpreted as 'ride flat out'.  The speed differential wasn't really an issue; we all had maps, and are all experienced riders.  It did mean some of us didn't see others except at meal stops or vista overlooks.  But for me, in the hundreds of rides/rallies I've attended, road clumping has never been a priority, although I get that it's important for folks who prefer to ride together.  That makes me a road loner, although when another rider matches my pace and inclinations to stop and take photos, I'm happy for the company.  When I'm riding solo (ie when my pillion buddy Suzie stays home), my pace hots up, and the selection of like-throttled riders narrows.  This year I got lucky, and found a fellow maniac or two who take maximum riding pleasure from tilting at corners and thundering through the landscape.

My riding buddy! Jeff Leighton with his very fast Harley-Davidson Knucklehead with Vard forks (Jeff's business is making new Vards). With a hot cam and ported cylinder heads, his Knuck would cruise at 75-80mph all day. [Paul d'Orléans]
So, what is the Thunderbird Ride?  Jared Zaugg explains:  “The Thunderbird Ride was created as an annual invitational motorcycle ride, limited to less than 20 international participants, with the aim of bringing together diverse professionals from across industries in a uniquely uncommon and highly memorable setting. Each year the route will be different and always awe-inspiring, with a focus on the Rocky Mountain states of the Western US. The route of this year’s inaugural event went through the Canyonlands and Navajolands of southern Utah, also referred to as the Four Corners region of the American Southwest."

Paul and Gary Boulanger arrived early enough to hike to Corona Arch, one of Utah's most famous natural wonders, in a red canyon full of mysterious orifices and hollows. [Paul d'Orléans]
I drove to Utah with Gary Boulanger, a former editor at The Vintagent who moved on to Cycle World, and now is Editor in Chief at the Silicon Valley Business Journal. A real job! Gary parked his lovely blue BMW Toaster Tank R75/5 beside my bitsa 1960s Triumph Tracker in my van, Sic Transit Gloria, and we headed southeast to Utah, stopping for a night on the 'loneliest highway in America' (Hwy 50) at Ely NV.  As Gary intended to ride with his prisoner-stripe denim, it seemed apropos to kip at the Jailbreak Motel, in 'Cell 122'.  Their restaurant had a similar theme, using actual jail cells as dining booths, a gimmick I found strange, given the likely percentage of former inmates as clientele in this remote gambling haven. The food was jail-worthy, too. Joe Bob says give it a miss.

The helmets tell a story - this group had personality in spades. [Jared Zaugg]
Arriving early in Moab the next day, we made a side trip to see Corona Arch - similar to Delicate Arch on the Utah license plate - stopping to admire a wall of petroglyphs en route.  The arch required a 40min hike on a well-marked trail, and was worth the effort, as the whole landscape was wind and water-sculpted red sandstone, and one easily understands the feeling that ancient spirits reside within those canyon walls.  Returning to our motel, our Ride group finally coalesced at dinner nearby, where Jared's son Jude, just returned from a 2-year mission in the Philippines, surprised everyone by conversing fluently in Tagalog with our waitress.  I've known Jude since before he was born, taking up space in his mother Brooke's belly: isn't it great to see them grow up?

Aiden DeCadanet with Jude Zaugg. [Jared Zaugg]
Early Saturday morning we found Gary's BMW was a non-starter,  proving once again my axiom 'it's always BMWs that break on a vintage rally.' Several of us looked the Toaster over, including Shinya Kimura, who shook his head 'No'.  Luckily, Kevin Bradburn hauled five bikes in a huge trailer, including two hotted-up late-model Harley-Davidsons for Attila and Sabina Scheiber, owners of the Top Mountain Museum in Austria, who easily won the Furthest Traveled award.  Kevin's other options included a beautiful Shinya Kimura Moto Guzzi creation, a pre-unit Triumph, a Sportster for Jared to ride, and the 'Black Panther' from Max Schaaf - an exquisite old school 'skinny tire' Panhead custom chopper.   With no bike to ride, Gary looked over the available options, pausing momentarily to examine the Black Panther, as I seconded Shinya's 'No'.  Gary would ride my bitsa Triumph Tracker (1963 frame, 1971 motor / forks / wheels), which I'd only done a few miles on, and I would take the Black Panther.

No complaints here. Riding the Black Panther to Goosenecks overlook: spectacular all the way around. Does this bike make me look ... like a badass mofo? [Jeff Leighton]
I've known Max Schaaf since 2006, after spotting an amazing chopper outside a Mission District restaurant, and waiting until the owner came out, to congratulate the amazing build.  This was 8 years before I wrote 'The Chopper: the Real Story', and I was not especially fond of choppers, but there was no denying Max's bike was very special and built by a master craftsman.  We talked, we conferred about our mutual blogs (he had recently started 4Q Conditioning, and I The Vintagent), and have been amigos ever since.  I had never ridden one of his creations, but had ridden on his 69 Mile Ride, and knew his machines worked.  So, no terrors on helming the Black Panther for 200 miles, but years of yoga definitely helped me ride the animal in question.

Gary Boulanger with my bitsa Triumph Tracker. [Paul d'Orleans]
What I quickly discovered: losing 100lbs and hotting up the motor of a big Harley-Davidson V-twin meant the Black Panther was quick, and fast, and seemed happiest - mechanically - cruising at 75mph or so, despite the beating I took over bumps.  Which meant the rest of the Thunderbird gang were left far behind, barring one Jeff Leighton on his tuned Harley-Davidson Knucklehead, likewise happy to cruise at 75.  So, I had a riding buddy...which proved very useful when I ran out of gas 50 miles in, en route to Needles Overlook.  Jeff found a metal water bottle, so I was back on the road in minutes, after taking in the marvelous desert landscape with piñon trees predominating, and not much else to cover the red dirt.  With the range of the Panther determined, I knew to stop for gas before 50 miles, which worked out fine for the rest of the weekend.   The short version?  Riding the Black Panther made me feel some kinda way.  Fast motoring on a very stylish and very beautiful machine with a perfect exhaust note for 200 miles was apex motorcycling.  It also hurt, and I was glad for gas stops every 45 miles or so. The Panther handled perfectly, with easy feet-up U-turns, a real trick for a bike with 4" extensions on the forks: I was busy texting Max with congratulations and pumping him for details, figuring this was as good a Road Test moment as any.

Shea Sjoburg brought his Evo chopper along, which I had a chance to ride for 75 miles on Sunday. Smooth and fast, with sufficient trail on the front end to make handling light at low speeds. Riding a chopper makes anyone feel like a hero! Something about that stance... [Jared Zaugg]
We stopped for Navajo tacos - unavailable outside the Four Corners region - at Twin Rocks Cafe in Bluff UT.  That enabled catch-up time for the several riders I'd not seen for a while, like Grant Reynolds (riding his 1969 Triumph with 1964 gold bodywork), with whom I'd forever-bonded on a week-long Kiehl's charity ride in 2011 - that's another thing a good ride will do.  Grant has left his TV career in LA ('What Could Possibly Go Wrong' et al) and moved to Weed CA to start a production company...in Salt Lake City.  Grant was one of three SoCal lads who'd moved to SLC in recent years, including Jeff Leighton and Andy Pappas, who rode his grandfather's Harley-Davidson Panhead, which was a totally stock beauty.   Jeff moved his Vard Manufacturing to SLC several years ago for a host of reasons (including infrastructure costs), but Andy was a more recent transplant, leaving San Diego for the mountains of Utah, where he services giant turbines.

Catching up with old friend, and yes, there are bars (ok, one bar) in Moab. Graybeards Grant Reynolds and Paul d'Orléans send a toast to your health. [Paul d'Orléans]
Even our official (Jared Zaugg) and unofficial hosts (the Bradburns) had moved from the SF Bay Area to Utah, a trend made prominent of course by the proximity of all these gents to our Moab venue, but indicative of a demographic trend; the in-and-outs of population to and from California, the leavers fed up with high prices etc being replaced by newcomers attracted to the beauty and culture.   As a 5th-gen San Franciscan, I've found it ultimately impossible to leave, but have watched the tides change as the artists departed in the late 1990s, replaced by job-seekers in the exploding tech industry, which leaves many parts of the City a ghost town in slow times, like now.

Attending the needs of a Triumph: Julian Heppekausen brought a box of Triumph spares, but didn't have rocker inspection caps, so Shinya Kimura used lockwire magic for a stable temporary fix, that I'll probably just keep. [Gary Boulanger]
The shake-down ride for my Triumph bitsa had been just that: 1971 Triumph rocker boxes feature screw-in caps to insert a feeler gauge for valve adjustment, and one had fallen off.  Shinya Kimura sorted it with one of his famous lockwire repair sculptures, which I'm loathe to remove, although the dime he used to cover the hole meant it still leaked oil. No biggie. And, my bike is worth more than the day before, given the Shinya magic.  Gary carried on for the rest of the day: he'd never ridden a Triumph before, so he got the full mix of their charms: the repairable breakdowns, and the excellent ride feel. "It's fun!" But the Triumph wasn't charging properly, so had a total-loss battery ignition, which was totally lost by the end of the day, so we stuck it in the chase trailer.  That gave Gary the opportunity to try other bikes, and by the end of the weekend he'd ridden four, declaring it "an experience to last a lifetime."

Moki Dugway, a stretch in the middle of Utah Hwy 261 that turns to dirt, and turns and turns, climbing 1200' of canyon to a mesa where the landscape turns from desert to forest, and the road becomes a long series of fast sweepers. [Jared Zaugg]
Let's talk roads: the canyonlands are a mix of fairly straight 2-lane desert highways interspersed with delightful twisties as you're 'getting somewhere', like a canyon overlook atop a mountain (Needles Overlook or Goosenecks State Park), or climbing a sheer cliff face on a set of dirt hairpins laid out by miners in the 1950s (Moki Dugway), or stretches of the less canyon-spectacular but more road-fabulous like Hwy 261, especially good with a fast bike.  And by then (Sunday), I was, as the ever-generous Kevin Bradburn and his son Cole (with his 1-year old Sonny in tow) had taken over the Black Panther, and I mounted Shinya Kimura's spectacular Moto Guzzi cafe racer.  That bike, too, will get a full Road Test report in future, but as I've ridden several of Shinya's bikes in 'Kimura Canyon' outside his shop in Azusa, I knew what to expect.  A fast and totally competent sports machine with unique, spectacular bodywork.

Sexy from any angle, Shinya Kimura's Moto Guzzi custom. [Paul d'Orléans]
We spent an 'away' night in Mexican Hat, beside the San Juan River canyon at the San Juan Inn and Trading Post, and those inclined towards Native American jewelry found it good; the Holidays are inevitable so prepare thee well, and I conspired with Sabina Scheiber on some gifting sleight-of-hand, keeping the element of surprise for a certain someone. No comment on my purchases, for now.

Filmmaker Michael Polish and hatmaker Chandler Scott. [Paul d'Orléans]
Dinner at the Inn was uneventful, barring the company, which was excellent, and gave me a chance to get to know filmmaker Michael Polish (riding a hot KTM ADV bike), Andy Pappas, and Cole Bradburn, who builds Porsches (Verve Vintage Motorworks) for events like the Peking to Paris, in which he and his father Kevin won their class this year in a 1969 Porsche 912 built by Cole.  It was good to catch up with hatmaker Chandler Scott, chat with Ayu and Shinya Kimura about the bikes they'd brought (a pre-unit Triumph chopper for Ayu, and a stock Moto Guzzi T3 for Shinya), and get they 'why we left Cali' stories from Shea and Andy.

Aiden DeCadanet - whom I hadn't seen since he was a boy - aboard the Bradburns' pre-unit Triumph TR6. [Paul d'Orléans]
The swap from chopper to cafe racer on Sunday meant turning the dial from 8 to 11, as I explored the performance of Shinya's Moto Guzzi.  We stopped at Goulding's Lodge, where John Wayne's character in 'She Wore a Yellow Ribbon' kept a primitive stone cabin, now a museum integrated into the usual canyonland motel/restaurant/gift shop.  I was distracted by Native American jewelry shopping - found a Navajo baby rattle for my grandson Jude - and found myself left behind by the gang...an opportunity for a high-speed test to catch them up.

Attila and Sabina Scheiber, all the way from the Top Mountain Museum in Austria. [Jared Zaugg]
Shinya's Guzzi is basically a LeMans Mk1 with Ceriani race forks and a giant 4LS Yamaha TZ front brake, as good as any disc.  Like all hot Guzzi V-twins, it handled like on rails, so with little traffic and miles of forward visibility on the desert highway, at Ton Up! speeds I soon joined the others for a planned short film of our group passing the Forrest Gump overlook in the 'other' direction.   The next viewpoint was near the top of Moki Dugway, a series of dirt switchbacks rising 1200', built by uranium miners in the 1950s to transport ore between Cedar Mesa and Mexican Hat.

Julian Heppekausen with his original-paint BSA Thunderbolt, that burbled like a champ all weekend. [Paul d'Orléans]
After the obligatory photo stop, and watching Cole Blackburn manage the Black Panther up a rutted dirt canyon(!), we leveled up to the bliss of high-country sweepers on the beautifully paved Hwy 261.  That was 25 miles of cafe racer perfection, with almost no traffic, and evidently no police presence, or likely I'd have spent my last night in Utah in an actual jail.  But no catchee monkey, and satisfied with Shinya's handiwork, I rode the final stretch to lunch at Blanding with my fellows (and ladies - Ayu on her Triumph and Sabina on her wicked H-D Road Glide).

Ayu with her pre-unit Triumph Thunderbird chopper, which seems tailor made to suit her. [Paul d'Orléans]
We'll draw a veil over lunch (in a bowling alley), and circle back to the night before the rally, when Shea Sjoburg showed up riding his H-D Evo chopper, instead of the pickup truck he'd started out from SLC with.  The truck had thrown a fit (and its timing belt) in Monument Valley, where he'd left it after finding a replacement belt that didn't quite fit.  As our route brought us near the spot he'd abandoned his truck, he finished his repairs and retrieved it, but hated to see his chopper miss the last 75 miles of the ride.  I volunteered, curious to experience the Evo genre of Chopperdom.  The photo above gives my Cliff's Notes on handling - surprisingly good - and let's just say those last miles were covered in an hour, again in the good company of Jeff Leighton on his Knuck.

Band photos! Some of the gang hanging out at Dead Horse overlook: Jeff Leighton, Chandler Scott, Jude Zaugg, Gary Boulanger, Grant Reynolds, Aiden DeCadenet, and Jared Zaugg, with hundreds of miles of canyons behind. [Paul d'Orléans]
Our arrival in Moab was not the end of our day, as a sunset ride was planned for Dead Horse State Park, which rivals (and perhaps exceeds) the Grand Canyon for sheer incomprehensible vistas.  We watched the sun paint hundreds of miles of 4500' deep canyons a deeper shade of red, making a wonderful photo opp. It also meant our final 30 mile return to Moab was concluded in darkness, quickly followed by a farewell dinner, from which some of our group departed directly, while Gary and I escaped in the wee hours of the morning, taking the fast route via SLC and US 80 to our Bay Area home, 15 hours away.  It was a lot of driving for a weekend ride, but eminently worth it.  Infinite thanks to our gracious host Jared Zaugg, and especially to Kevin and Cole Bradburn, who sorted so many of us who did or didn't know they'd need a ride!  How cool that Gary and I both got to test out four different bikes in the beautiful landscapes of Utah.  The Thunderbird Ride was a reminder that motorcycling is the best of times, made doubly special in such excellent company.

Kevin Bradburn headed into the sunset aboard the 4Q Engineering 'Black Panther' chopper. [Paul d'Orléans]
Jared Zaugg at Dead Horse overlook with the Bradburns' pre-unit Triumph TR6. [Jude Zaugg]
 

 

 

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.

 


The Legendary Nortons of Paul Adams

Anyone who ever lost a West Coast concours, anyone who raced AHRMA in the good old days, or vintage raced in New Zealand, or rode with the Velocette Club, knows the name Paul Adams. And if you’re really OG, you remember his front-page feature in Classic Bike back in 1986, with a devastating cover shot of the gleaming silver and black tank of a DOHC Daytona Norton Manx. That was one of Paul’s gorgeous restorations - which he happened to also race.  How he came to restore that machine, and many other 'cammy' Norton International and Manx models, is a story in itself.

Paul Adams aboard his 1921 Norton 16H Sports being told he's won the Elvis Presley award at the 2008 Legend of the Motorcycle Concours. [Paul d'Orléans]
A few years after wearing out that Classic Bike issue,  I met Paul Adams at a Velocette Owners Club summer rally, the annual week-long / 1000mile vintage bike adventure, on which Paul typically rode a beautiful 1959 Velocette Venom Clubman, which never broke down, and always looked fresh (unlike my bikes). One year he did ride a gorgeous pre-unit Triumph TR6C TT Trophy... and he’s keeping that bike, for now. As for the others in his remarkable collection - that Velocette Clubman, and all those Nortons - Paul has decided he’d rather see his collection go to new homes while he’s still upright, than wait to pass them on in his will, and make them his wife’s problem.

The 1952 Norton Daytona Manx was Tex Luce's factory ride, part of the effort to win the Daytona beach 200-mile race for the third time in a row, which they accomplished.. The Garden Gate frame was used instead of the Featherbed frame as in 1951 no roadster Norton used it, which the AMA required. Nortons were raced on the beach since the first Daytona 200 in 1937, when Clark Trumbull rode his personal Norton International to second place behind winner Ed Kretz on a factory Indian V-twin.  Billy Matthews was the first on a Norton to win the race, in 1941, riding a 1937 model entered and tuned by Ted Sturgess (Norton dealer in Hamilton Ontario) and J.M. McGill, the Norton importer for North America. [Keith Milne]
I interviewed Paul Adams recently regarding the sale of his garage for Mecum Magazine, as Mecum is selling his collection at this January's huge Las Vegas sale.  Paul is an organized thinker (he had notes!) and is charmingly self-effacing ("Please print only my best lies!"). It was a pleasure to dig in on his history, which I'd never fully known, just heard bits and pieces over the years (and how often do you interview your friends?). A condensed version of this interview will shortly appear in Mecum Magazine, but for now, the following is a lightly edited version our conversation:

Paul Adams racing a 1950s Norton Featherbed Manx. [Paul Adams]
Paul d'Orléans (PDO): But let’s go back to the beginning. How did Paul Adams become such a fixture of the racing and concours scenes?

Paul Adams: “I'll start at the beginning. I owe a lot to my father, who was a millwright, and taught me about handwork and craftsmanship. That’s why I've never considered myself a collector; I considered myself a restorer. I had seen Nortons race when I was in junior high; my dad took us kids to the sports car races at various tracks around Southern California, and they often had a race for motorcycles. These shiny silver tank things with black and red stripes always seemed to win – they were Norton Manxes of course. So I had that in the back of my mind.”

The gorgeous instrumentation of a 1935 Norton International M40, which includes a pocketwatch and holder. [Keith Milne]
Paul d'Orléans (PDO): When I first met you, you were still working as a pilot on a commercial beat, so how did bikes fit in?

Paul Adams: “I was a Navy guy, I’d enlisted when I was 17 and was in the reserves at Los Alamitos, in a P2V squad. Then I went to college for four years and got my degree in electrical engineering, then I went to work for North American and actually got to work on the Apollo program moon lander. But I owed the Navy three years of active duty as my reserve obligation, so I applied for flight training; now I owed them five years! I wasn't exactly smart when it came to managing that. I wound up flying A4 Skyhawks from the USS Kitty Hawk. My first cruise was 10 months in the western Pacific; the mission was to nuke Russia if necessary; this was 1963-64. Toward the end of that cruise Vietnam erupted, so we went down to operate off the coast in the South China Sea off Vietnam. Initially it was a big secret as we worked up in Laos, on the backside of North Vietnam. We lost a couple of guys there. When we were due for rotation after a 10-month cruise we came back home for about 6 months, then went back on my second cruise. That time it was all Vietnam; we did some flying in South Vietnam, but most of it was over the bad area. In North Vietnam we bombed big targets, so it was exciting, but we lost a bunch of guys, some were POW's, good friends of mine. When I got out of the Navy I flew for Continental Airlines. A perk was free flying passes, which came in handy later on as I became a regular traveler to vintage motorcycle swap meets, riding, and racing in England, New Zealand and Australia.”

This 1937 Norton M30 International racer was restored using NOS factory Norton parts, and is correct down to the beveled washers. [Keith Milne]
“Pilots had about the same hours off as firemen - you'd be gone from home for two or three days and then you'll be home for two or three days. So I had a lot of time to get things caught up, and I got bored. I had bought a Honda in Japan when I was on a ship, a 1964, one of the little 50cc, it wasn't the step through, it was a small motorcycle. I was bored with days off and looking at the walls so I thought ‘I'm gonna get another motorcycle to fix up’. I found an old R51 BMW - it wasn't that old at the time but it needed fixing up, so I got it cheap and I got it running and really enjoyed the hell out of it.”

“Then I found a 1962 Norton Model 50 that had been converted into a dirt bike, amazingly enough most of the bolts and everything on it were replaced with titanium! It was a real piece of work, and got me going on the Nortons. While I was restoring the Model 50, a friend of a friend from work, Jim Forrest, was introduced to me because he was a a similar soul, restoring an Ariel Red Hunter. We hit it off and he said ‘You gotta come on the Wednesday night rides.’ It turned out Jim’s dad was Howard Forrest, the guru behind Mustang motorcycles made in Burbank.

This superb 1939 Norton International Model 30 was lovingly and patiently restored by Paul Adams from his extraordinary supply of New Old Stock parts. It is effectively a Norton Daytona Manx, built from importer Tom McGill's factory Norton racing parts. This bike incorporates the remaining parts from the 1941 Daytona 200-winning Norton ridden by Canadian Billy Matthews. Matthew’s Norton was provided and tuned by J.M. McGill (Tom's father), the Canadian Norton importer. [Keith Milne]
PDO: Didn’t Eddie Arnold did work for Mustang? [Eddie built my 1933 Velocette Mk4 KTT – The Mule]

Paul Adams: “Yeah I was just getting to that! Jim Forrest worked there on the assembly line before he went to College, and one of the guys that worked there was Eddie Arnold. Ed organized a ride every Wednesday night out of his house up on Mount Washington and up the Angeles Crest Highway. Jim said, ‘it's really a lot of fun you gotta come along,’ so I did and got introduced to that world. Riding with us were Velocette riders John Munoz and Ron Thomas, so I fell in with a really bad lot! They got me going to the CAMA (California Antique Motorcycle Association) rallies every year, that Frank Conley put on. I got into the world of restoring; all these guys showed up with their restored bikes, and you could ride each other's bikes; we’d ride them around look at them and everything, in those days it was just enthusiasts, it wasn't a money thing at all. Everybody just did their own work and showed up at gatherings. That was my world, I fell in love with it. I'd been a model airplane junkie when I was a kid, and I wound up just doing restoration after restoration after restoration, because I was hooked on it and really enjoyed it. That started me off and I never looked back. Restoring bikes wasn't a money thing then, people didn't do it for money."

March 1948: Bob McKeever sits his brand new Norton Daytona Manx 30M on the beach - note the red rims! He finished 14th after a crash on the sand and a spark plug change. [from 'Norton the Racing Story' by Mick Walker]
"At one of the rallies there was a 1948 Garden Gate Manx for sale, all apart, so I started looking for parts. In the 1960s the original English bike dealers were still around, they still had parts. So people heard I was looking for Norton parts, and someone said ‘the person you need to meet is Bobby Fleckenstein, he has all of Clarence Cysz’ old parts.’ Cysz was hand handled the Garden Gate Manxes for the Daytona 200 races when the Norton factory team was competing. Bobby had all of Clarence's parts he had accumulated from about 10 years of factory-sponsored Norton Manxes , from the plunger-framed Garden Gates to the early Featherbeds. That same restoration led me to Tom McGill; he was in Massachusetts but was from Canada, his father was the Norton importer for North America. There is a picture of Tom as a teenager with his father and legendary Norton race tuner Francis Beart; they were all at Daytona together. McGill’s father imported Nortons, but the factory switched over to Indian for their distribution, and McGill just locked everything up in a warehouse. Tom had all kinds of new old stock parts for Garden Gate Manxes and Internationals. Those were my parts sources."

A page from the 1939 Norton catalog of the Racing International model: "This is a machine specially designed for racing. Every detail of the specification is of the utmost importance. Every engine is built and specially tuned in the Experimental Department." Available in 348cc (M40) and 490cc (M30) versions. [The Vintagent Archive]
"When I bought that International at the CAMA rally it was missing things like the oil tank and stuff, but Bobby Fleckenstein had everything. And when Bobby wanted to move on I acquired all of the parts he had. That was led to me restoring a lot of Garden Gate Manxes, and some of the Featherbeds. I had all that crap laying around! They were no brainers. All the racing Nortons I restored are made with mostly new old stock parts, they are accurate all the way down to the hardware; Norton used beveled-edged washers, and all the nuts and bolts were matte chromed, with a zinc base - nobody does that anymore. All my bikes were restored down to that degree of attention, and the only thing I had a problem with was the cloth braided control cable outers that were shellacked; if you try to bend them they crack. But the original oil lines had wire coils inside and around the outside, so when you bent them they didn't kink and choke off the fuel or oil supply. So my bikes have those kind of correct details, and all the instruments were correct as I had all access to all the data. I had the instruments rebuilt by Dennis Quinlan down in Australia. I paid very close attention to detail, and would stack mine against the Nortons restored in England and mine were better. I just was able to do it right because I had access to all those original parts, thanks to Jim Forrest. And Model Plating was the best chrome plater in the US; NASA used them for special parts on rocket engines. anyway I just fell into all this stuff, and was able to do really good jobs. “

The compelling design of the long-stroke DOHC Norton Manx engine in all magnesium parts, seen here in Paul Adams' 1952 Daytona Manx. The DOHC cylinder head was technically illegal in AMA racing, but Norton produced a catalog that offered it as a racing kit extra for their International model. In reality, you could not order a DOHC cylinder head separately from a standard racing Manx, which was illegal for American racing in 1952, because the Featherbed frame was also a race-only feature in 1951.[Keith Milne]
PDO: I’ll say; your Nortons seemed to win Best in Show at every concours I attended, and took class wins at the Legend of the Motorcycle Concours against worldwide competition. But Nortons aren't your only passion: as mentioned, you're a Velocette man too, and had several KTTs and early KSSs at times. Tell us about your Venom Clubman?

Paul Adams: “The bike I rode on all those Velocette rallies came from a neighbor, Don West in Palos Verdes. It had originally been sold by a San Diego dealer, and later acquired by Steve Tillett. He found it hard to start and traded it to Don for his BMW. Don brought it to a couple of the CAMA rallies but he was getting up in age – if he's still alive he'd be about 105. He sold it to me in the mid-1970s, so I’ve had it for 50 years. My friend Mick Felder, another neighbor on the coast of SoCal, invited me to a Velocette Club Spring Opener. That’s when I really had a purpose for the Velocette, so I started riding it all the time, on the 1000-mile Summer Rallies. I’d retired by then and could ride on the rallies I wanted, always on that Clubman.”

Paul Adams makes impromptu repairs to his 1961 Velocette Venom Clubman tank during a Velocette Summer Rally. [Paul d'Orléans]
PDO: You have three other Velos coming up for sale at Mecum’s 2025 Las Vegas sale; a 1939 MAC, a ’61 Scrambler, and a crazy one-of-one Thruxton Scrambler. What’s the story with that one?

Paul Adams: “My Scrambler is unique, and documented as the only Thruxton-engined Scrambler ever built by Velocette. It was a special order from the factory by one of the ‘canal zone’ guys living in Panama, who all ordered British bikes direct from various factories to ride down there. Bill Hannah wound up with it, and he converted to look like a strandard Thruxton, so the only thing that was still looked like the Scrambler was the frame. That's the way I got it, but luckily Bill saved all the original Scrambler parts and it was all in great shape, so I converted right back to how it came from the factory. Then I used all the Thruxton bodywork and combined it with parts from Yashiko Thomas after Ron died. That used a Scrambler frame too. It looks like a brand new bike, but it's a bitsa.“

PDO: Since you've been at it so long, how do you see the collector motorcycle scene changing over the years?

Clarence Csyz aboard Paul Adams' 1948 Norton Daytona Manx racer. [Paul Adams]
Paul Adams: “The motorcycle scene has developed over the decades especially in California, at some point it stopped being the CAMA rally when the car guys drifted in, or I guess they were wannabe be car guys but were priced out of the market. They brought all these car collector attitudes to the bike scene, like you gotta have matching numbers, provenance, and on and on. The collector bike scene turned it into what it is today, a money game. The first to go were the Vincent owners, and then of course the Brough Superior guys got into it, once everybody figured out that’s where the money was. We had a lot of fun before guys got priced right out of it. Luckily I got all my bikes early, and I've had my fun so it’s time to move on.”

Paul Adams and his Yamaha-powered Norton "Clubman" special. [Jeff Bushnell for Cycle World]
PDO: Are you keeping any bikes?

Paul Adams: “I still have the bike John Munoz left me in his will, a rigid MSS with Swallow sidecar. I’m keeping my ‘Norton 4’ four-cylinder creation, and I can still ride that in my old age, it’s push button with electric start. I also have my Triumph pre-unit TR6C TT, I still ride that and just redid the engine. I was having problems with seizures, and I rebuilt it twice, finding things like worn out cams and stuff. I figured it was a timing problem that was causing it to seize, but the last time I took it apart I was blowing off the cylinder head and noticed bubbles coming up around the valve seats; turns out the head was cracked around both valve seats. I called Bill Getty, he goes all the way back to the early days, and he sorted me out with a new cylinder head, and it’s been no problems since, it runs great.”

A superb, road-going 1937 Norton Model 30 International, complete with lights and muffler, and ready to go on a long, fast ride. They don't come much more handsome than this... [Keith Milne]
PDO: Any further thoughts you'd like to share?

Paul Adams: “One of the highlights of my career as a restorer and sometimes racer was in New Zealand. After Continental Airlines went bankrupt I returned to the the space world and went to work at Hughes Aircraft as a Flight Director of satellite launches. One day at work I got a call from a Ken McIntosh who wanted to talk about Nortons.  It led to him inviting me down to go vintage racing at Pukekohe, near Auckland.  I was a guest of Ken, we became good friends, and I kept going back for over 20 years!  In the course of their events they always brought in noted racers as guests of honor and one of them was John Surtees. I met him at Ken's house on my first trip down there, and we hung around a little bit, and on my second trip down I arrived early and had to stay at a motel; John was there too, just the two of us, and we were eating breakfast and hit it off, not talking about bikes so much, and he offered to loan me one of his Manxes to ride at Goodwood Revival! That that was a highlight of my so-called racing career - to get an offer from a ride from Sir John Surtees. But all I could think of was ‘what if I dropped one of his bikes?’ I couldn't do it! I dropped my Nortons more than once, but that's racing.”

While John Surtees is a hero, there’s room for another in this story, and Paul has always been one of mine, ever since I read that 1986 Classic Bike article, which inspired me to start collecting bikes myself. Have a look at the remarkable Paul Adams Collection coming up for sale, it’s a corker, and if you want some really special, rare machines...call your bank manager.

 

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.

 


Honeymoon on Mars, 1928

While it may sound like part of a wedding package circa 2050, after President-for-Life Musk develops his off-world colonies for space tourism, a lovely young German couple had the original Honeymoon on Mars nearly a Century ago.  From a family album in a private collection (very near our lovebirds' home in Heilbronn), comes the anonymous tale that commences in 1925, with a proud young man on a Mars motorcycle.  On this machine he toured, attended rallies with friends, even wooed and won his future bride, with whom he honeymooned after attaching a sidecar to his noble steed.

Our hero in 1925, in Erlangstegen Germany, aboard his fine white steed, a Mars A20, with full Bosch electric lighting and an optional speedometer. [Private Collection]
Yes, in the early days of the German motorcycle industry, there was a Mars, a top-of-the-market machine of special configuration.  The Mars factory had been around since 1873 in Nürnberg, Germany, founded by Paul Reissmann to manufacture stoves, expanding to grinding machines, bicycles, and even small cars.  In 1903 they included motorcycles in their catalogue, using engines by Zedel and Fafnir, and manufactured various models on and off through 1953.  The futuristic Mars in our lovebirds' story was designed by Claus Franzenburg, and was sold as the model A20 from 1920, with a distinctive box-section frame running from the headstock to the rear wheel in a dramatic dash, that made the Mars look far ahead of its time.  The box frame also housed the fuel and oil tanks, plus a 2-speed dual-chain system with no clutch necessary - just crank the big wooden knob atop the frame for Low or High. The 956cc flat-twin sidevalve engine was also designed by Franzenburg, and was mounted below the frame box on a subframe: the engine was actually built by Maybach in Friedrichshafen, the luxury car manufacturer that also built engines for the zeppelins built in the same town (if you're ever there, you must visit the remarkable Zeppelin Museum).

Our happy couple in 1927, dressed in their Winter finery amongst the fir trees. [Private Collection]
A20 was built through 1925, and is likely the model in our photo album.  The Mars A20 (or 'White Mars' as commonly known, although they sold red and green versions) was a true luxury motorcycle, as you might imagine with the Maybach connection, and was finished to a superb standard. They were expensive then and are still highly coveted for their unique, advanced styling and engineering.  But, the Mars is a 1920s motorcycle, built just after WW1, and has charming quirks that bely its modernistic impression: like a Model T, it's started using a hand crank, and the performance, despited the large motor, is very 1920, with a top speed of 55mph, but a cruising speed more like 35mph, according to a former owner (who also happens to own this photo album). "It will cruise at 60kph (36mph), but not for long; to maintain the engine, it's better to keep it to 50kph (30mph), and with a sidecar attached, our friends in 1928 might have averaged 40kph (22mph), or even less when climbing up the Alps."  

Picnic on Mars! On a fine Spring day on the grass in 1927, while our hero courts his lady. [Private Collection]
It's good to remember that in 1925-28, most of the roads through southern Germany were not paved with macadam, but were gravel or simply dirt, especially in the mountains.  And 30mph on a gravel road is plenty fast on a machine with minimal suspension, and most 'street' riders even today don't feel comfortable exceeding this on gravel riding a modern road bike.  In short, our hero was right to be proud of his mount, as a classy piece of machinery with plenty of speed for the conditions at hand, and when he later wooed and wed his lovely bride, and attached a heavy sidecar, her comfort was paramount, and would not be enhanced by tearing around in the dust.  Still, she was game, and looks happy with the situation.

The invevitable: a wedding in white for our young bride, who was very likely pregnant. They do look a bit...rushed. [Private Collection]
Honeymoon on Mars

Our hero purchased his fabulous White Mars A20 in or before 1925, where he poses proudly in the woods near his home in Heilbronn, not far from the Mars factory in Nürnberg: it was the local product, one of many motorcycles manufactured in the region, but surely the finest in the era. He was an enthusiastic Mars man, and a member of the Mars Club, but he was no snob; he had friends who rode a D Rad, and even attended a D Rad rally with them in 1927. At a Mars Club rally in 1927, he proudly notes entering their road trial, where he rode 500km (300 miles!) without a single lost point, keeping his mount immaculate all the while.

Springtime for Germany, honeymooning in Bavaria in 1928. [Private Collection]
1927 was the Year of Courtship, and women being to appear in the group ride and picnic photos with friends.  His future bride looks very happy with her man and his shining white steed, and those quiet picnics on the grass in the woods had their natural consequence: the couple was wed in the Spring of 1928, and had a child the same year, so let's say there was some urgency to the ceremony.   Despite her pregnancy, the couple took an extensive tour of southern Germany and Austria for their unique Honeymoon on Mars.  They hugged the picturesque Alps, still beautifully covered in snow, while in the valleys the trees were all abloom, a perfect bouquet for the newlyweds.

As the Honeymoon on Mars progresses, the couple looks happier, as with here in the Bavarian Alps. [Private Collection]
As mentioned, a child soon arrived, which slowed down their motorcycling activities, and the album ends by the end of 1928, when presumably real life took command, and the realities of raising a family prioritized. We'll never know for certain how the story ended, but it's indicative their grandchildren (presumably) saw fit to sell such a precious family album.  Given events that transpired in Germany in the 1930s, one can imagine all sorts of possibilities, but let's leave our home movie in a slow vignette fade-out, with a happy couple sat with their baby on the Mars, under a blooming magnolia tree with snowy Alps in the distance, after a remarkable Honeymoon on Mars.

Innsbruck Austria, 375 miles from their home, during the Honeymoon on Mars. [Private Collection]
Mountain passes are always a thrill on two wheels, even on a gravel road with no guardrails.  Note the spare wheel mounted beside the Mars' rear wheel: all wheels were presumably interchangeable. [Private Collection]
There was even time for a boat cruise on Starnberger See, but it was still a bit cold in Spring of 1928: she keeps her riding gear on. [Private Collection]
Memories of happy days with friends on another Mars and a D.Rad in their home town of Heilsbronn, in 1927. [Private Collection]
The end, or a new beginning? Our Honeymoon on Mars photo album ends here, with many blank pages following. Life with children is a blur... [Private Collection]
All about Mars

As mentioned, the Mars was a unique and forward-thinking design built in Nurmburg, and was perhaps inspired by the proximity of airship and airplane construction in Friedrichshaven.  The core of the design is the frame, a box-section tube made of bent sheet steel, riveted together. This incorporated the steering head and rear wheel support, as well as the fuel and oil tanks, and the twin-chain two-speed final drive.  The result was an elegant design that looked far more modern than it was; the low power, two-speed drive, and lack of a front brake speak to the typical specifications of the day.

A fine view of a 1925 Mars similar to our hero's machine, but not identical, as it used an acetylene lighting system, while 'our' Mars has electric Bosch lights. Note also the deep fenders front and rear, the long footboards (with toolbox!), and the levers for the two-speed drive (forward) and clutch (rear).  Plus Mars' own front fork, a leading-link girder with central enclosed spring. [Bonhams]
The Mars is extraordinary, and very modern for a 1920 design.  The quality of its construction is legendary, as our photos show: the fit and finish is superb, as is the quality of the castings from Maybach.  It's still a 1920 motorcycle though, and there was plenty about the Mars that belies its antiquity: note the primer tap atop the swan-like intake manifold, necessary for starting up (using the hand crank!) on cold days with the rather crude Pallas carburetor that has no cold-start choke system.

A closeup of the Mars engine, designed by Claus Franzenburg and built by Maybach in Friedrichshaven, incorporating a cooling fan within the flywheel (very clever - I can't think of another external-flywheel motor with this design?), and the single Pallas carburetor with long inlet tracts.  The exhausts share a common 'waffle box' silencer beneath the motor. The motor is carried on a square-tube subframe that curves gracefully from the steering head to the rear wheels. [Bonhams]
The immediate post-war era saw an explosion of new motorcycle design ideas directly influenced by the rapid development of aircraft design during WW1.  Many of the most advanced designs from 1919-1923 were in fact built by former aircraft manufacturers that had lost their market with the cessation of hostilities, or were barred by the Versailles Treaty from making planes.  The most famous of these were of course the 1918 ABC (built by Sopwith), and the BMW R32 (from a former aero-engine builder), but the Mars should also be included, given Maybach's manufacture of advanced aero engines during the war, most notably the Mb.IVa engine, used in both airships and airplanes.

The brass fuel tank is a separate item, housed within a cavity in the frame, with a hinged cover concealing it. Note the lovely machined fuel cap! The oil tank is housed separately outside the frame, as seen here, with another toolbox mirroring it on the right side. Also clearly seen here is the handle for the two-speed twin-chain drive: one simply moves the lever right and left for low and high speeds, without the use of a clutch. [Bonhams]
The 'drive' side of the Mars shows the primary drive cover covering a single chain connected two a twin-chain countershaft. The hand-starter attached directly to the crankshaft via the forward hole in the primary cover: note the starter handle suspended from a leather strap below the frame. [Bonhams]
From the rear, the twin rear sprockets can clearly be seen: the two speeds are activated by a sliding dog that connects either drive sprocket.  Note the lever throttle and air lever on the handlebar, the beautifully articulated saddle mount, and the extravagant rear stand construction, which makes every other such 1920s rear stand look quite crude! [Bonhams]
 

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.

 


Reality Versus Fantasy: Thoughts on Scramblers

By Greg Shamieh

Bad Ideas always result in the most entertaining stories. Really Bad Ideas are even better. So here’s mine.

I have a BMW R75/5 motorcycle that I have owned and ridden for forty years. Just like animate beings, the Toaster has evolved over time, having been a naked bike, an '80s style sport tourer, and its current incarnation, a vintage style scrambler. On the gravel farm roads around my home, it’s as comfortable and capable as any motorcycle. Since I accidentally bought an adventure bike – I’m sure this has happened to you – I’ve been exploring adventure riding.  My BMW F800GS Adventure has been both a lot of fun, and an occasional source of not fun, including trying to pound me in like a tent peg in my own garage – rupturing my right bicep tendon and requiring surgery to repair in the process. The event put me in the mind that perhaps smaller, lighter, shorter motorcycles might be better suited to my preferences for off-macadam operation.

Greg Shamieh's 'Toaster'; the ideal off-road tourer? [Greg Shamieh]
Nick Adams, a brother motorcycle writer-cum-YouTube personality, does quite a lot of gravel and forest service road riding, most of it on a 1972 Moto Guzzi Eldorado. The Guzzi makes a lovely thrum, and Nick’s deliberate, dramatic, British-tinged delivery makes watching him roll through the lake country of Quebec a poetic, almost hypnotic experience. Watching a video of one of Nick’s recent rides, as he was picking his way down a dirt dual track – one quite littered with chuckholes and puddles – he gave voice to a seemingly isolated observation.  Nick is prone to these unfiltered ‘as I sees ‘ems’ … they’re part of his videos’ appeal.

“I realized that much of my favorite riding seems to happen under thirty miles an hour.”

As I listened to this, I experienced a great flash of illumination. The Adventure Motorcycle fantasy is Dakar-rally flash; large displacement, neon-colored offroad battlewagons blasting across the desert at high rates of speed, shooting roostertails of soil and sand, and taking big air off the dunes. The Adventure Riding reality, though, is guys like Nick, who are actually enjoying the environment through which they ride, and not so concerned about speed, style, other people’s expectations, or much of anything else. And the more I think about it, I think I come down on the reality side. What a surprise.

Selling the dream: a factory BMW GS racing in the Dakar Rally, front wheel aloft in the wilderness (with photographer handy). [BMW Motorrad]
Where this road leads me is that I really do not require a motorcycle with 11 inches of suspension travel, and a couple of hundred pounds of crash cage and expedition cases. I mean it’s cool and all, but it’s just an excessive solution to the requirements. If I was the sort of guy to do really technical offroad, I’d just buy one of the Honda CRF 300 variants, or a used 250 - and I might yet. But for dirt and gravel road travel, the motorcycle that got me here might still be the best tool in the arsenal. I’ve done the same stretches of dirt road back-to-back – switching from the old Toaster to the new GS – and I keep coming back thinking that I was more comfortable and felt more in control on the Toaster. There’s something wonderfully analog about its throttle response, and the mods to my engine – big bore kit with small valve heads and lightened flywheel – make it a hammer at low road speeds. One just knows what is happening at the contact patch and can easily do something about it.

Greg's BMW in another incarnation, as a sports-tourer. [Greg Shamieh]
I know that taking a 50-year-old motorcycle out far from home may present some unique challenges. And it’s ‘prolly not smart, so here’s what I’m thinking. The Slash 5 Scrambler is already fitted with Emgo vintage dirt bike 'bars – complete with cross brace – and a set of Heidenau Scout dual-sport tires – so that stuff can stay. The oil pans from early R80GSs and R100GSs are a direct swap for a /5 oil pan. Those pans are tapped for four bolts that allow one to attach a skid plate.  The plate from the Paris/Dakar variants – which cover the headpipes as well – fits those mounting points.  So bashing soft engine underbits is no longer an issue. My /5 could probably use a new rear main seal, a clutch disk, and maybe a crankshaft thrust washer. An inspection of the final drive and the geared throttle linkage is ‘prolly not a bad idea either. This is routine work that is likely true of more than half of the old airheads still out there.

Where We Ride: lots of well-maintained gravel roads through East Coast mountains, perfect for 35mph cruising. [Paul d'Orléans]
BMW used to sell wraparound crashbars, intended for authority motorcycles, for the cylinders from a supplier named Fehling – they protected both the upper and lower sides of both cylinders, and are dead easy to install. These are available, look good, and are reasonably priced. Givi, who made the whack-a-doodle Airflow dual level windshield for my GS, also makes a fairing that is designed to mount standard motorcycle 'bars. That system works so well – including an upper shield that adjusts through about 6 inches of vertical adjustment – that purchasing another is a no-brainer. My Toaster already has a German police ¾ saddle – which was the saddle that BMW redeployed for the first GSs – so there is room behind the rider for a large cargo platform. A set of waterproof throwover bags – and there are many to choose from – saves about 70 pounds of weight compared with the full aluminum expedition case setup, with minimal reduction in capacity. I already had a drybag duffel for camping gear for the GS, and it will feel right at home there. I could see grabbing some hand guards, and will cop to being a puss for heated grips.

No need to convince our Publisher Paul d'Orléans on the notion of inappropriate old bikes on dirt roads...he lives half the year in Mexico, where 90% of the road are unpaved. This is the Calle Cabo Este in Baja California Sur, along the Sea of Cortez. Just tryna get some sushi here! [Paul d'Orléans]
Which brings us to the ‘nice-but-maybe-not-exactly-necessary’ part of our tale. I still have a set of OEM ‘Zeppelin-style’ mufflers on the bike that I purchased new when I bought the bike – in 1984. They’re not designed for ground clearance, likely have enough internal corrosion that one good whack would return them to their component atoms.  A smart guy might replace them with modern aftermarket shorties.  A less smart guy might wait for the whack and deal with it then. Last on the list is the bike’s front end. While the stock long travel forks are beautiful, and work well, the original drum brake – while powerful and reliable – is not exactly the perfect tool for offroading, as modulation was never really part of the design brief; ask anyone who's panic squeezed that front drum on wet pavement.  But nobody has figured out an efficient way to convert that front end to a modern disk. Someone has figured out a way to swap the entire front end – inverted forks, triple clamps, single disk brake, hub, rim and all – from an early 2000s Yamaha YZ450F, though.  Something with a bit more modern damping, and a brake that can be modulated does sound like just the ticket.  Not easy or turnkey, but definitely functionally superior.  We’ll see how my long-suffering Airhead mechanical genius feels about this part of the plan.  Maybe he’ll feel better if I can figure out how to fit the /5’s accordion-style fork boots.

So what do we have when we’re done? My /5 has a torquey, low-end biased motor that has perfectly sorted carburation; my mods produced a motor that has punch in the lower part of the rev band. Want to break the rear end loose? Just flick that throttle open. Everywhere else, this is a sweet motor that provides easy, relaxed access to torque anywhere you’d like it to. The bike has a low standover height, a very low center of gravity, and that perfect sense of balance and composure on less-than-perfect riding surfaces that have kept generations of BMW boxer riders coming back for more.  At a sustained cruise in the engine’s sweet spot at 3,800 rpm, the Toaster sounds exactly like a little airplane. I keep hoping and begging that BMW would make a ‘Heritage GS’ – a smaller boxer with lower overall mass and complexity than the new R1300s. Think something closer to the original R80, which had a sweetness and balance that the battlewagons just lack. Their beancounters tell them this is a funny idea. Oh well.

On anything but a motorcycle, such exploration would be impossible, I don't care how good you are with your 4x4. Turns out you don't need 11" of fork travel to go exploring; a competent bike with enough power will get you anywhere. [Paul d'Orléans]
I’m apparently willing to put my money, and my motorcycle, where my mouth is. Unlike Nick, I think my happy speed may be a bit north of 30mph, but not many [35-40mph is my happy place on dirt - ed.]. And it’s funny to think that a motorcycle I thought of as ‘retired’ – retained for our shared memories as much as for its riding experience – might experience rebirth as its odometer turns through two hundred thousand miles.  My riding evolution had taken me away from this bike, going deep into high road speeds and long-distance travel, but now...the song of the boxer exhaust echoing off the trees, the clink of stones off the skid plate while flying though a green forest tunnel... has started to be the thing that most moves me, and I find myself growing back towards my oldest bike again. It seems that this bike and I may have as many green roads ahead of us as we have behind us.

Greg Shamieh publishes Rolling Physics Problem, and has written for Motorcyclist, Common Tread, and Motorcycle Times. He lives in Frederick County, Maryland.

 


A Fickle Motorcycle Named 'Goat', 1909

Republished by permission of the California Historical Society and Gary F. Kurutz

“Roaring Around the San Francisco Bay Area on a Fickle Motorcycle Named “Goat” as Recorded in the 1909–1911 Manuscript Logbook of Walter Brooks”

by Gary F. Kurutz

Walter Brooks' log book documenting his 1907 FN Four, from 1909-11, in San Francisco and environs. [California Historical Society]
One of the most unusual manuscripts found in the California Historical Society Library’s great treasure trove of handwritten documents is the “Log Book of the Belgian F.N. Four Cylinder Motorcycle ‘Goat’ owned by Walter Brooks.” The logbook also includes a photograph of his motorbike and illustrations of its engine and other details. What makes this so exciting is that there are many handwritten journals and diaries generated by the pioneers documenting overland journeys and sea voyages and even firsthand accounts by motorists narrating their trips in Model T’s, and other early motorcars, but a handwritten logbook of adventures on a motorbike is a true rarity. Brooks, who lived at 1717 Sutter Street in San Francisco’s lower Pacific Heights, purchased his motorcycle on June 26, 1907 and gave it the curious name of “Goat.” However, in his logbook he simply referred to his mechanical mount as “F.N.” As shown by his entries, Brooks rode “F. N.” for pleasure taking twenty-seven day or weekend trips roaring around the Bay Area. One can only imagine what his neighbors and others thought as they would see and hear him whiz by on city streets and country roads clutching the handlebars and squeezing the metal frame with his legs.

A remarkable document by Walter Books of 'The Goat'...referring to the animal, not the greatest of all time! [California Historical Society]
Infused with a new sense of freedom, Brooks loved to explore the Bay Area riding his “car on two wheels” down the Peninsula to Redwood City; across the Bay through Oakland to San Jose, or northward by ferry to Sausalito to enjoy the delights of Marin, Sonoma, and Mendocino Counties including the Russian River country. He described in detail road conditions, scenery, other motorcyclists, and where he stopped for lunch or an occasional beer. The left-hand side of his log book included space to note distances traveled, expenses, towns passed through, and reasons for stopping. His first recorded outing took place on March 14, 1909, when he crossed San Francisco Bay by ferry and then motored from Oakland eastward to Dublin or Dublin Corner as he called it. His total expenses for the day amounted to sixty cents which included the ferry trip, gas, lunch in Lafayette, and beer in Dublin. One of his most ambitious outings started at dawn on July 2, 1911, with the goal of visiting Mt. Hamilton and the Lick Observatory with its famous telescope. The motorcyclist scrawled into his logbook a detailed three-page account writing, “At Smith’s Creek [San Mateo County] I had a beer and went on the final seven miles with its 265 turns many of them true hairpin turns and began to see scattered rock along the road that had been shaken down by the earthquake of the day before.” An exhausted Brooks made it to the observatory at 11:35 a.m. and met with Alvin Clark, a staff member who showed him the damage to the delicate astronomical instruments caused by the seismic event. From there, he spun down the mountain and reached San Jose by 4:00 where he had a late lunch. Experiencing enough excitement, he hopped on “F. N.” and made it back home to Sutter Street at 7:52 p.m., finishing an adventure of 155 miles.

Walter Brooks' exhaustive notes paint a picture of motorcycling in California in the earliest years. The trip to Mt. Hamilton observatory - on ALL dirt roads - would be hairy today on a modern machine, but a 4hp moped; incredible. [California Historical Society]
However, the joy of these adrenalin pumping sightseeing trips did have a downside. Virtually every entry features some sort of mechanical problem as his 363cc air-cooled inline four-cylinder marvel frequently broke down or balked at having to climb into the bucolic foothills near San Jose which required the very patient Brooks to use “a good deal of leg work” to reach his destination. Even the comparatively mild slope of Sutter Street forced him to walk his beloved but frustrating motorbike home. Fortunately, as well documented in the logbook, Brooks possessed instinctive mechanical skills and patience with “F. N.”, and managed to make it back home having to stay overnight in a hotel only once. It seemed, too, that “F. N.” had an unquenchable thirst for motor oil. Other times, he had to stop and clean spark plugs, adjust the carburetor, or repair a flat tire. At one point, on a trip to Half Moon Bay, he had to be towed by a buggy. Occasionally, too, he noted that some of the turns were dangerous when a horse-drawn wagon or a flivver (Model T Ford) made for close calls or near smash ups. A couple of times, the more appropriately named “Goat” bounced him off of the “compound spring saddle” of his Belgian.

The only portrait of The Goat, likely taken near the Sutter St home of Walter Brooks, and thus overlooking what is now the Marina district, but was then a wetlands. The neighborhood was built after the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition - read more here. [California Historical Society]
His last entry was made on July 9, 1911, recording a trip with a friend to San Andreas Lake and its dam near Millbrae and San Bruno in San Mateo County. His buddy owned a more reliable and speedier Indian motorcycle. True to form, Brooks encountered much trouble as they returned back to San Francisco, writing: “I had trouble with the carburetor and had to make two tries at a grade but we got back all right and I guess this was about the last long ride I took on the old F. N. as I sold it shortly after this.” Nonetheless, his odometer recorded that he had put 6,205 miles on “F. N.” and it gave him many pleasurable days of adventure bounding over the roads and trails of the San Francisco Bay Area.

The FN Four was a very advanced machine for 1907, and was the first four-cylinder motorcycle to compete at the Isle of Man TT in 1908 - read our article here. [California Historical Society]
Gary Kurutz is a former Library Director of the North Baker Research Library at the California Historical Society.  He has published extensively as the author, editor, or contributor to dozens of articles and books on California history, including The California Gold Rush: A Descriptive Bibliography of Books and Pamphlets Covering the Years 1848-1853, and California Calls You: The Art of Promoting the Golden State (with KD Kurutz). He is currently working on a bibliography of the Yukon Territory and the Klondike Gold Rush and continues to instill his love of books through classes at the California Rare Book School.

A Revell-ation: Louis Lopez' Triumph

A craze for custom motorcycles were the hottest two-wheeled trend of the early 1960s, when the youth of America discovered the infinite coolness of custom vehicle culture.  The writer Tom Wolfe did a superb job of discussing the scene in his essay 'There Goes (Varoom! Varoom!) That Kandy-Kolored (Thphhhhhh!) Tangerine-Flake Streamline Baby (Rahghhh!) Around the Bend(Brummmmmmmmmmmmmmm)…' published in Esquire in 1963 [read it here], which became the title of his first book (1965), 'The Kandy Kolored Tangerine Metalflake Baby', a pioneering example of New Journalism and a work of genius.  Wolfe was not originally a custom car fan, just a journalist on assignment by the New York Herald Tribune sent to cover a show in New York City.  He submitted his story, but knew it didn't do justice to the vibrant new scene, so approached Esquire with the idea of a long-form essay that truly captured the vibe of a 'Teen Fair' in LA.  He references the rigid codes of teen fashion, language, and music, and interviewed George Barris and Ed Roth for their thoughts as the revered elders of a new subculture.  It's a must-read.

Tom Wolfe perfectly captured the Kustom Kulture scene as it happened in his 1963 Esquire essay, which was included in his 1965 book. [The Vintagent Archive]
Press around the Kustom Kulture scene made artists like 'Von Dutch' and 'Big Daddy' Ed Roth superstars, and custom bikes and cars were so hot that corporate America decided to cash in and give the kids what they wanted.  Revell Models, founded in 1943 by Louis Glazer as a plastic modeling company, started out building HO scale train sets - and their associated infrastructure, buildings, people, etc - turning to  car model kits in 1950, which by '56 included custom cars, starting with George Barris' Lincoln Futura with bubble canopy.  Revell hired Ed Roth in 1962 to design a line of outrageous custom car kits, some with monster drivers, including his famous Rat Fink alter ego.  Roth was paid $0.01 per kit sold, which amounted to $32,000 eventually, a considerable sum in the mid-1960s.  Roth was dis-employed by Revell in 1967, when he began hanging around with the Hells Angels, and selling posters of noted members of the club through his Choppers Magazine.

'Big Daddy' Ed Roth (and his alter ego Rat Fink) featured on the covers of all the models he designed for Revell between 1962-67, when his association with the Hells Angels ended their collaboration. Revell sold 3,200,000 of Roth's models! [The Vintagent Archive]
In the meantime, Revell also sold model kits of some very cool custom bikes, sometimes lifting designs directly from the pages of Peterson Publishing magazines like Cycle World, Car Craft, and Hot Rod.  These were 1/8 scale kits in high quality, with great graphics on the boxes to entice kids too young to buy or build a real motorcycle, and adults wanting a little Kustom Kulture on their shelf.

Louis Lopez with his superb, show winning 1946 Triumph custom, in a parking lot photo shoot for Petersen Publishing in 1963. [Petersen Museum Archives]
In January 1964, Cycle World  featured the superb custom pre-unit Triumph of Louis Lopez, a show-winning customizer with a long track record of cars before tackling two wheels:

"Spectacular indeed is Louie Lopez' '46 Triumph show bike, from its gold-chartreuse metalflake paint job to its quilted black leather seat with black fur trim.  Features include metalflake cylinder head, sculptured tank, dual side-by-side front headlights, 21" front wheel and 19: rear, lucite footpegs, chrome oil tank with metalflake scallops and black striping."

The Car Craft article on Louis Lopez' 1946 Triumph custom. [The Vintagent Archive]
Not to be left out (and to use some of the photography by Petersen Publishing staff), Car Craft followed up with a story on Louis Lopez' Triumph:

"Bikes continue to capture the imagination and attention of auto enthusiasts and it was never more apparent than at the car shows, where cycles are appearing in ever increasing numbers. This custom ‘46 triumph was built by 23-year old Louis Lopez of Bell Calif., following up a chain of customized four wheelers that included a ‘59 Cad, ‘58 Impala, and a ‘57 Thunderbird which won three shows. Lopez spent six months and $1500 converting the rig and obviously succeeded and putting more ‘Umph’ in the Triumph.  Gold hardware from the top tricks in the West include first places at the ‘63 Winternationals and at Larry Howard's show of custom bikes, as well as sweepstakes at the Trident sports arena spectacular. The lime metal flake beauty is chromed except for the rear fender, forward frame section and tank. Paint was applied by Junior’s House of Color, the tailored seat stitched by Martinez; Both of Lynnwood. Foot pegs, starter crank and foot shift lever are colored plastic. With assists from Gary Connor and George Foster, Lou developed a masterpiece that will go as well as it looks. The vertical twin engine is bored to displace 45 cubics, and has been fitted with 1 5/8” valves, alloy push rods and lightened rockers, a Jim Lemon Special cam and MC 12:1 pistons with Grant rings."

Louie Lopez up close with his Triumph creation. Gotta love the astroturf impromptu bike stand! [Petersen Museum Archives]
Show vehicles of the 1960s often disappear into the mists of history, and rarely survive intact to the present day.  For example, Mike Vils' multiple show-winning Triumph custom 'The Brute' was continuously modified by him over the years, and kept on winning in each iteration, until his interests moved on and he eventually sold the bike, which was parted out and vanished.  Luckily, some show bikes were treasured and survived; such is the case with Louis Lopez' '46 Triumph, which was discovered by Revival Cycles' owner Alan Stulberg in amazingly original condition, a rare 'barn find' show-winning custom motorcycle of the 1960s.

The Louie Lopez Triumph today, in the Revival Cycles collection. [Revival Cycles]
The Triumph has changed a bit since it was built: gone are the dual chrome headlamps, custom dual seat, and long-taper megaphone exhausts. A long sissy bar has been added, a Bates solo saddle with p-pad, and gold paint added to the chromed oil tank and battery case.   But the distinctive chartreuse metalflake paint scheme and sculpted fuel tank remain, as do the chromed fork covers, drag 'bars, and bobbed rear fender.  It's clearly the same machine, but different, as any show bike was changed over an evolving career.  But if you caught the Lopez Triumph leaning against the wall at the recent LA Handbuilt Show, you know the bike retains its period cool, with further aesthetic flavors added by time and oxidation.  It's a remarkable machine, and one crazy streamline baby.

 

 

 

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.

 


Desert Island Motorcycle Books

In 2022 I was asked by Jonathan Rishton - then-editor (now Publisher) of The Automobile magazine - for a list of  eight 'desert island' motorcycle books, i.e., the books I'd take to end of the world. Choosing eight volumes for my desert island was easy; most were the earliest motorcycle books added to my collection, and remain at the heart of my career. The rest have entertained me for decades, with remarkable stories and photographs that spark the imagination. My work is principally online (for theVintagent.com), but it’s print my house is made of. Or at least that’s what you might think, should you pay an actual visit: our walls are actually covered with books. For your consideration, courtesy The Automobile (and if you'd like a physical copy of the Oct. 2022 issue, click here):

The small library, ready to be stuffed in a waterproof sack for my exile on a desert island.[The Vintagent Archive]
The Fetishised Journalist: The Motorcycle (1963) by André Pieyre de Mandiargues

At the time of my selection (2022), this was the only book that had been made into a film: The Girl on a Motorcycle (1968). It stars Marianne Faithfull and Alain Delon, and follows the story of ‘Rebecca’ riding her Harley-Davidson across the Swiss border for a tryst with a former lover, with fatal consequences. Faithfull’s character is based, I am convinced, on Anke-Eve Goldmann, the German journalist and racing motorcyclist who invented the women’s one-piece leather riding suit – the original catwoman. She was friends with Mandiargues, and did not take kindly to being depicted as a sex object – the book is essentially softcore moto-porn. The film was the first in the USA to receive an X rating, but a version of Mandiargues’s novel La Marge (which won him the Prix Goncourt) was far more scandalous, and featured his personal collection of ‘pornographic objects’…

'The Motorcycle' by Andre Pieyre Mandiargues, which became the film Girl on a Motorcycle. [The Vintagent Archive]
Anke-Eve Goldmann was unknown to me when I ran across a trove of her photographs in 2008. She was faithful to BMWs from the 1950s to the 1970s, barring an affair with a hotrod MV Agusta 750 in the ’70s. It took some digging
to sort her remarkable story; eventually I interviewed her daughter and ex-husband (who took the pictures). Approaches to Goldmann herself proved futile, and my offer to write her biography was firmly rebuffed. The book, the
film and the dissemination of her motorcycle photographs on leather fetish websites in the 2000s simply infuriated her. But perhaps she doth protest too much: those interviews left me convinced The Motorcycle was based more
closely on her life than she cared to have made public. But it was not she who was killed en route to a tryst… The Motorcycle is the one book I’d save above all others, if only to inspire the writing of a stack of increasingly bizarre erotic novels to be discovered with my body.

The second of my series to be made into a movie: Danny Lyons' original 1968 edition of The Bikeriders. [The Vintagent Archive]
The Outlaw: The Bikeriders (1968) by Danny Lyon

Danny Lyon was a photographer in the Civil Rights movement of the early 1960s, documenting voter registration
drives in the American South. He returned to his hometown in 1965 and joined the Chicago Outlaws, a one-per center motorcycle ‘patch club’. He interviewed club members and photographed their homes, bars, races, picnics and everyday life in a very early case of ‘embedded’ journalism. He published this work as The Bikeriders in 1968, to a thundering silence. Despite the success of Hunter S Thompson’s similarly themed Hell’s Angels, published one year before, nobody wanted a biker photobook with text direct from the subjects’ mouths.

The book is a treasure, but the inscription - priceless. A birthday gift from Crazy Tits in 1986, when we had a motorcycle club called The Maries, an almost all-girl biker gang of women with the middle name Marie: I became Paul-Marie for the duration. [The Vintagent Archive]
Lyon lugged boxes of unsold books around for years. In 1986 I was given a paperback first edition of The Bikeriders as a birthday present from ‘Crazy Tits’, signed in purple crayon. She’d found it in a Haight Street used bookstore for 50 cents. I was entranced by the brilliant photography, and eventually the world followed suit: first editions now sell for hundreds, the book has been republished many times, and Danny Lyon has become a legend of activist photojournalism [and now there's the movie version...] I don’t see Crazy Tits anymore, but my dog-eared copy of The Bikeriders is a treasure.

A treasure beyond measure and a gift to vintagents everywhere: The Vintage Years at Brooklands spawned several follow-up books from other authors, in the same format, about racing at Brooklands. Superb (note my page markers for research). [The Vintagent Archive]
The Bin Diver: The Vintage Years at Brooklands (1968) by Dr Joseph Bayley

In Swinging London of the 1960s, miniskirts were apparently more interesting than prewar motorcycle racing. Thus a significant pile of large-format glass negatives were found in the bin outside the offices of The Motor Cycle, no doubt part of a general clear-out of historical images lacking flares and sideburns. The fellow into whose hands these plates landed was Dr Joseph Bayley, who recognised many of the gents pictured as former rivals and comrades from his racing days at Brooklands. Bayley reckoned it had been 40-plus years since anyone had seen these pictures (now more than 100 years), and their high quality and natural appeal to racing folk would make a tidy book.

Typical layout for The Vintage Years at Brooklands: a photo from an original glass plate negative, and succinct text about the moment and the riders. [The Vintagent Archive]
The Vintage Years at Brooklands covers, of course, racers from 1920 to 1930, which in 1968 was
considered the Golden Age by the Grand Poobahs at the Vintage Motor Cycle Club. There have been several
such Ages in the intervening 54 years, but the 1920s does have a special charm: the simple machines, the gallant
racers in their neckties and scant safety equipment, the essentially amateur nature of motorcycle racing at the time. While Bayley mirrors a whole-page photograph with a simple reminiscence of the who, when and what, the pictures themselves speak volumes and the book is simply wonderful.

Robert Edison Fulton's round-the-world epic on his Douglas Bulldog remains one of the best moto-travel books of all time. [The Vintagent Archive]
The Hidden Pistol: One Man Caravan (1937), by R.E.Fulton

A son of privilege makes an impulsive boast at a fancy London dinner party; his bluff is called, and honour compels
him to make a two-year trip round the globe on a motorbike. That’s the elevator pitch for One Man Caravan, R E Fulton Jr’s account of his 1932-33 round-the-world adventure. It was Fulton’s luck that Kenton Redgrave, owner of
Douglas motorcycles, was at that soirée, and immediately offered to build a special machine for his journey, with an extra fuel tank and racks front and rear for luggage. Fulton packed it with pots and pans, his tuxedo, and a pistol
between the bash plate and crankcase, just in case. He never used any of it, ditching all but the pistol en route.

Fulton’s story is a beauty, plus he took a good camera, an excellent cine camera and miles of film. The book depicts a lost world with familiar names, and the journey made Fulton a philosopher. He forgot the pistol amidst his invariably friendly engagement with locals. His 1932 Douglas Mastif is currently in my ADV: Overland exhibit at the Petersen Museum in LA. I fished under the crankcase but the pistol is gone…

A 1979 first edition of Ted Simon's masterpiece 'Jupiter's Travels', emphatically recommended to me by 'Dr Tim' in 1986. Tim's round-the-world journey was mostly chasing Sinead O'Connor, for whom he had an unhealthy obsession after a night at Zeitgeist bar with her and myself, while she was traveling with U2. Tim refused to give his name, saying repeatedly 'just call me Joe'. Some of her first album grew from that conversation - yes it was that interesting - and it bent Tim's mind when the album became legend. [The Vintagent Archive]
The Hippie Overlander: Jupiter's Travels (1979), by Ted Simon

Ted Simon was a journalist in Fleet Street for 10 years before convincing the Sunday Times and Triumph
Motorcycles to sponsor a round-the-world (RTW) journey in 1973. Triumph thought it good advertising, but stopped production of Simon’s Tiger 100 model during his first year abroad. Regardless, he dubbed the bike Jupiter
and spent four years and 64,000 miles visiting 45 countries. He published Jupiter’s Travels in 1979 and it was an instant classic of global travel literature, inspiring countless imitators on two wheels. There’s a dividing line on RTW
travel: it’s estimated only 52 motorcyclists made an RTW journey before 1980, but après Ted, le déluge. This book and Fulton’s inspired my wanderlust, an interest in the history of overlanding, and ultimately my ADV: Overland exhibit. It’s a great read for anyone.

The original motorcycle manual, but not the first. Pagé's 1914 'Motorcycles, Side Cars, and Cyclecars' is available in multiple versions, as it's long out of copyright. [The Vintagent Archive]
The Manualist: Motorcycles, Side Cars and Cyclecars (1914), by Victor Pagé

Vehicle ownership in the pioneer era was a DIY affair unless you had an engineer/mechanic on the staff. Manufacturers offered scant instruction and poor references for maintenance and repair: ‘refer questions to the manufacturer’. It took Victor Pagé to assemble a magnum opus of early motorcycling in 1914 that proved an
invaluable resource: Motorcycles, Side Cars and Cyclecars.

The book contains amazing illustrations and fold-out pages, like these early cyclecars, which look like far too much fun. [The Vintagent Archive]
The 550-page book covers 41 mostly American brands, with 350 illustrations and wonderful fold-out technical drawings. For the technically curious, it’s a hoot: a delightful
survey of bad ideas and wrong directions, plus undeveloped brilliance that would take generations to sort. Early editions with the fold- outs are rare, but the book has been recently reprinted and is still fun to leaf through,
especially for the cyclecars.

The late Stephen Wright put together the American version of 'The Vintage Years at Brooklands', an exceptional study of early racing motorcycles in the USA. [The Vintagent Archive]
The Cyclone Tamer: American Racer 1900-1940 (1979), by Stephen Wright

To American motorcycle collectors, the Golden Age of motorcycling happened before 1916. That’s
the year Harley-Davidsons got three-speed gearboxes, and ruined everything. ‘Pre-16’ motorcycle rallies were the heart and soul of the American scene, and Stephen Wright, while born in the UK, was an essential part of that scene as a collector of machines and ephemera, and a restorer of the rarest of racers: Cyclones, Flying Merkels, Harley-Davidson and Indian Eight-Valves. He converted his expertise and collection into three extraordinary books:
American Racer 1900-1940, American Racer 1940-1980, and The American Motorcycle 1896-1914. He’d planned a series of follow-up volumes, but death intervened, so we are left with just the three, and what beauties they are.

Laid out something like The Vintage Years at Brooklands, American Racer has large-format photos with accompanying text, which is always enlightening. [The Vintagent Archive]
My favourite is the first American Racer 1900-1940, published in 1979 in a similar layout to Bayley’s book: large format (11 by 14in) with a facing full-page photograph with just enough text to pique your curiosity, with first-hand
accounts cementing the historical record. If you can find one, dig deep: it’s a keeper.

The Bibliographer: The Art of the Motorcycle (1998), by Thomas Krens, Matthew Drutt (editor)

When BMW approached the Guggenheim Museum offering $3m to be title sponsor of an exhibition, director Thomas
Krens turned to his film curator. Ultan Guilfoyle was a dedicated vintagent, but didn’t consider himself qualified to curate a major motorcycle exhibit alone. He turned to Dr Charles Falco, a professor of optical physics who’d been
working with David Hockney on reverse-engineering the tools used by Renaissance painters to fix perspective on canvas.

A magnum opus of an exhibition, probably the most important motorcycle exhibit in history, and the catalog is no slouch! But the bibliography by Charles Falco is out of this world. [The Vintagent Archive]
Falco is also a vintagent, and had an enormous library of motorcycle books: the pair spent the better part of 1997 sourcing 100 exemplary motorcycles for The Art of the Motorcycle. Starchitect Frank Gehry was hired to design
the exhibition, and wrapped the interior of the Guggenheim’s giant spiral with chrome. Well, mylar, but it looked like chrome, and the show was a whopper, and remains its most popular ever. I had the good fortune of looking round
after-hours with the Brough Superior Club and nearly got myself locked on the rooftop, but that’s another story. The exquisite catalogue is the real story here, and, more importantly, the bibliography in the back: Charles Falco
assembled the most comprehensive English-language list of books about motorcycles ever published. I’m happy to admit I’ve collected all of the books in that bibliography, but now the list is 26 years old, and publishing didn’t stop, so 'the constant search’ continues.

 

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.

 


Of Young Men and Motorcycles

By Geoff Drake

May your heart always be joyful and may your song always be sung. May you stay forever young. –Bob Dylan

In the early 1960s the hamlet of Carmel, California, was sanctuary to an assortment of Bohemian singers, artists, and writers who would soon leave an indelible mark on American culture. The famous folk singer Joan Baez had taken up residence in the Carmel Highlands, on a rocky outcropping overlooking the Pacific. There, she was joined by her lover, a precocious young singer by the name of Bob Dylan, whom she was busy promoting, leveraging her fame by inviting him to sing with her at her concerts. Joan's little sister Mimi, enchantingly beautiful at just 17, had recently rented a cabin with her new husband; singer, novelist and poet Richard Fariña.

Richard Fariña and Mimi Baez-Fariña, not long after their marriage.

It was a time of remarkable potential, with the folk music scene having become the voice an entire generation, expressing the disconnect between the values of a massive youth demographic and its 'best generation' parents, and the politics of the US government versus the ideals of its youth.  It’s not hard to imagine Dylan, the Baez sisters, and Fariña plying the roads of Carmel and the Big Sur coast, prior to the current tourist inundation, while laying the groundwork for 50 years of folk music in America (an epoch chronicled in David Hajdu’s  book, “Positively 4th Street”). In the spring of 1966, it seemed almost anything was possible. They could have no way of knowing what the next few months would bring.

Bob Dylan with Mimi and Richard Fariña.

Aura of Invincibility

In recent years Fariña had played music with Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan. He had toured and lived in Europe, and played and recited poetry in the creative cauldron of Greenwich Village, New York. He had married (after 18 days), and quickly divorced folk singer Carolyn Hester. Now, married to the lovely Mimi Baez, and armed with a penchant for self promotion, he found himself nestled among famous cultural iconoclasts of the day. But while he had been cavorting with the famous, Fariña struggled with his demons. Deep down, he was bitterly envious of Dylan’s soaring success on a world stage, and the ease with which he wrote songs—a great font of creativity that continues to this day. Moreover, Fariña had struggled for years to publish his novel, “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me,” a fantastical fiction that stylistically resembled the work of his college friend Thomas Pynchon, author of “Gravity’s Rainbow.”

Richard Fariña's novel, 'Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up' was published in 1966, a cult classic that influenced quite a few writers as a 'modern Odyssey' with a protagonist careering through various adventures, drugs, and relationships with women.

After years of rewrites and petty squabbles with publishers, Fariña’s great project finally came to fruition in 1965, when Random House agreed to publish the work. With this news, and the undying support of his young wife, Fariña was positively flying. A book signing was organized to celebrate the great event, at the now-defunct Thunderbird Bookstore in the Barnyard Shopping Center, at the mouth of Carmel Valley. The date: April 30, 1966—his young wife’s 21st birthday. It’s easy to envision Fariña, then in his 20s, heady with the publication of his new book, and intimate with some of the world’s most famous and influential artists, conducting himself with the certain aura of invincibility that accompanies youth and accomplishment. The event started in the afternoon. There is a haunting image of Richard and Mimi Fariña, taken on a sunny deck outside the Thunderbird. She seems proud, yet strangely skeptical, as if his new trajectory in life couldn’t quite be possible, or if she was witnessing some implausible hubris. For his part, Fariña is looking skyward, slightly askance, as if he knew some strange visitation was in the offing. It was.

The Baez sisters: Joan, Pauline, and Mimi.

Zoom

After the intoxicating experience of the book signing, and with another one planned in San Francisco the next day, Fariña was primed for adventure. According to Hajdu, each book he signed at the Thunderbird had been accompanied by this simple inscription: Zoom. After the signing, he and Mimi both attended a party a few miles up Carmel Valley, in honor of his book and her birthday. A friend, Willie Hinds, then studying at Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, had arrived on a new, red Harley-Davidson Sportster. Fariña imagined that a fast ride on that beautiful road would be the perfect capstone to his day—a fitting harbinger of the great future that lay before him. One can only imagine the mental state of the driver of the new Harley-Davidson, Hinds, infected with the enthusiasm of his famous passenger and the power of what was then one of the fastest motorcycles on the road (if a bit ill-handling), on one of the best motorcycle roads in America.

Richard and Mimi at his book signing in Carmel Valley. [David Hajdu]
Did Fariña—in his unbridled enthusiasm—urge him on, the pair conspiring toward speeds that made the Sportster weave and groan in complaint? Or was it all Hinds, the driver? It’s impossible to know, but within half an hour, according to Hajdu, sirens could be heard in the distance. They had taken a corner too fast. Or, Fariña was fighting Hinds in the corner, leaning the opposite way, a common urge of self-preservation that actually has the opposite effect, making the bike nearly unmanageable for the driver, like an unwieldy snake. Whatever the cause, the bike tumbled off into a vineyard, at an estimated 90 mph. Hinds was badly hurt, but survived. Fariña, the passenger, was not so lucky. Unhelmeted, he died instantly of massive head and internal injuries.  He was just 26. When Mimi Fariña returned to the home on Mount Devon Road in the Carmel Highlands days later, she discovered that Fariña had set out a gift and card for his young wife, trying to make amends for the fact that he had forgotten her birthday.

Life at the Apex

I find myself fascinated by these events, perhaps because of the small ways in which my own life intersects with that of a man I have only read about. Like Fariña, I also know the Carmel Valley—I would even say intimately—from the seat of a motorcycle. Like Fariña, I have also written books—though not nearly as grand in scope—and I know the elation that comes with taking the first copy in hand, and the likelihood that one might feel just a little invincible, and prone to excess—vulnerable to the opiate of speed on two wheels.

A 1966 Harley-Davidson Sportster, an 883cc machine with 55hp and 115mph top speed, a proper sports machine in its day. [The Vintagent Archive]
Like Fariña, I have reveled in the sinuous curves of that road, and have even stiffened with the anticipation of a fall which—fortunately for me—never came. It seems every California motorcyclist knows that road, and has scraped hard parts trying to execute a perfect line among its hundreds of turns. From the ocean, it gently courses through the open valley, then tightens to a thin rope past Carmel Valley Village. In spring, the pastures reveal dizzying expanses of wildflowers. It then passes the tortuous road to the famed Tassajara Zen Center, established by the groundbreaking monk Shunryu Suzuki, author of the seminal book of Zen in America, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind.” Eventually the road snakes its way to Cahoon Summit, before plunging down through a delectable series of decreasing-radius turns to Arroyo Seco, a ride of almost 50 miles. I have done it dozens of times, and never tire of it. I am so fond of the ride that I even wrote an article about it, published in “Rider” magazine.

Bob Dylan with his Triumph before the accident that preceded a long withdrawal from public life.

Many have analyzed Fariña’s accident, looking for that exact patch of road just outside the village, on a series of left/right decreasing-radius turns, bordered by a low stone wall. It’s a place that has nearly caught me out on occasion. Was that the spot? Another account puts the accident site a few miles from the ocean, at a point called Steinbeck’s Pool. This section, with its long, sweeping curves in an open valley, looks to be nothing either spectacular or particularly challenging for a motorcyclist. However, when traveling at an estimated 90 mph, with a passenger fighting to keep the big bike upright, any curve is dangerous. Is the desire to understand the accident an obsession? A desire to avoid the same fate? Or a little of both?  In any case, the story lingers in the mind, like a recurring dream. All motorcyclists know these thoughts. We ride these roads, we know the quality of the pavement, the turns, the braking points, and the gear required to accelerate cleanly out of each apex. When done right, it’s a thing of beauty, poetry. When done incorrectly, or in haste, it’s a mess, an abomination, a source of embarrassment. And maybe death.

Postcript

Richard Fariña is buried in the Monterey City Cemetery, which I view every morning over my right shoulder while riding to work. His small, flat stone is emblazoned with a peace sign. Judy Collins sang at his funeral. Mimi Fariña died of cancer in 2001. Her sister, Joan Baez, built a home on Miramonte Road, not far from the spot where her brother-in-law died. Richard and Mimi Fariña’s house on Mount Devon Road is still there: a low, flat structure that’s unspectacular in comparison to the multi-million dollar estates that now surround it. Regardless, it still commands a striking view of the rocky coast, and it’s easy to see how it would inspire the writing of any book, as it did for Fariña.

Richard Fariña's grave marker.

Dylan, the genius of his generation, seemed to have learned nothing from the tragic incident, if he was aware of it at all. In an ironic twist, just months later, he crashed his Triumph on a country road near Woodstock, New York. Afterward, he dropped from public view for years, though it has always been said that the accident merely served as an excuse to remove himself from the public eye, and that his injuries were not serious. Such things happen, sometimes at the absolute apex of your life. Or the moment becomes the apex of your life, simply because of what follows. Either way, you are remembered for it. And hopefully, for many other things, as with Richard Fariña.

[This article by was originally published in City Bike magazine.]

 

The former editor of VeloNews and Bicycling magazines, author of two books, founder of Wriding.

 

 

 


Coventry Motors Limited

While the name rings with Englishness, the charming worskhops of Coventry Motor Ltd can be found in the heart of Buenos Aires, Argentina, across the road from the Hipódromo San Isidro, where polo ponies and race horses more commonly ply their trade.  In fact the Coventry workshops used to be stables serving the racetrack, which is obvious once you clock the series of identical large doors surrounding its central courtyard.  "We kept the doors, but knocked down the walls between the stables," notes proprietor Fede Lozado, pointing out the numerous sub-businesses installed in the venue.  A Zooz e-bike shop, a graphic design studio, storage for motorcycles, and most importantly, the combined workshop / display area that is the heart of the business.

Vincent motorcycles have a two-part history in Argentina: the money to found the business (by purchasing the HRD brand in 1928) came from the Vincent family cattle ranches in Argentina, which thrived during the Depression. And in the 1940s and 50s, the Argentinian police purchased around 800 Vincents (mostly Series B Rapides like this bike), many of which are still in the country, despite the best efforts of foreign pickers! [Paul d'Orléans]
It's the kind of shop you see on Instagram but rarely in person: a clothing shop in a casual moto-centric lounge, its walls covered in vintage posters, paintings, and old lighted signs, the floors covered in Persian carpets, and comfortable leather couches and chairs fronted by a glass coffee table supported by a V8 crankcase.  "That used to be the engine in my Mustang, but I put in a new engine with more power," smiles Fede.  Re-purposing at it's best.  The clothing racks are filled exclusively with gear from El Solitario MC, as Fede is the global sales director for the brand, a long way from Galicia in Spain where El Sol is based. "I have a history of developing brands, and a lot of success, and I met David through my early years customizing bikes, like 2010/11.  Those first BikeExif years.  I went to the 2013 Wheels&Waves, and met the whole crew there, including you! That was only the second W&W, when it was still at the lighthouse."

Evidence of participation in races at Wheels&Waves - the Punks Peak and El Rollo events jerseys. [Paul d'Orléans]
Fede was clearly an early adopter of the Custom Revolution, but at the he time had a different business, supporting brands with their identities, at which he was notably successful. But he found a new niche working with El Solitario MC on their ever-expanding line of motorcycle gear; now Coventry Motors Ltd is an appointment-only shop.  While I'd met Fede at both Wheels&Waves and in Milan during Design Week two years ago, David Borras connected us when he realized I was in Buenos Aires.  Fede's weekly parilla (grill) in the courtyard of his shop was the perfect time to soak in the ambience, and meet his crew of porteño miscreants.

'Abandon All Hope' - a remarkable custom by Patricio Castelli of Buenos Aires. [Juan Paviolo]
These included Patricio Castelli, whose remarkable retro-futuristic custom 'Abandon All Hope' was featured in The Vintagent back in 2021: it's absolutely the apex example of the genre, uncompromising in its form and remarkably pure in conception.  And I love the photo shoot for the bike, taken on a freeway overpass in the middle of Buenos Aires - I asked, but still don't understand how they pulled off that stunt.  It's a great article by Greg Williams - give it a read!

Fedo Lozado, Paul d'Orléans, and Patricio Castelli posing the workshop of Coventry Motors Ltd. [Susan McLaughlin]
A thousand thanks to Fede and his merry pranksters for their hospitality, hilarious company, and superb food.

Interior of the lounge at Coventry Motors Ltd. [Susan McLaughlin]
Fede Lozado and his parilla. [Susan McLaughlin]
The 1970 Triumph TR6 on which Fede rode from Bolivia to Ushuia: quite a journey! [Paul d'Orléans]
The original family business logo for Coventry Motors Ltd. [Paul d'Orleans]
... [Paul d'Orléans]
The Gilera 175 loving restored and slightly modified by Fede. "I've rebuilt it six times, because I've ridden it everywhere." [Paul d'Orleans]
Detail from the Gilera 175: exquisite hand engraving on the fork stanchions and alloy wheel rims. No wonder the bike is a show winner. [Paul d'Orléans]
At the butcher's table. "Actually my neighbor who supplies the meat is more than a butcher, he's a murderer. And give me the best cuts." Agreed; it was the best I ate in Buenos Aires. [Paul d'Orléans]
A merry band of miscreants, artists, former hoodlums, and writers. In other words, excellent company. [Paul d'Orléans]
 

 

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.

My First Barn Find

Story and photos by Edward Kunath

In the summer of 1991, I had my first real job and real money. Pre-internet, I would regularly scour print ads for interesting old vehicles, gas pumps, etc. In the 90s, the word “picker” had not been invented. Chasing down antique vehicles as a hobby was not considered cool. One weekend a local swap sheet had a tiny ad that read '1957 Carmen [sic] Ghia': being a longtime VW fan, I literally ran out of the house, sped to the nearest cash machine and withdraw the maximum amount. The ad brought me to a house on the outskirts of town, and a soft-spoken grandmother answered the door: Mrs.H. was happy to show me the car out back. She was full of stories; Mr. and Mrs.H were the original homeowners in the area, back when it was 'country'. Over the years, as suburbia encroached, they sold off perimeter lots but kept the center lot for themselves. Down the hill, around a fence and all the way back, stood a corrugated tin shed, a barn, several antique tractors, and a few 30s & 40s trucks. Unlike a junkyard, all vehicles and equipment were organized into tidy rows, facing the same direction, and evenly spaced. My kind of guy.

Mr. and Mrs.H at their Iowa home with their 1947 Harley-Davidson UL 'flathead' Big Twin, a model renowned for its bulletproof nature. [Edward Kunath]
The Karmann Ghia was buried in a shed. We made a deal, but that still meant getting the car out of the shed: every day I'd clear a few obstacles away, and prepared the car for the move. Everything on the property was accessible, except for a padlocked barn, which stoked my curiosity.  My dad came with me to help, and during that week he asked if Mrs.H had any old fishing gear or guns. Mrs.H said she still had her grandfather's shotgun, and took us down to the mysterious locked barn to show us. The door had not been opened in ages and was stuck in the dirt, but it opened just far enough so we could see the derelict gun...and more. It had that smell found only in long-dormant barns with old vehicles in them - equal parts petroleum and wood.

The timing side of the 1947 H-D UL at the Iowa home of the previous owners. The bike is covered with period accessories, like the Buddy seat, the rear bumper, saddlebags, open exhaust, spotlamps, and more. [Edward Kunath]
In the blackness I could make out the front wheel of a motorcycle, but mysteriously, it was chest- high. Behind it sat an original paint model-T pickup. It took a while to get the door open. The gun looked rough, but I bought it for my dad in hopes of making a lamp out of it, and asked about the big motorcycle sitting on top of an oil drum. At this time I was not a motorcyclist, and Harley-Davidsons were not on my radar. And for Mrs.H, it was just another one of her husband's mechanical curiosities. Even though 42 years had passed, Mrs.H clearly remembered how her husband came to own the 1947 Harley-Davidson UL. A friend named Tom was the first owner, a WWII veteran, and in 1947 he bought a new car and a new motorcycle. Around 1949, unable to keep up with payments, Mr. H paid off his car in exchange for the motorcycle. Mr. O was not a motorcycle guy, so what did they do with the bike?  He used it to ride his children and other neighborhood kids around their acreage for fun - joy rides for kids.  The bike was put away around 1955, and the last time it had been used was for week in 1965 when relatives came out to Iowa from California, and wanted a ride. Since then it had been sitting in the barn, on top of the oil drum where I found it.

Mr.H with his children and dog, to whom he'd give rides on his property with the stable old UL. The crash bars, forward bumper, and running lights are clearly visible. [Edward Kunath]
Mrs.H claimed that over the years, Mr.H had replaced the engine oil in each vehicle. He would then turn over the engines twice a year with a battery. Later I drained the oil out of both vehicles I bought from them and it was perfect.  Eventually, Mrs.H contracted an auction house to clear out the property, and the Harley was included. It took a few days to convince Mrs.H to pull the Harley out of the auction; she was a good negotiator. In those days I had no way to determine its market value. It was purely an impulse purchase. Technically it was a 'barn-find', but neither the phrase nor the idea existed in 1991, at least to me. When people found out how much I paid, they said it was too much for a motorcycle so old, and I was embarrassed. For the next five years, I hid it in my grandfather’s garage. In 1996 my grandfather passed on and the bike had to be moved. An acquaintance who was deeply into vintage Harley-Davidsons saw it and pointed out every period aftermarket part it had. He convinced me that I should not be ashamed of its old dusty appearance (“patina” was not yet in common use) and should just ride it.

For a 'patina' bike still running on its 1950s tires, the 1947 UL looks pretty darn good today! [Travis Biggs]
That first year of riding was a challenge. Most of my motorcycle experience was on my dad's Honda CB125. The Honda and the Harley occupied two separate universes: the Honda was an appliance, happy and willing to do your bidding. The Harley required your attention and respect. Spark advance is controlled with the left hand grip. The old timers said there were two rules of starting: retard the timing and never let your leg get 'straight.' Once, I forgot about the timing, ended up with a numb foot and considered myself fortunate. Failure to heed both pieces of advice could cause one to do a nose dive over the handlebars. The clutch took some time to master, as it has no spring return  - luckily it's not a 'suicide' clutch that does have a spring. The foot clutch was the source of my only accident, that happened at 2mph, with my feet on the ground desperately trying to hold the bike back. Things came to a stop when the front tire hit the middle of a lilac bush. The Harley and I were immersed in fragrant foliage, engine still chugging away. No harm done, except to my ego.

A closer look at the hand shifter and original paint fuel tank of the 1947 UL, plus the cracked but original Buddy seat. [Travis Biggs]
With my job in the Merchant Marine, I was out of the country most of the year, so I didn't ride the bike much. Most people commented they thought it deserved to be restored.  The 1990s saw the beginnings of collector Ferrari prices surpassing all expectations, and vehicle collecting was becoming mainstream. Body-off, better-than-new restorations were becoming the norm over traditional “mechanical” restorations. I felt considerable pressure at the time to restore the Harley, and though I wish it could be said that I see into the future, mostly I refused to restore it because I simply liked it exactly as it was. It had character.

Character: it's what attracts aficionados to old motorcycles. Especially bikes with an honest history, like this machine. [Travis Biggs]
Peter Egan's writing was of considerable consolation. And I'm not just saying this because I once peppered him with questions when I caught him alone at a racetrack. Peter once wrote:
"I went to high school with guys who, when they got all dressed up...slicked their hair up with some highly reflective oil product, and tended to wear suits of hard fabric with sharp creases, sometimes with a kind of greenish aurora-borealis luminescence about them...They enjoyed going through life with polished, shiny things, reflecting light on all those about them...
Others among us (I suppose I fell into this group) seemed drawn toward clothing, cars, and possessions that absorbed light to some extent, or at least contained a high contrast between glossy and obscure surfaces. Dressed for the dance, we showed up in slightly tweedy fabrics- usually in some color that seemed to be celebrating the annual peat harvest..."
Peter Egan, 'Wooden Boats', Road & Track, August 1991.

As Mrs.H might have said, 'they're only original once!' Love her 1950s saddle shoes. [Edward Kunath]
That did it. The Harley stays like it is. In the late 90s I met a girl who I really wanted to impress; she had moved from New Zealand to my little town in Iowa. In that place and time, even a girl from Wisconsin seemed exotic. Out came the Harley. The Kiwi girl got a job downtown on the third floor of an old brick building. This was our routine: At 5pm I would ride the Harley to her office, stop in front of the building and rev the engine. She waved to me from the third story open window, like Maria in West Side Story, to express her appreciation for open pipes.
In the fall of 1998 we rode that old beast in matching vintage WWII 'Ike' jackets. To use a NZ expression, I thought I was the “cat's pajamas”.  Not sure this was true, but this was the best life I could manage at the time. She married me, so maybe the Harley worked some magic.

[Travis Biggs]
According the the Early Karmann Ghia Registry, Mrs.H sold me the 23rd-oldest-known Karmann Ghia in the world. Twenty-eight years later, I still have the car, the Belgian double shotgun, the motorcycle and the girl. Thank you, Mrs.H.

Mr.H clearly wanted to document the state of his 1947 Harley-Davidson UL, even in the 1950s. Dig that low registration number. [Edward Kunath]
Current State of the 1947 Harley-Davidson UL

It's embarrassing to admit that during my entire ownership, I've ridden the UL on its original 1950s tires. You can see from the original photos the distinctive balding pattern on the rear Firestone. By the 2000s, an older and far more prudent motorcycle friend had strongly encouraged me on more than one occasion, using words well known to sailors, to change the tires or stop riding it. From then on I rode it only for short distances and at low speeds. Sometimes I'd take it out for our local, weekly Harley block party. The owner is a keen motorcyclist and offered me two irresistible lures: a parking spot directly in front of the band to show it off and free beer.

The bike in all its 1950s glory: very little has changed, despite decades in barn storage. [Edward Kunath]
Vehicle Details
● The hood ornament on the front fender, as best as I can determine, is from a 1949 Buick.
● The exhaust pipe is open, contains no baffling. My best guess is that Tom, the original owner,
made it.
● When I first purchased it, the butterfly valve at the end of the exhaust pipe was a mystery to me. My grandfather, born in 1914, knew immediately what it was. When closed, the engine warms up more quickly. In the past 33 years I have taken pains to make as few changes as possible. The photos from 1955 confirm the current condition. Here's what has changed:
● The tires were re-tubed.The oil tank and lines were removed for internal cleaning.
● A section of exhaust pipe on the rear cylinder had a hole. The exhaust covering was very carefully unwrapped. A new section of pipe was locally made in mild steel. The original covering was wound back into place. Repair is now invisible.
● Period Saddlebags have been added. The chrome bag mounting plates are original to the bike.
● The Linkert carb was removed and thoroughly cleaned in a commercial ultrasonic cleaner. A
Rubber Ducky float was installed along with a complete and correct carb rebuild kit from linkertcarbs.com. The ultrasonic cleaner, while effective, over-cleaned the carb exterior. Since then, the brass has gained patina and looks correct.

 

Ed Kunath is a refugee from the corporate world, a Merchant Marine engineer, world traveler, entrepreneur, and motorcycle/car collector/restorer in Iowa.

Mama Don't Take My Autochrome

Sorry for the earworm; I'm just passing it along, as I can't discuss the story of the world's first successful color photography without Paul Simon intruding on the soundtrack.  Putting that aside for now, let's talk about the Lumiére brothers, August and Louis, who were deeply involved in the business of photography, and patented many processes and techniques that advanced the science of still and motion pictures.  For example, they patented the film perforations used forever after on roll film and cinematic film, and patented a cine camera in 1895 that could record, develop, and project motion pictures.

The Lumiére brothers, who invented the film sprocket and a functional cinema, but tossed all that aside to create a viable color photography medium. [Wikipedia]
The Lumiéres did not invent the cinema camera or the concept of the 'movie', as various forms of moving images had been around for decades, including the Zoetrope and other stop-motion optical devices.  But a photographic movie was novel, and while they weren't the first to make a motion picture, the Lumiére brothers were the first to project a film at a public screening, on March 22 1895, in Paris.   The screening was part of a conference put on by the brothers to show their developments in photography, and progress towards color photography, and it's said they were surprised that the audience was far more interested in the movies than in their lectures.  That fascination lingers to this day, but the Lumiéres couldn't understand it, and considered movies "the an invention without any future".  They refused to sell their cinematic equipment to aspiring filmmakers like Georges Méliès, and by 1903 had abandoned their cinematic research to focus on color photography, their true interest.  The brothers worked with early forms of color photography like interference heliography (the 'Lippman process') and a subtractive gum bichromate process they demonstrated at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900.

A 1914 Autochrome showing a British despatch rider on a single-speed belt drive 'Trusty' Triumph, at the Battle of Marne. [photo by Jules Gervais Courtellemont]
In 1903 they patented a new process that specified very fine, transparent potato starch dyed different colors (orange/green/violet), mixed in a gelatin emulsion for an even distribution of the colored grains, and laid on glass with lampblack (carbon) filling the gaps between the grains, using pressure to ensure a only single layer of grains were used: this layer was then covered in shellac, and a panchromatic silver halide layer added, which was the light-sensitive material that would ultimately fix the image [the full process is described below]. They dubbed the process Autochrome.  The process launched commercially in 1907: the four-year gap between the patent and actual production was necessary to invent(!) the industrial machinery necessary to produce sensitized glass plates on a large scale. The Autochrome was the first successful, commercially-produced color photography system.

Possibly the world's first color image of an automobile, taken in 1906, before the Autochrome process was commercially available. The girl in the 1902 8 HP Renault is Suzanne Lumière, daughter of Louis Lumiére, and the photo was taken by him during the experimental phase of the Autochrome process. [PreWarCar.com]
Color 'film' as we know it would not be introduced until the mid-1930s, so for 25 years or so, the Autochrome was the principal color photo process used by professional and amateur photographers.  Most notable among the pros was Jacque-Henri Lartigue, whose photos of his wife Bibi exploit the dreamy, pointillist quality of the Autochrome to reflect his loving gaze.  Not everyone loved that hazy quality, though, and the search was on for a crisper technique, which was eventually developed using multiple layers of colored dye on film, which had a much, much finer grain that was nearly invisible to the human eye.

The artistic avant-garde meets the aviation avant-garde in this Autochrome in this gorgeous shot of a Nieuport 23 C1, taken likely in 1917 when the machine was still a prototype, given the lack of ID numbering on the plane. [Wikipedia]
But many artists and photographers embraced the 'limitations' of the Autochrome as its principal charm: after all, Monet had painted the last of his 'Water Lillies' series in 1899, only 8 years before Autochrome was commercially produced, and George Seurat's distinctive Pointillist style used that same dreamy quality, which suited the artistic tendencies of the era perfectly.  When applied to an image of an airplane, a car, or a motorcycle, the Autochrome became more of a work of art, contradicting the popular narrative that photographs were 'documentary' and captured some kind of truth in the world, to the extent of being used as evidence in court proceedings.  But all photographs must be taken with a grain of salt, as artists were the most famous early adopters of the photographic process, and understood it as a medium for expression, if a photo was to be considered successful.   Even 'documentarians' like Matthew Brady, when capturing the after-effects of Civil War battles, dragged cannonballs and corpses around to create a better composition.

Jacques-Henri Lartigue used the Autochrome process extensively in the early years of the century: here his wife Bibi rides an interesting wheeled contraption, the precursor of the Big Wheel. He took several photographs using B/W film of his friends riding this machine, too. [Lumiére]
The Autochrome process was thought lost for decades, as the technical details and machinery required to produce the plates (and later film versions of the medium, produced until the mid-1950s) were long gone by the 21st Century.  A revised version of the process was recently developed by the Penumbra Foundation in NYC, and the patent process is underway for possible small-batch production or even large-batch, if a reborn company like Polaroid wants to branch out into new/old territories.  I'd certainly like to try it!

A c.1914 Martinsyde V-twin with sidecar caught on Autochrome.

The Autochrome process described:

Source potato starch grains measuring between 0,006-0,025mm: dye three batches, respectively in violet, green and orange, using water-based dyes.  Mix the grains thoroughly.  On a glass plate (0.9 - 1.8mm thick - 'single strength' glass), lay a thin gelatin or water-based varnish layer, and blow or dust the still-sticky layer with the dyes starch grains: blow or dust off the surplus grains.  Add a layer of very fine lampblack (carbon) over the top, to fill in the gaps between the colored grains.  Use pressure to ensure the resulting layer is only one grain thick.  Apply clear varnish to seal and make waterproof.  In a darkroom, add a layer of panchromatic emulsion.  If you've made a large sheet of glass (the typical production method), cut plates to the desired size (eg, 4x5" et al).  Store the plates in a light-tight container for future use in a plate camera.

A romantic shot of Bibi Lartigue at breakfast. [Jacque-Henri Lartigue]
Kids at play in Paris, 'The Grenata Street army' by Leon Gimpel, 1915.

A coastal shot reminiscent of the romantic paintings of the late 1800s. [unknown]
The dyed potato starch grains, with lamp black infill, in a greatly enlarged image. [wikipedia]
Congolese soldiers in the Belgian army in WW1. Since most of Africa was under the control of various European colonizers, WW1 was played out on that continent too, with over a million African soldiers taking part in the fighting. As well, France sent over 450,000 African troops to fight the Germans at their front lines in France and Belgium. The Belgian military conscripted their colonial subjects mostly to fight at home, but some few hundreds of Congolese soldiers did fight on the Western Front. [unknown]
A 1910 Autochrome of Foolish House at Ontario Beach Park. [Eastman Museum]
Stagecoach omnibuses in Ghent, Belgium in 1912. [photo by Alfonse Van Besten]
 

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.

The Vintagent Archive: 1973 Daytona Bike Week

Daytona Bike Week traces it roots to the 1937 origins of the Daytona 200 beach races, as a spontaneous gathering of racing fans who traveled to Florida to 'watch 'em howl...down in Daytona' [re: Vance in The Loveless].  As there was money to be made from vacationing bikers, the gathering was soon supported and organized by the Daytona Chamber of Commerce, despite a tradition of rowdy behavior and a legacy of as many as 20 rider deaths every year.  Various associated events are organized around Bike Week, in Volusia County (the DeLand Bike Rally in Downtown DeLand on the first Saturday of Bike Week), and in DeLeon Springs.  These days approximately 500,000 people make their way to Daytona for the 10-day event. Festivities include motorcycle racing, concerts, parties, and street festivals. The event is usually held on the first full week of March (including the Fri-Sat-Sun prior to) and contends with the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally as the most popular motorcycle rally in the United States.

This Honda CB750 chopper sports a custom chassis (likely from AAE or similar provider), extended springer forks with dual 'discs' on the 16" front wheel. The rider's helmet is intriguing, and the street is lined almost exclusively by customized Harley-Davidsons and Hondas, but I do spot one BMW in the rear. That's a c.1971 Ford Maverick too. [The Vintagent Archive]
A collection of slides from the 1973 Daytona Bike Week recently arrived in The Vintagent Archive, a slideshow of a particular moment in time, with a unique flavor: the first years of the Japanese four-cylinder roadsters, the apex years of early chopper development post-Easy Rider, the cars and businesses of the period.  I don't know the builders of some of these choppers, nor the names of participants, so if you recognize anyone, please give a shout!  Otherwise, enjoy a trip back in time.

Trikes and choppers at the Rat's Hole Chopper Show: this VW-powered trike looks like a Big Daddy Ed Roth knockoff, similar to the one in our story of the 1973 First International Motorcycle Art Show. With a low center of gravity, high power-to-weight ratio, and lots of rubber on the ground, these trikes can haul ass. [The Vintagent Archive]
A very different, far cruder trike than the show example: this machine is likely built around a Harley-Davidson Servi-Car chassis, with an EL Knucklehead motor, and extended solid forks. With lots of rake and little trail, a very short wheelbase, and a high center of gravity, it was probably a handful to ride. Note a trio of Suzukis behind: two TR500 Titans and a TS250 Savage. [The Vintagent Archive]
Coney Island Style! Amazing that a 12V Harley-Davidson FL Duo-Glide generator can support so many lights, but this machine is all style front tip to toe. Read our article on the origins of Coney Island bikes here. [The Vintagent]
Hot rods too! This amazing period show car has six carbs mounted on a V8, and expressive fiberglass moulding. A baroque evolution of the T-bucket roadster hot rods of the 1940s. [The Vintagent Archive]
Trouble afoot: a few of the Pagan's MC walk the strip, checking out the bikes...possibly to steal. [The Vintagent Archive]
Two for the show. A lineup of extended-fork choppers, the nearest one in luscious lavender with a Triumph engine, at the Rat's Hole chopper show. [The Vintagent Archive]
Wild in the streets! A gaggle of customized bikes, mostly Harley-Davidson Sportsters but a Triumph is the most radical bike in the lineup. Note the Yellow Submarine sandwich shop - a popular play on the Beatles' 1968 animated film. [The Vintagent Archive]
Meet me at the Red Room. Riders on Triumph and Harley-Davidson customs are watched over by a lone policeman. [The Vintagent Archive]
The Coney Island bike gets underway, with rider and passenger surrounded by lights. Note the tip of a 1940s Indian Chief fender on the right. [The Vintagent Archive]
 

 

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.

 


First International Motorcycle Art Show: 1973

Art and motorcycles: today the words sit comfortably together, but in times past that pairing would be met with scoffs.  While motorcycles have been explored as a subject matter for over a century, it took many decades for motorcycles to be considered a suitable medium for an artist with a respected career, or for 'motorcycle artists' to be taken seriously.  It's still a struggle, and I've had many conversation with 'fine' artists who fear being pigeonholed if they dig too deeply into their love of bikes.  And yet they carry on because they feel compelled, and not because it's a good career move. Some artists, like the Futurists in the 'Teens, respond to the energy and freedom of motorcycles - their kinetic potential and implications for mobility.  Other artists are passionate about riding, with an inner compulsion to explore motorcycles as their subject matter (e.g. Billy Al Bengston, Conrad Leach, et al.).  And some artists - collectively known as customizers - approach the motorcycle directly as their medium, modifying them to suit their vision, whether as art per se or as a functional sculpture (e.g. Ian Barry, Ron Finch, etc).

The mailer for the First International Motorcycle Art Show at the Phoenix Art Museum, sent out in July 1973. [PAM]
While the Guggenheim's 'The Art of the Motorcycle' exhibit was groundbreaking, and significantly shifted the popular view of motorcycles by putting those words together in a respected institution, it was not the first museum exhibit to declare the possibility of motorcycles as works of art.  That credit appears to belong to the Phoenix Art Museum (PAM), and its Director Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr III, who curated the First International Motorcycle Art Show (FIMAS) in 1973.  This long-forgotten museum exhibit was amazingly innovative, and deserves recognition as the first of its kind to include motorcycles as more than just examples of contemporary industrial design, or worse, as objects undeserving of 'high culture' attention.  The aims of the exhibit were explicitly laid out by its curator: to show that motorcycles, especially customized motorcycles, deserved inclusion in the canon of Art.

"Mrs. Gerald Caniglia, center, escorts children of 'Opportunities for Wider Learning', a summer church group, through the Phoenix Art Museum. Mrs. Caniglia is co-chairman of the docent membership coffee." From the Arizona Republic, August 26 1973, by Joy Coolidge. [PAM]
From a PAM press release on July 18, 1973: "The motorcycle is a work of art,” Goldthwaite H Dorr III, director of the museum, commented on the upcoming show. “As an example of functional design, it has shown fascinating evolution.  Since World War II, cyclists have been tinkering with and modifying cycles -- creating extreme designs in ‘choppers’ and ‘cafe racers’, for example. The use of chrome and paint and welding torch have made these developments possible,” he said.

"Luis Jiminez [sic], 'Cycle', 1969-70. Fiberglass. Lent by Donald B. Anderson, Roswell New Mexico." Luis Jiménez was an important American sculptor, who occasionally explored motorcycles, and 'Cycle' was sold in an edition of 5 examples, most recently in 2023 for $115,000. [PAM]
The notion that motorcycles deserved inclusion in art museums was a radical proposition in 1973.  While motorcycle sales were booming at the time, and Honda led the charge to re-brand them as suitable for the 'nicest people', there was still tremendous animosity towards motorcyclists in popular culture - newspapers, television, books, and film.  Only three years after the release of 'Easy Rider', riders still lurked in dark corners of the imagination as outlaws and outsiders at best, and drugged-up rapists and murderers at worst.  How brave, then, to present an exhibition of motorcycles and related artwork in an art museum, not as cultural novelties, but as cutting-edge aesthetic expressions worthy of an exhibition.

"Equestrian Monument to the Pepsi Generation, the Fatal Version. John Balsley ,1968. Lent by Frank H. Porter of Chagrin Falls OH". Shades of the later work of Jeff Decker! [PAM]
Pop-culture references of motorcycles shifted radically over the course of the 20th Century.  Their dynamism, modernity, and personal freedom were first celebrated artistically by the Futurists, starting in 1909 (see our article on Futurist representation of motorcycles here).  After World War 2, American culture in particular developed a fear of riders' independence, coupled with an uneasy feeling of menace.  Those feelings were exploited by Jean Cocteau in his 1949 masterpiece 'Orphée', where a pair of motorcyclists served as Death's henchmen (see our article on the origins of the Dark Rider trope here). Aprés Cocteau, le déluge: the mis-representation of events at the 1948 Hollister Rally by Life magazine, its subsequent magnification in the short story 'Cyclists' Raid' in Harpers Magazine (by Frank Rooney, 1951), and the film developed from that story, 'The Wild One' (1953), launched a full-blown culture war against motorcyclists.  In popular media, that war has lasted for decades, and still echoes today in Sons of Anarchy, The Bikeriders movie, etc. The public is fascinated by depravity, and this is our mirror in popular media: the cut-off wearing 1%er thug. Women riders remain mostly invisible, unless they're double-D-cup warriors (e.g., Barb Wire, and Russ Meyer's Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!).

"Suzanne Brenner 'Communication #3 - Man and Motorcycle', oil on canvas, 1971, loaned by AT&T." [PAM]
Despite all this cultural baggage, GH Dorr III gathered an extraordinary collection to Phoenix:  painters, sculptors, photographers, custom builders, and vintage bike collectors. Open for less than one month, from August 8 - September 2 1973, the FIMAS included vintage, antique, and customized motorcycles, as well as drawings, paintings, and sculpture with the theme of motorcycling. Painters included Phyllis Krim, who was known for her depictions of classic vehicle in the NYC art scene of the 1960s/70s.  Sculptors included Luis Jiménez, whose 7' tall fiberglass motorcyclist had as much presence as the real deal.  Photographers included Danny Lyon. Customizers included several legends: Kenny 'Von Dutch' Howard, Ron Finch, and Ed 'Big Daddy' Roth.  It was one hell of a show.

Goldthwaite 'GH' Higginson Dorr III, Director of the Phoenix Art Museum, sitting a 1915 Cyclone board track racer, loaned by James F. Brucker of Movieworld in Buena Park CA. [PAM]
Goldthwaite H Dorr III

Clearly a man of vision, Mr Dorr had previously been an Assistant Curator at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, a curator at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art,  and was President of the Board of Trustees for the Shemer Art Center in Phoenix.  'GH', as he preferred to be called, came from a distinguished family line, as his grandfather Goldthwaite Higgison Dorr was a famous New York lawyer appointed to important Federal positions, and was something of a mentor to Richard Nixon at his law firm.  If you're a fan of the Coen brothers movie The Ladykillers, Tom Hanks plays 'Professor' Goldthwaite Higginson Dorr, who is visually modeled after the original G H Dorr's famous goatee, which earned him a front page photo in Istanbul while an attaché in Turkey, as he 'looked like Mark Twain.' He's even captured in Richard Nixon's infamous 'White House Tapes' on August 18 1972, in which Nixon suggests G H spend his next birthday at the White House.

From a contemporary newspaper clipping in 1973 of Goldthwaite H. Dorr III, the Director of the Phoenix Art Museum. “We're trying to educate those people who think art is very limited.” [PAM]
GH was not his grandfather, though, and images from the exhibition suggest he was a positive and curious soul, about whom his friends and family cared deeply.  They were enthusiastic about my interest in this long-ago exhibit, and I am immensely grateful to them for forwarding my questions to GH, despite his being in hospice and quite unwell by the time I finally tracked him down this Spring.  The following are my questions to GH Dorr III, and his responses.

GH Dorr and the staff of the Phoenix Art Museum, with a few of their exhibits for FIMAS: a 1968 chopper 'Flipper with 180degree Bends' loaned by Fletcher Benton of San Francisco CA; a 1915 Indian (loaned by James F. Brucker), a 1930 Moto Guzzi ('Mr. and Mrs. Thomas H. Brodek'); a 1953 Ariel Square Four chopper by Audie Hennington and Ron's Modern Cycle (loaned by Audie Hennington); and the 1915 Cyclone (loaned by James F. Brucker). [PAM]
What was the inspiration for the First International Motorcycle Art Show?

GH: As a boy in New York City and overseas just after WWII, motorcycles always caught my attention, and always ‘turned peoples heads.’ Years later, as Director of the Phoenix Art Museum in 1973, the motorcycle movie Easy Rider had become a cultural phenomenon inspiring freedom in style and motion.  I thought it would be a novel and powerful idea to tap into that movement and bring that free-wheeling spirit of motorcycles-as-art to the people of Phoenix.  And I believed it would further broaden the Phoenix Art Museum’s appeal to the wider community in Arizona and beyond.

Artist Fumio Yoshimura, whose drawing 'Motorcycle' (1973) was included in the exhibit: he is best known among motorcyclists for his full-scale wooden sculpture of a Honda CB350. Yoshimura was married at the time to noted artist Kate Millett, who dedicated her book 'Sexual Politics' to him. [PAM]
How was the idea of 'motorcycles as art' viewed at the time?

GH: Especially so soon after some of the turmoil of the 1960s and early 1970s, the idea of bringing motorcycles in as art was viewed at the time as a bold experiment to say the least.  It certainly pushed traditional boundaries beyond the usual art forms of paintings, photography, and sculpture.  While the museum’s board of trustees approved the exhibit, some trustees were more receptive than others, and the ‘jury was still out.’  Nevertheless, I believed the exhibit would be a hit, bringing both art and motion to life. 

Gary Judy on his Ed Roth custom trike: please read our related article on this machine, 'Freedom Means Truckin on His Trike'. [PAM]
How were you able to gather all those different motorcycles?

GH: That was the secret sauce of this exhibit – sourcing the best motorcycles of all kinds, all vintages, all styles – and shipping them to the museum in time to prepare for the opening.  Once we got the word out that we were putting on this exhibit, motorcycle collectors and aficionados came from all over, offering their bikes to participate in this pioneering event.  When all was said and done – we had collected the finest and most diverse group of motorcycles ever.  We had vintage Indians with bicycle seats, a Cyclone with bicycle tires, classic Enfields, WWII military side cars, BMWs, Harleys, and modern ‘Choppers’ of the 1970’s with their high handlebars, chrome, and customized artistic gas tanks.  Those fashionable choppers of the time were popularized by movies like Easy Rider, so were right on trend for the times.  One chopper even had a stunningly painted gas tank by the famous 1960s/1970s artist Peter Max. 

'Aphrodisiac' by Ron Finch, based on a Harley-Davidson 74ci Shovelhead, and loaned by Ronald Zingale. [PAM]
How was the exhibition received?

GH: With all this horsepower in the museum, it was an absolute hit!  Current members and patrons were joined by many new visitors, as young and old came from near and far to experience this unique gathering of motorcycles as art.  It was thrilling to see so many coming to the Phoenix Art Museum and enjoying this event.  The exhibit stretched the bounds of interaction with art, engagement with art.  Looking back, it was amusing that the interest was so high that we even had to add signs and continuous security asking people not to touch or sit on the bikes! 

Ron Finch with 'Aphrodisiac', from the Arizona Republic of Aug. 9, 1973: "Ron Finch, owner of Finches Custom Style Cycle Shop in Pontiac, Mich., sits in front of one of the cycles he has on display at the First International Motorcycle Art Show which opened Wednesday at the Phoenix Art Museum. Admission to the show is free. It will run through Sept. 5." [PAM]
What was the legacy of the exhibit?

GH: In the end this exhibit was a truly unique, pioneering experiment -- ahead of its time in bringing exciting art to people and more people to art.  Twenty five years later in 1998, it was exciting and gratifying to see that the Guggenheim Museum in New York held a similar and very popular “The Art of the Motorcycle” exhibit.  We also had fun in the 1970s bringing the “Space Art Exhibit” to the Phoenix Art Museum and community (moonrocks, astronauts, and Bob and Louise McCall)!

"Mrs. Herbert Heath, a Docent since 1937, staff volunteer research assistant, gathered facts for the current chopper exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum. Her source of information was magazines bought at newsstands." Arizona Republic, Aug. 26 1973. She's sitting on Ron Finch's Honda CB750-based 'Yellow Canary' (loaned by Jack Allen). [PAM]
The First International Motorcycle Art Show is no longer forgotten, and can now be acknowledged as a pioneering and visionary effort on the part of GH Dorr III and the Phoenix Art Museum.  Many of the painters, sculptors, and photographers in the exhibit became important figures in the art world, and of course several of the motorcycle builders were already famous in 1973, and are today considered icons of the 'custom culture' movement. GH Dorr III clearly had his finger on the pulse of a movement that had yet to be named, twenty years before the Art of the Motorcycle exhibit changed everything about motorcycles, forever.

'Cherub', built by Al Lostetter from a 1958 Harley-Davidson Sportster. "Designed, built, and painted by Al Lostetter." [PAM]
Many thanks to Shonna James, President of the Shemer Art Center, for connecting me to GH Dorr's family, and to the staff of the Phoenix Art Museum, especially Aspen Reynolds (archivist for PAM) who dug back 50 years for the material used in this article.  All of us at The Vintagent thank GH Dorr's family for their support and assistance in making the interview possible.  Godspeed, GH!

The Ed Roth trike owned by Gary Judy, the subject of a Phoenix Gazette article (Aug 30 1973), 'Freedom Means Truckin' on His Trike.' [PAM]
Detail shot from a 1973 Honda CB750-based chopper, "Designed an built by Dan Painter, and painted by Terry Lee." (loaned by Dan Painter). [PAM]
A 1972 Bultaco Pursang, 'dans son jus', loaned by Stan Foster of Phoenix AZ. [PAM]
Kenny 'Von Dutch' Howard at the opening reception of FINMAS. [PAM]
A selection of postcards produced for FIMAS, showing a 1913 Indian (loaned by James F. Brucker), 'Flipper with 180degree Bends' 1968, loaned by Fletcher Benton of San Francisco CA, and a 1930 Moto Guzzi loaned by Thomas H. Brodek. [PAM]
'Kaleidocycle' by Ron Finch, based on a 1966 BSA A65. [PAM]
The 1968 Clymer-Munch Mammüt modified by 'Von Dutch', and loaned by Robert Burns of Phonenix AZ. [from 'The Art of Von Dutch', 2006]
 

 

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.

 


Summer Time is Rally Time

Summer Rally: when nerds gather to point out the many ways your bike is wrong.  Right?  Nah, not all of them.  The 2024 Velocette Owner's Club summer rally was my 33rd week-long, 1000-mile event with the club.  As you might have guessed, I've owned a lot of motorcycles over the past 45 years, so what brings me back to this event rather than others?

My '65 Triumph Bonneville, checking out one of the very many abandoned ranch houses out West. [Paul d'Orléans]
It's the people, and the riding, and the bikes, in that order.  Good, eccentric folk ride Velocettes; it was always thus, I reckon even when they were winning TT races in the 1920s-60s (last one was the 1967 Clubman's TT).  And, riding a charming old motorcycle through beautiful countryside is a balm for the soul, and I feel spiritually refreshed cruising the curves on a motorcycle.  And the motorcycles are really fun to see, discuss, and ride.  If you're nice, most folks will allow you a little saddle time if you're curious about a bike you've never tried: it's how I got a hankering for a Moto Guzzi Falcone actually, after riding John Ray's lovely example on a summer rally many moons ago.

The parking lot of the excellent Nordic Inn in McCall Idaho was ground zero for fun: here are a few of the vintage BMWs ready for adventure, built long before the ADV BMW (GS) was invented. Mark Stephenson contemplates the days ahead with his pipe. [Chad Powell]
For starters, it's pretty much the only rally of its type, although in the past couple of decades other clubs and events catering to Real Riders have sprung up, including a bi-annual Vincent OC rally, and the bi-annual Cannonball and Chase events, which are great, but different.  I do love Velocettes, the hand-built singles (mostly) that are amazingly smooth and fast, with superb handling.  Which means, they're actually very comfortable for long-distance riding.  But I haven't always ridden a Velo on the VOCNA summer rally, including this year, as my 1960 Venom Clubman balked at the modifications I'd made over the past few months, and simply refused to start.

McCall local Mark Weinrobe's Velocette Venom Special was not quite ready to go, but he gave us excellent advice on 'alternative routes' for extra credit fun. [Paul d'Orléans]
So the trusty '65 Triumph Bonneville, the first motorcycle Suzie Heartbreak and I bought together, would have to do.  I felt guilty at first, and even brought the Venom along in the van to the rally hub at the Nordic Inn in McCall Idaho, thinking I might dig in and work on the magneto, maybe sort the issue.  But after driving two days to get there (some did it in one, as I did on the way home to San Francisco), I was more interested in socializing that getting oily, again.

We entered four states: Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Montana. This is eastern Oregon on the way into Idaho at Hell's Canyon. Twisties much? What a road! [Blaise Descollanges]
Have you ridden in Idaho?  This rally, organized by Kim Young, was a 900-mile loop, starting in McCall, with successive nights at Wallowa Lake OR, Lolo Pass MT, Salmon ID, Stanley ID, then a return to McCall.  35 riders joined in; men and women, young an old, with about half the entries on Velocettes, and half on other vintage machinery, ranging from a '79 Honda CBX, a quartet of BMW /2s, two Triumphs, a BSA Gold Star, a Yamaha XS650 LTD, a Honda 250 dirtbike, and what have you.  In other words, while the club is all about keeping Velocettes alive and kicking, we're agnostic about what you ride on the rally, with the hope that someday you'll buy a Velocette, or get the one you own running, and bring it along.  There's no better place for expert / experienced advice and a helping hand to sort issues.

The nighttime mechanical school is in session, looking like a Rembrandt. [Blaise Descollanges]
Issues?  The #1 issue for older bikes that use a magneto is the magneto itself.  They're aging, rebuild specialists seem pretty dodgy, and modern capacitors fail regularly or are installed badly.  In sum, if your mag is spotty, you will have no fun at all.  My magneto was the reason I wasn't riding my Venom - well actually it was an alternator conversion that didn't regulate voltage properly, that caused my new electronic ignition conversion to freak out and misfire, so I put the mag back on, and the bike wouldn't start.  Too much fun!  But, I had a backup, and it's Suzie's favorite, so somebody was happy.

Junk or gems? Derek Dorresteyn brought his superb BSA DBD34 Gold Star: an uncompromising riding position for touring, but he made every mile. [Blaise Descollanges]
Mind you, I tried to break it.  We visited the Bayhorse ghost mining town, and noted that the whole state park is designated an OHV area, with tons of trails.  So what we were two up on a 60-year old air-cooled Triumph on street gearing, surely we could make the 4000' climb to the top of the mountain?  We got about 5 miles in before the Triumph objected, fouling its plugs from heat and altitude, so we listened to her discomfort and turned back on the steep and rocky ATV track.  Almost!

Not to be confused for a road: a rockslide took the place of an ATV trail at several points on this crumbling mountainside. A lot to ask two-up... [Susan McLaughlin]
As we had a local guide (Mark Weinhorse) giving us notes on good dirt roads in Idaho, we took several of them, which were more civilized than the ATV trail, and took us through some lovely countryside.  Living half the year on a dirt road in Mexico has definitely eased my comfort on gravel and dirt!  No panic there.  And, the Triumph handles beautifully on dirt.

 

Quite a few riders took Mark's advice on good gravel roads to explore. [Melissa Guerrero]
Mid-July is increasingly warm these days, and vexed by wildfires.  We had variable visibility over our week, and mostly poor air quality, which is too bad as the mountains we rode through are absolutely spectacular. We still had a great time, stopped at cool old bars, restaurants, antique shops, and the occasional hot springs, of which there are very many.  Some of our crew hiked an hour uphill in the full sun to reach...hot water, which was perhaps not so refreshing, but was still enjoyable, especially the body temp waterfall.   We tried to swim every day in rivers and lakes, and only missed one day, when we chose to drive the chase truck, and got in late after hauling the only Harley-Davidson on the rally to the only H-D shop on our route, in Lewiston.  The staff at Hell's Canyon H-D fixed the issue with no charge, and the bike was back in action in an hour.  One Velocette was hors de combat after partially melting a piston, likely due to a failing magneto; another Velo lost its sparks...see above.

One of many local hot springs, both natural and developed, along the route. Northern Idaho and Montana have a LOT of natural hot springs. [Kim Young]
Riders ages varied from 18 to 78, with the average probably mid-50s, which is pretty good for today's vintage motorcycle scene that can look like a box of  we make a point of inviting younger riders to join us.  The camaraderie is second to none, and there's always an unplanned adventure or two to join in, from local dirt roads off the route (but not too far off), local hikes, seaplane rides, hot springs, mountain hikes, or in my case, a gorgeous canyon to explore on the way to the rally, for taking a few mototintypes.

No geotag: America's canyonlands are simply amazing. [Paul d'Orléans]
The bottom line?  Get out on your bike, and see the world.  It doesn't have to be a full week, but you'll feel better if you do.  It's a great way to clear your head.

Our hotel acommodations were simple and charming. JK - it's a ghost town. [Blaise Descollanges]
First time VOC rally attendess Sean Duggan and John Klein, with their vintage BMWs (R69S and R50/2). Bayhorse State Park, Idaho. [Blaise Descollanges]
Simon Peters with his Velocette Venom; ran like a clock. [Paul d'Orléans]
Local texture abounds, and there are always old trucks to look at out West... [Blaise Descollanges]
...and sometimes you take the discovery home! Scotty Sharp spotted this '74 BMW R90S near McCall. [Scotty Sharp]
Carl Greenlund, our next President (whose job is to organize the next year's rally) pokes around on one of the 1940s rigid-frame MSS models he brought to the party. [Blaise Descollanges]
Outgoing president Kim Young with her very reliable 1930 Velocette KSS, at the Wallowa Lake Lodge in Oregon. [Paul d'Orléans]
Melissa Guerrero borrowed Carl's rigid-frame 1948 Velocette MSS; one of three women riding rigids this year, and interesting subset of the rally! [Simon Peters]
Pete Young attends to a seized speedometer drive on his Velocette Venom. [Blaise Descollanges]
The Nordic Inn of McCall ID was kind enough to provide used towels for any dirty situation...and sometimes early Velos get very dirty indeed! President Kim's 1930 KSS. [Kim Young]
Extra credit adventure of a non-motorized variety: a local club member had a river raft and invited 10 lucky guests for a half-day trip down the Payette River. Among those who raised their hand was Neville Mickelson, riding in from New Zealand on his first river excursion. [Blaise Descollanges]
Nighttime problem-solving in the parking lot of the Nordic Inn in McCall ID. [Paul d'Orléans]
Charming local general stores, restaurants, antique shops, and bars were eagerly supported by our group. In front is Debbie Macdonald's 1952 Velo MAC. [Blaise Descollanges]
Leanna Abulencia-Shapli rode her modern Triumph, but might just ride a Velocette at a future rally... [Paul d'Orléans]
Headlamp nacelle cousins: a 1968 Jawa Californian and 1963 Triumph Thunderbird at our Saturday show 'n shine display. did you know Triumph copied Jawa's idea for the nacelle? Mmhmm. [Paul d'Orléans]
Local groovy 4x4s abound in the West. Always fun to see. [Paul d'Orleans]
Dana Shatt's lovely 1968 Velocette Thruxton; the only one at this year's rally, which is interesting. In years past we've had a majority of Thruxtons and Clubman models on the rally, but these days rigid-frame bikes are more common. [Chad Powell]
Suzie Heartbreak gives here opinion of riding a '65 Triumph two-up over a rock trail. [Paul d'Orléans]
Steve Eorio rode his Venom with his luggage attached - wise when the chase truck might be delayed with bike troubles... [Melissa Guerrero]
A better look at the spectacular restoration by Mark Weinrobe on his '63 Triumph Thunderbird. Yes, he's put an 18" front wheel on for easier tire selection. [Paul d'Orléans]
Rare! Scotty Sharp's BMW R50S, which is nearly as fast as the R69S, but a little lighter and revvier. [Blaise Descollanges]
President Kim Young attending her 1930 Velo KSS. [Blaise Descollanges]
Next year's rally? Incoming president Carl Greenlund shares his prospective route in northwestern Oregon, while Melisse Guerrero (1948 Velo MSS) and Leanna Abulencia-Shapli (2014 Triumph Speed Triple) help out. [Paul d'Orléans]
Look like fun?  Join the Velocette Owner's Club, get our superb (print) newsletter, and access to 3 short and one long ride per year, on the East Coast and West Coast of the USA.

 

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.

 


Artist and His Moto Guzzis - Antonio Ligabue

Solace. The word is seldom associated with the allure of motorcycling, but all of us have felt it.  The old cliché 'you never see a motorcycle parked outside a psychiatrist's office' has a core of truth: while riding a bike can be thrilling, there's a peaceful flip side to the experience. Most riders see-saw between both poles: the excitement of power at your wrist, and the calm of moving through a landscape, alone with your thoughts.  Both these inner states are addictive, and are probably equally responsible for riders' devotion to their wheels. There's little written on the subject, perhaps because sex sells, and motorcycles' sexy side gets the headlines.

Antonio Ligabue, 'Self Portrait with Motorcycle, Easel and Landscape', 1953. [Ligabue Museum]
For legendary 'outsider' artist Antonio Ligabue, motorcycling - once he discovered it - became an integral part of his self-help.  His story is tragically inspiring, as he was truly an outsider even in childhood, cast out of his family and even his native country, tormented by adversities, uprootings, loneliness, hunger, misery, and mental illness, yet producing amazing drawings, paintings, and sculptures that are considered national treasures today in his adopted Italy.  While he lived at various times in institutions, private homes, and even a rudimentary riverside hut, eventually the art he'd compulsively created began to sell, and when he had sufficient money the first thing he bought was a new Moto Guzzi...and eventually he owned 16.  Ligabue is not famous outside Europe, but there's a museum dedicated to him in his home town of Gualteri, and his life story has been the subject of many books, television series, and films, including the most recent prizewinning dramatization 'Volevo Nascondermi' (Hidden Away, 2020), which we've linked in our Film section.

Antonio Ligabue with his 1950s Moto Guzzi Astore. [Ligabue Museum]
Antonio Ligabue was born December 18th 1899 in Zurich to an unwed mother, Elisabetta Costa, who lived in Frauenfeld, working as a day laborer.  Elisabetta was Italian, and soon met and married  another Italian, Bonfiglio Laccabue, a native of Gualtieri in Reggio Emilia.  Bonfiglio adopted Antonio, giving him the surname Laccabue, and making him, according to the laws of the time, a default citizen of Gaulteri.  Despite this couple's union, they were marginalized and impoverished laborers living in a precarious state, so when Antonio was 9 months old they entrusted him to a Swiss couple, who were childless but only marginally better off.  Antonio suffered the effects of years of malnutrition, his vitamin deficiencies giving him rickets and a mal-formed skull, with consequent mental disabilities.  He learned to speak late, and exhibited an occasionally violent temperament.

 

Antonio Ligabue with one of his many leopard paintings: he had a preternatural comprehension of anatomy, and his creatures are muscular and vital, placed in landscapes observed in his home region of Reggio Emilia. [Ligabue Museum]

There were no special facilities for 'different' individuals from poor families in the early 1900s, and Antonio was repeatedly moved from various schools due to his disruptive outbursts.  In 1913 he was handed off to a Swiss couple, Johannes Valentin Göbel and Elise Hanselmann, who were also childless and poor itinerant laborers.  Antonio's health continued to deteriorate from malnourishment, and his mental health from an abusive adoptive father, and unhealthy relationship with his adoptive mother.  His last school was led by evangelical priest in Marbach, but he was expelled in 1915 because he habitually blasphemed and was caught numerous times masturbating. He did learn to read, but found his greatest solace in drawing, at which he showed astonishing facility even as a child.  In 1917 he experienced a violent nervous breakdown, and was hospitalized for three months.

His animal paintings were spectacular life-or-death struggles. [Ligabue Museum]
He did his best to repress his anger at this lifelong mal-treatment, abuse, and ailments, but it came out in furious bursts; in 1919 he attacked his adopted mother during a fight over his personal habits, and she called the police, who escorted him out of Switzerland and directly to Gualtieri, regardless he didn't speak Italian and knew nobody there.  She terribly regretted the decision, but never saw him again.  Now a stranger in a strange land, a few Gualteri locals (the ones not taunting him openly) took pity on him, providing him food and shelter at a hospice for the poor.  In 1920 he was given a job as a laborer building a road on the banks of the Po river, where he moved into an abandoned farm shed, living in very rustic conditions: taking water from the river, gathering wood for heat, eating very simply, and living with animals - he collected mice and rats, cats and dogs, occasional goats, sheep, birds, etc, plus various insects, all welcomed in a kind of menagerie. He studied the animals he encountered closely, and made carefully observed sculptures using clay dredged from the riverbanks.  Many of these survive today.

Ligabue with one of his naturalistic animal sculptures. [Ligabue Museum]
Antonio began painting in 1928, when he met local artist Renato Marino Mazzacurati, who recognized his talent and taught him how to use oil paints, giving him guidance and space to work.  This was a transformative relationship, and Ligabue devoted himself totally to painting, when not strolling for hours along the river Po. In 1937 Antonio harmed himself in a fit of self-destruction, and was hospitalized in Reggio Emilia. In 1941 the sculptor Andrea Mozzali discharged him from the psychiatric hospital and lodged him at his home in Guastalla. During WWII, Ligabue, a native German speaker, worked for the Italian army as an interpreter for German troops, but in 1945, he attacked a German soldier with a bottle, and was returned to the asylum for the next three years. He continued to paint and draw at a furious pace while hospitalized.

Ligabue with another of his Moto Guzzis, this time a 1937 GTV 500. [Ligabue Museum]
By 1948 his art was discovered by journalists, critics and art dealers, and suddenly he had sufficient income to buy what he had always longed for - a motorcycle.  Specifically, a 1937 Moto Guzzi GTV 500, with which he tooled around the countryside, enjoying his freedom and the solace of the quiet hillside roads of the Reggio Emilia region.  He cut quite a figure, typically carrying paintings on his back - many of his paintings have holes where he looped rope around his body to secure them. At times he was so entranced by riding he'd forget to fill his tank with gasoline, and had to push his motorcycle to the nearest farm or filling station.  He had no driving license - it was not possible with his psychiatric history - and was stopped many times by police, with the fines being sent to whomever was hosting him at the time.  But a loophole in the law preventing 'crazy' people from driving was found; in a bureaucratic oversight, the law did not apply to motorcycles!  He had changed his name to Legabue in his youth, not wanting to be associated with the man who had abandoned him, but the license was in his real name, Laccabue, so he refused to sign it.

The famous un-signed motorcycle license of Antonio Ligabue. [Ligabue Museum]
So, Ligubue found two escapes from the misery of his life: art and motorcycles, a heady combination, and one many artists can relate to, including myself.  Eventually he would own 16 Moto Guzzis - always in red.  Such was the bond with his Moto Guzzis that he included them in two self portraits, from 1952 and '53, 'Self-portrait with Motorcycle' and 'Self-portrait with Motorcycle, Easel and Landscape'. The Italian journalist  Edmondo Berselli, who knew Ligabue in this period, recounted how he loved to ride his motorcycle in his most desperate moments, “because the roaring and hot cylinder head of the Guzzi was the only consolation against the cold of winter and the unfathomable hostility of the world.”

Ligabue's 1952 'Self Portrait with Motorcycle'. [Ligabue Museum]
His work was subsequently included in several group exhibitions, and in 1961 he had his first solo exhibit at the Galleria La Barcaccia in Rome; his work became widely celebrated and avidly collected. He remained a tormented and lonely soul, but the success of his art, and the consequent respect he received from local villagers in Gualteri, presented some relief.  He had a bad motorcycle accident later that year, and suffered from nerve damage that nearly paralyzed him.  In 1963, he had a major retrospective in Guastalla, organized by the gallerist Vincenzo Zanardelli, which made his reputation across Europe as one of the most important Italian artist of the 20th Century.  Antonio Ligabue had truly made it as an artist, and he died at the pinnacle of his acclaim in May 1965, at the age of 65.

Installation view from 2023 Ligabue retrospective - including his motorcycles - in Trieste.  The scale of his first 'Self portrait with motorcycle' can be noted. [Revoltella Museum]
In the years since his death, his reputation has only expanded in Europe, especially with the increasing acceptance of 'outsider' art in the wider art world, best signified by the inclusion of outsider artists in the 2013 Venice Biennale.  Ligabue's story has been told in several books in different languages, and in two film projects: a 1977 trilogy on Italian TV, and the 2020 film 'Volevo Nascondermi' (Hidden Away), which won numerous awards at film festivals across Europe.   You can watch the trailer here, and follow the links on the page to watch the full film on Mubi.

Ligabue's spectacular painting of an eagle fighting a fox. [Ligabue Museum]
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.

 


The Magnolia Four - a 100 Year Motorcycle

Motorcycle designer JT Nesbitt, lately of Curtiss Motorcycles, is branching out into new-old territory with his latest design.  As a fan of the design of vintage motorcycles, and a vintage bike owner/rider, he's long pondered how one could make a successfully modern motorcycle that pushed the right emotional and aesthetic buttons for enthusiasts of vintage machines.  He's been talking about this for years in fact, sharing sketches and ideas with his peers, honing in on what might work in practice, with intention of limited production.  As an homage to his New Orleans roots, he dubbed the project the Magnolia 4.

Looking inside: the Magnolia 4 has interesting technical features that make it contemporary, and it was always JT Nesbitt's hope that solving technical problems would arrive at a beautiful motorcycle. [Bienville Studios]
The silhouette is distinctly American, with a long, low chassis housing an inline four-cylinder motor.  The Magnolia 4 consciously evokes an engine design that was the pride of the American motorcycle industry between 1910 and 1940, which was copied at times in England (think Brough Superior's fours, etc), Italy (Moto Guzzi built a racing inline 4), and Germany (think Windhoff 4, etc), but none were particularly successful 'over there', except the Belgian FN Fours and Danish Nimbus, which never had quite the .  The list of American motorcycle brands featuring inline 4-cylinder engines is long - alphabetically, Ace, Cleveland, Henderson, Indian, Militaire, and Pierce.  Simply put, they are icons of American design. The last of them left in production, the Indian 441, rolled out of the factory just before WW2, and we never saw an American inline four again.

Fully clad in CAD, the Magnolia 4 design looks at this like a long-lost member of a vanished species: the Luxury Motorcycle. [Bienville Studios]
JT Nesbitt thinks that's a shame, as the motorcycle industry has solved many of the problems vexing inline fours in their day, like torque reaction from a crankshaft in line with the frame, overheating of the rear cylinders, inadequate oiling, poor suspension, and weight.  Motorcycle designers today are blessed with computer aided design, 3D modeling, AI engineering input, and rapid prototyping; they could easily make an inline four work, and work well.  But contemporary motorcycle designers make really ugly motorcycles today, which is partly to do with environmental and legal standards, partly to do with their education, and partly the climate of fear in corporate culture.  To create an attractive inline four would require a designer who's an outsider, and JT Nesbitt is that person.

JT Nesbitt at our 'Electric Revolutionaries' exhibit at the Petersen Automotive Museum, where he was a featured designer. [Petersen Museum]
Just as William Henderson did in 1911, JT Nesbitt and his Bienville Studio team have designed a complete motorcycle, with nothing off-the-shelf.  The engine features a shaft-and-bevel overhead camshaft, internal oil cooling (no external radiators barring he engine finning), a built up crankshaft that can be configured many different ways, and a tubular finned crankcase.  The 3-speed hand-operated gearbox is a modern update on the intimidating old hand-shift system, using a centrifugal clutch driven by the second of two contra-rotating flywheels that cancel out the rotational mass of the crankshaft, rods, and pistons.  It's a robust design, intentionally over-built, and meant to last 100 years in regular use, with infinite repairability.  A little computer tech is necessary, but it's kept to a minimum in order to future-proof the motor.  It's also kickstart only, and has no batteries!

The engine is a 1750cc inline four with single overhead cam and internal oil cooling, a 3-speed gearbox, and centrifugal clutch. [Bienville Studios]
The rest of the machine will be at least visually familiar to students of Nesbitt's design for the Curtiss One eBike.  Modern, ultrastrong girder forks use contemporary shocks, while the rear end is not quite 'softail', but uses a swingarm with two triangulated air shocks: with a little calculation on weight distribution and damping rates, the Magnolia 4 should handle well, just like the One. For extra rider cush, Nesbitt has added a vintage touch - a proper saddle, with an Indian-style forward mount, a composite leaf spring bolted to the main chassis spar, and single hydropneumatic shock at the rear.  The tanks are panniers, and the fenders are riveted down the centerline, with moderate valances and flowing lines recalling the best of 1930s design.

Elegant from any angle, naked or touring: the Magnolia 4. [Bienville Studios]
The Magnolia 4 is a clearly modern design that integrates modern mechanical solutions with an aesthetic sensibility.  In other words, it is intended to be beautiful.  To my eyes, JT Nesbitt and the Bienville Team have succeeded in the design brief he's set himself: to create an elegant, timeless motorcycle with modern performance and comfort, that will look as good today as it will look in another century.   That brief worked for Henderson, Ace, and Indian, whose machines we still revere: let's hope JT can get this thing produced.

A contemporary motorcycle I would happily spend time with: the touring, full dress version of the Magnolia 4. [Bienville Studios]
For full view of the Magnolia 4's details, check out the Bienville Stuido's website, which has the most sophisticated 3D configurator of any vehicle website - two wheels or four - that I've ever seen.  It takes some time to download, but be patient, it's worth it!  If you're interested in this machine - and I know you are - you'll want to read it all, and download the PDF that's attached for even more details.

Hop on pop! Something in my bones is aching to see the Magnolia 4 become a reality. If you feel that way too, and have the means to help make it so, give JT Nesbitt a shout. [Bienville Studio]
What's next?  "We'll build a 1:1 scale model, which will be very useful, but will not be a runner.  It's to generate interest, but more importantly, you can't test ergonomics on a computer screen, and ergonomics are very important to me.  This bike fills a niche that's currently vacant.  Our pricing structure is based on the value of original American four-cylinder motorcycles: original examples of the genre - an exceptional Henderson, Ace, or Indian Four - will cost you $200,000 or more."   Early American four-cylinder motorcycles were always the most expensive bikes on the market, for good reason: they were the last word in speed, sophistication, styling, and elegance.  Will the Magnolia 4 become the next motorcycle in this lofty lineage?  I certainly hope so.

[UPDATE: in the first hours after posting this article, JT pre-sold TWO Magnolia 4s.  No I don't get a commission ;)  But he wanted to stress that his intention was to produce a dozen Magnolia 4s, and as one is for him, that means there are 9 spots left.  Given the interest already demonstrated among Vintagent readers, I'd say if you're interested, better give JT a shout. ]

 

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.

 


First Handbuilt Invitational LA 2024

 

Just in time for the 10th anniversary of Revival Cycles' Handbuilt Show in Austin, the esteemed brand of Alan Stulberg is branching out to Los Angles for the first Handbuilt Invitational.  The Handbuilt ethos is the same, to display "machines built by amateurs and professionals" with the aim of inspiring people "to work with their hands, and try and improve or repair every physical thing they own and interact with."  That's a lofty ideal for a motorcycle show...but this new iteration of the Handbuilt vibe has grown to include cars, with invited builder/collectors including heavy hitters like Icon 4x4, the Philip Sarofim collection, Jay Leno's Garage, the Petersen Automotive Museum, ArtCenter College of Design, and Race Service.  That's in addition to the usual two-wheel suspects like Shinya Kimura ('most Shinya builds in one room ever') Roland Sands Design, Christian Sosa Metalworks, and Bryan Fuller Moto.  It's an experimental mix, and should prove popular, as the social media power of the included businesses is in the mega-millions.

The expanded focus for LA includes a 'female forward' area that includes Stellar Brand, RealDeal Workshoppe, and invited womyn builders.  Mobile entertainment will be provided by Red Bull stunt rider Aaron Colton, the ever-popular Ives Brothers Wall of Death, and Saturday night live music by The Lion Heart.  Our Cannonball buddy Craig Jackman (American Electric Tattoo Co.) will be laying ink on skin, if you're so inspired.

Where and When:

DTLA Auto Storage: 1219 S. Santa Fe Ave, LA 90021

Friday July 6: 6pm-12am  (press opening 12-4pm)

Saturday July 7: 12pm-12am

Sunday July 8: 12pm-6pm