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car: my 77 Rover P6 3500 (without the blown up version of the gearbox that caused me to sell it for sod all) truly awesome fun to drive when it was going
bike: my 1972 'Onda4 CB750 (well technically all 4 that i owned over 10 years), bit cliched maybe but excellent fun and many great miles before selling due to knackered gearbox(es), it went from stocker to cafe to chopper to camo-rat and back again, still the vmax is a fine substitute and i've only blown the gearbox up once so far (and have no intention of doing so again - much aggro and expense
FYI - if anyone tells you the gearboxes on Suzuki GS850G's are bulletproof, don't believe them, killed a few of them too (not to mention the damage inflicted on a lot of long suffering vespas a long time ago, mind you some of them didn't suffer that long, i used to shove them into the side of cars on a fairly regular basis too...)
oh can the fairy bring back my GSX1100 back too? first bike i saw 250kmh on (150+mph), scary fast
The cars ahh there is a few i would like back see if you get the patern im sure im forgetten a few i didnt bother to mention the american junk or the vw's all and all the bmw cars are missed and my 50 chevy truck here the short list
85 325e
85 318
86 325e 4dr
87 325is
89 325I
85 525e
88 535I
93 525i
93 525I
93 325is
I was a euro mechanic a lot or those cars i bought directly off customers and fixed and drove for a few hundred bucks there was a few really healthy bmw's outta the bunch and i restored a couple also
I'm starting to shortlist my cars now - the Berkeley has to be in there.
Doesn't look much, but this little bugger [ my actual car ] WON the 1958 Monza 12 hour race with Lorenzo Bandini at the wheel. Finished 1st in class in the Mille Miglia.
700cc Constellation engine with twin GP carbs.
Was driven with some noteable success by Count "Johny" Larini and Jon-Goddard Watts - hence the JON 355 reg. number when it was put back on the road [ !!!! ]
I bought it from Goddard-Watts in 1967 [?], completely stripped it painted it a wicked metallic Plum colour and fitted the Shorrock blown Connie engine out of my sidecar outfit. I swapped it for a 500 Goldie and a Dommiracer [ real one ]
I spoke to the current owner when he had the part restored car on display at a show and he was very sceptical about me owning it until I askedhim if he had the original Log Book [ title ]. Well he did and imagine his surprise when I said you'll find my name and address [ which I gave him ] under the name of Jon Goddard-Watts. He produced the Log Book from his folder and yes, there I was. 8)
It's in my top 10 at the moment - but I'll stick to the rules and give one that the magic fairy can bring me back.
Here it is in it's latest "restoration" guise lst year.
The bike I never had but would like to have. Slight variation on the theme of this thread. When I was a kid I found an old photo from the 30s. It showed my uncle on Dad's Norton. He used to tell me it was a "special" Norton. Never gave me any details. At 9 years old you don't question your Dad. As the years go by you tend to wonder just how "special" that Norton was. The reg. is OF 166 which was a Birmingham reg. no. Over the years it became known simply as OF166.
Dad is almost 14 years gone (And missed every day). On another forum there was a thread about old Nortons. I put his photo up with what little info I had and forgot about it. About a year later I got an email from "Johan" in Holland. He has a Norton blog and spotted the photo and put it up on his blog. Some time later he got an email from Simon Gregson in England. Simon is a self proclaimed Norton geek and hugely knowledgeable about all things Norton.
He recognized the reg. number and sent me some photos of Stanley Woods at the 1929 TT! Dad knew it was special but didn't have all the details. He had passed away by the time I got the information. He would have been tickled pink if he had knew Stanley rode it. When I was in Ireland I met and became friends with Stanley. Stanley was my Dad's racing hero at the time. I was able to introduce my parents to Stanley and over the years they spent a lot of time visiting each other.
Dad sold it to my uncle (pictured on the machine). Who in turn sold it to another uncle. Then the WW2 broke out and it vanished. I did some searching while I was over there but without success.
I never owned that Norton but it is one Norton I would love to have.
If you look at the number plate in the shot of Stanley sitting on the Norton in the pit the numbers are white on a black background. The white on black was for practice and for race day the numbers were black on a white background.
That's allowed Hoof - after all it was in the family !
On yet another variation for the magic fairy - I DO know where one of my Tribsa race bikes is and who owns it.
When I contacted him [ just out of curiosity ] turns out he's a "collector" and had NO interest whatsoever that I was the person that built it and could give him chapter and verse. Somehow the bike being owned by an arsehole like that is probably worse than NOT knowing what became of it. :
That would probably be worse alright. I recently saw a photo of "Gunga Din" after it was restored. Very sad to see such a wonderful machine that obviously had been stripped of all its history, repainted, covered in clear coat and polished to within an inch of its life. In the line up of bikes on display it looked like just another over restored Vinnie.
In a further slight variation a long time friend in Ireland, Harry Lindsay, who rode Gunga Din to an Irish lands speed record in 1953 was a very enthusiastic collector. I bought a slimline roller (for the paltry sum of 15 quid) and it was sold to me on condition I take a box of bits that was a Norton single. The single turned out to be a 500T engine. It got put under th bench while I built the slimline into a Triton. Some years later I found the mortal remains of a 500T in a field and bough it for a fiver.
It turned out that in the 50s only seven 500Ts were imported to Ireland. Harry had one and several of his friends had the rest. I broke the Manx engine in my Norton and hastily assembled the 500T with a high comp piston and a couple of other unmentionable mods to try and make it go a bit faster than it was intended. At one event Harry spotted the engine and immediately got excited. "Phone me with the engine number tonight!!" I called him and as soon as I gave him the number he said "That's Bob Kenny's" Then I told him of the rusty relic in my shed and gave him the numbers and instantly found out it was Earl Gill's old machine. Talk about enthusiasm!!
I traded Harry the 500T engine for a 500 Weslake engine so I could find out how good a Weslake would be as a short circuit racer. It worked quite well.
Harry was the polar opposite to your "collector" friend. He set off to find all seven of the Irish 500Ts. He found six and knew where the seventh was (in a dump). Fortunately for Harry money was not a problem so he set off to restore all six. And did a wonderful job of them. He is now in his 80s but still has a great enthusiasm.
I know this thread is ancient but the last few stories are really neat. By bumping it hopefully some of the newer members can get a kick out of them like I did. Wonderful stuff.
I didn't really grow up on bikes but my best friend and now brother in law was a several time national motor cross champion. Going to watch Jon race probably was the roots for the enjoyment I have with bikes now. Bikes are cool but in the end, not really special outside of the relationships they instigate and grow between people in my, at this moment, humble opinion.
model 121 1974 360 pursang
this was my step up to the open class ,coming off an XL250....i won all three motos with it the very first race on it,and won every moto for quite a few times after that it was magic, super light and quick enough and turned like a dream
2000 Crown Vic P71 police what not. Had 275,000 miles but still ran great. Really miss that big old car.
1972 CB750. It was my first build and could have made it better given the time and using experience I grained through the build, but I sold it instead. Still miss that oil burning top heavy girl.
Yes, way back when I started it off - I was having one of those "Rose Tinted Mk9" moments - and thinking back on some of the several 100 bikes and cars I've owned / passed through my hands in the last 55 years ! 8)
It occurred to me that young whippersnappers [ say under 50 ] would have some interesting thoughts .......as there was hardly any interest - I guess not. :
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