1913 FN RESTORATION - A DIFFERENT KIND

June 2, 2016, 11:07 am

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While an actual motorcycle is the most widely understood subject of a 'restoration', in truth far more cosmetic work is performed on photographs of old motorcycles than on actual machines today. Digital media workers spend hours clarifying the information from rough old photographs - it's unsung work, done every day, by people like me. Every photo - even digital - is raw material to be shaped for particular impact; to expose technical details, establish a mood, emphasize action, or separate a machine from its background. Vintagent reader Marco Bakker sent this short film of his 'restoration' of a 1913 FN four-cylinder, from venerable arms manufacturer Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Guerre in Herstal, Belgium. The photograph was taken in 1917, with its owner Jan Lodewijk van Bekkum and his sons, taken in Giessendam, Holland. As Marco says, "Photoshop is the workshop."

I reckon this time-lapse Photoshop journey would take 3 or 4 hours in real time, which is typical for restoring a lightly damaged photograph. There's no magic button to press which makes creases, water stains, and dirt spots disappear, just a lot of skilled, detailed work. The result is a vastly more readable photograph, which is a pleasure to share.

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MATCHLESS RASING FUNDS FOR MOTORCYCLE PRODUCTION

June 3, 2016, 2:15 pm

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The 'Mail on Sunday' gives details of the Matchless bond offer, to raise cash for making motorcycles...

The Matchless name, currently embroidered on a line of moto-inspired clothing, was purchased by the Malenotti family of Italy, back in 2012. They'd previously purchased the Belstaff brand, and found considerable success selling updated moto-ish gear, after hiring supermodel Kate Moss for ads, and product-placing their gear in movies and TV shows. Rapid expansion of Belstaff retail shops around Europe meant borrowing lots of money from Italian banks, and when those banks got nervous and made 'the call' for their cash back, the Malenottis were forced to sell Belstaff. But they pulled a rabbit out of a hat, as the brand was sold for nearly 100M euros more than they owed the banks, and the Malenottis walked away smelling like a rose.

The Matchless 'Model X Reloaded' prototype

With Matchless, they've been running the same playbook, immediately hiring the evergreen Kate Moss for the next round of Matchless logo gear. The Malenottis went a step further with Matchless, though, and have stated their intention to begin limited production of Matchless branded motorcycles, and have shown the prototype Model X Reloaded, as shown here. Last Sunday's 'Mail on Sunday' newspaper noted the Original Matchless Motorcycle Company will offer a bond to investors through the online finance platform Karadoo, with the promise of a 6% annual interest rate for 5 years - considerably more than any bank offers at the moment. The £5M they intend to raise will fund the launch of 'two superbike models', neither of which is Kate Moss. But surely she'll be in the picture; she's their lucky charm. Whether the Model X Reloaded will be produced in the same configuration as the prototype shown is unclear, and I'll refrain from passing judgement on the design, except to say,

The Model X Reloaded...

Michele Malenotti designed the Model X Reloaded, and is quoted saying, "We want to build the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles...I spoke with the Rolls-Royce CEO and he told me 'congratulations, you have found a place in the market where nobody is selling right now." I don't expect the Rolls CEO to know his bikes (although their parent company BMW happens to produce motorcycles), but that's not an accurate statement. Several boutique motorcycle firms have price points far beyond typical production models, including the revamped Brough Superior SS100, and the Ecosse Moto Works Founder's Edition Titanium XX, which currently holds the #1 spot for most expensive new motorcycle at $300,000. Brough Superior's tagline has been 'The Rolls Royce of Motorcycles' since 1921, so the Matchless claim is audacious...and Brough is already delivering new bikes. In fact, I'll be test riding one next week! Stay tuned...

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VINTAGE TRIUMPH WINS MEXICAN 1000

June 16, 2016, 1:44 pm

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[My article is republished from Cycle World - check the original here]

Julian Heppekausen is the first ever to finish Baja with a ‘60s Bonneville desert sled.

Sand is perhaps the most difficult terrain for a motorcycle, but the Triumphs weight was an advantage over newer, lighter machines.

Dirt; it’s how Americans race. That was the story in 1961 anyway, when Daytona still referred to a beach. Honda wanted to crack the American market, and that meant building dirt bikes; they’d dominated global GP racing, but were mostly absent on the rough stuff. The machine they developed to spearhead an off-road push was the CL 72 Scrambler, which used the sophisticated OHC twin-cylinder motor of the CB 72 Hawk, installed in a new full-cradle frame with a bash plate and high ground clearance, high-level exhausts, minimal fenders, and a small fuel tank. To modern eyes, the Honda CL 72 Scrambler looks more enduro or street scrambler, as it was fully road legal with lights and all, but pure motocross machines were rare in 1962 – most scramblers were roadsters with their lights removed.

The easy part - a lousy dirt road is the best road you'll find in the Mexican 1000

American Honda’s lightbulb moment to launch the CL 72 was a record run over the wide-open desert of Baja, Mexico. While plenty of SoCal racing took place in California’s Mojave desert, very little happened south of Tijuana, and an audacious 1000-mile endurance test could be conducted out of the public eye. Legendary desert racer Bud Ekins was tapped, but his contract with Triumph meant Honda was a no-go, so he passed the opportunity to his equally talented younger brother Dave, who teamed with LA Honda dealer Bill Robertson Jr. No official record existed on the run from Tijuana to La Paz, so the bikes only needed to finish the 963-mile ride, and send telegrams from each end to confirm their time. That didn’t mean the prospect was easy; with no gas stations from Ensenada to La Paz (851 miles), and few villages, the riders would need to be supplied en route. The going had only a few miles of pavement, and long stretches were untracked sand through desert wilderness.

Baja buggies from vintage to new compete side by side with motorcycles

The riders’ route was scouted by air, then food, gasoline, and support were provided the same way. John McLaughlin, former Catalina GP winner (on Velocettes) piloted a Cessna 160 with Cycle World founder Joe Parkhurst and photographer Don Miller as passengers. A larger Cessna 140, piloted by Walt Fulton, carried the food and fuel for the riders, along with Bill Robertson Sr. The bikes needed 9 refills, and landable spots were chosen for riders to meet the planes. Come ride day, Ekins and Robertson sent their telegrams from Tijuana at midnight, and headed south on Highway 1. There were hardships and lots of crashes; they got strung up on barbed wire fences while sun-blinded, Ekins fell 13 times in one night, and they were lost and rode in circles for 6 hours. Robertson’s Honda holed a piston 130 miles from La Paz after crushing his air cleaner in a crash, and grit entered the motor, but he carried on with one cylinder, catching up to Ekins 2 hours after he’d clocked a 39hour, 49minute elapsed time. The point had been proven, and the publicity for Honda was certainly worthwhile, as they sold 89,000 CL 72s from 1962-68.

Historic Era entry Mark Post's highly modifed 1992 Ford F-150 racer

Not long after Honda’s ride, Bruce Meyers took his prototype Meyers Manx VW dune buggy along the same route, and lopped 5 hours off Ekins’ time – those hours spent lost at night no doubt. Thus was born a car/bike rivalry, which sparked the idea for a proper race, and Ed Pearlman founded the National Off-Road Racing Association (NORRA), which ran the first Mexican 1000 race in 1967. Motorcycles, cars, and trucks ran the same route, using a rally format, with mandatory checkpoints in the multi-day event. The Mexican 1000 was run for 6 years, before the Oil Crisis of ‘73 dampened everyone’s spirits; NORRA was disbanded, and there was no race that year. But nobody had asked Mexico’s opinion on the matter; the attention focused on the nearly vacant Baja peninsula was too good to let lapse, so they promptly announced their own Baja 1000 race over the same course. They contracted Mickey Thompson of Southern California Off-Road Enterprises (SCORE) for organization, who hired Sal Fish (of Hot Rod magazine) to created SCORE International to organize the Baja 1000, which it has done since 1974.

Hayden Roberts ('65 Triumph TR6) chats with Julian Heppekausen ('66 Triumph T120)

The rising interest in vintage dirt racing in recent years spurred Ed Pearlman’s son Mike to revive NORRA, and bring back the original Mexican 1000, with its multi-day rally format. Started in 2009, the race originally catered to pre-1998 motorcycles, cars, and trucks; now there are classes for modern vehicles as well, in case your 800hp trophy truck needs exercise between professional Baja bashes. Running superfast modern desert tools alongside vintage motorcycles and cars is daunting, but also part of the fun, at least according to Julian Heppekausen. He recently rode his 1966 Triumph T120 desert sled, ‘Terry’, to victory in the Vintage Triumph Thumper class, becoming possibly the first rider ever to successfully complete a 1000-mile Baja race on a Triumph.

Julian's lucky number! An arcane mix of family numerology, which apparently works

You might know Julian Heppekausen as CEO of the Deus store in Venice, CA, or for his exploits on Terry the Triumph in the Barstow-Las Vegas off-road race, which he’s finished 4 times. He credits this success to the quality of Terry’s original construction by motorcycle industry icon Terry Prat, for whom the bike is named. Prat was the European MX correspondent for several magazines in the 1970s, then a manager at Cycle News from 1979 – 2011. The ’66 Triumph T120 desert sled was his last build, which he raced in the Barstow-Las Vegas Rally in 2011 (it’s not a race; that’s not allowed in the tortoise sanctuary – but everyone knows who finished first). Heppekausen bought the bike in 2012, and carried on competing across the Mojave desert every year since, finishing the ‘hard’ route twice. The means riding with new KTMs and Honda 450s, and his Triumph is the only 1960s bike to finish the Rally in a very long time. “They really don’t have a class for such an old bike – they call 1980s twin-shock motocrossers vintage!’

Viet Nguyen's 1969 Triumph T100 at dawn, ready for the day's stage on his 500cc twin

Keeping a 50-year old Triumph from grenading mid-desert exposes Heppekausen as a sensitive hooligan; “You need to know your bike really well. There’s a harmonic hum at certain rpms, where it seems like the motor will go forever, and in a long race you have to bring it back to that pace when you can. I continually pat the tank and thank Terry for not breaking!” Some vintage riders are scared of breakdowns on gentle street rides, but the old saw ‘the more you ride them, the better they get’ seems to apply here. Julian shipped Terry the Triumph to Europe in 2014, competing at events in Germany and England; it’s also been filmed wheelying in front of the Eiffel Tower under Dimitri Coste. After successes in Vegas-Barstow, he decided to try the revived NORRA Mexican 1000, along with several friends on their own vintage Triumph dirt bikes, although Terry the Triumph was the only finisher.

Classic rally roll-charts keep the riders from getting lost...too often

That’s perfectly understandable – all the bikes were at least 50 years old, and 1000 miles of desert racing is insanely demanding. Julian notes, “Modern trophy trucks with special tube-frame chassis and high-HP motors run 36” of suspension; they can run over a basketball and not feel it. I can’t do that on a Triumph with 3” of travel, and when the road is full of rocks, I could hit a baseball and be thrown off. Near the end of the race was a 15-mile stretch of rocky downhill, which was mentally challenging after 1000 miles, especially with trophy trucks passing at 140mph! I have to go to work on Monday, so kept way left to preserve myself.” While running with $200k, 600hp specialized desert trucks is hairy scary, it has benefits too, “Robbie Gordon passed me around a corner, driving like I’ve never seen a car driven. I was doing 60mph, and he was doing 110mph – I don’t know how he got around! And I was the only one watching – it’s the best view of the race, from the saddle.”

Viet Nguyen's T100; unit Triumph 500cc twins are considered very reliable, but none has ever finished the Mexican 1000

While Julian races Terry the Triumph far and wide, it isn’t actually his machine; when purchased from Terry Prat, he immediately gifted the Triumph to his son Henry, as a legacy. Henry isn’t big enough to ride a Triumph yet, but he likes to remind his dad whose bike it is, “My wife and kids met me at the finish in La Paz, and Henry told me to clean the bike! I said let’s leave it dirty a little bit yet. Terry’s had some real adventures, including wheelies in front of the Eiffel Tower. The best people have worked on it, and it’s been in many hands, but you know, we build these bikes for ourselves, and they eventually end up with someone else. That’s why I gave it to Henry - for the future.” And the future will remember that Terry was the first Triumph to win (let alone finish) a 1000-mile Baja race, an epic accomplishment in any decade - our hearty congratulations to Julian Heppekausen and all who helped make his win possible.

Julian abandons the roll-chart for an impromptu mileage-based warning system for sand washes and potholes

Mark Stahl's Legend category '78 Ford F-100 pickup

Julian finishes a stage, alone again

John Crain's beautiful 1953 Rickman-Triumph pre-unit racer, the most exotic Triumph in the race

Nate Hudson's 1969 Triumph T100 after a day in the desert

Hayden Roberts exits Tijuana on his 1965 Triumph TR6

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GEARHEAD VALHALLA: THE 2016 CONCORSO DI VILLA D'ESTE

July 1, 2016, 1:12 pm

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This article was commissioned by The Automobile magazine for their June 2016 issue. The Automobile is the best old-car mag on the planet, and features my work fairly regularly. It's reprinted here with permission:

Best in Show! The 1928 Grindlay-Peerless 'Hundred Model' ex-'Boy' Tubb Brooklands racer

Lake Como’s leafy sentinel towers over the Villa d’Este’s grand gravel terrace, but the hoary Sycamore is chopped further back every year, its once expansive canopy shrinking to a leafy fat spire, providing shade no longer, yet still the axis of the party. The villa’s Renaissance gardens and pebbled grottoes are intact these 500 years; swapping an elderly companion for younger model may be the habit of the Concorso’s wealthy entrants, but the tide of History demands respect for the old tree, as it does for the automobiles and motorcycles celebrated within the grounds.

A 1952 Ferrari 225S Vignale Spyder beneath the dwinding Sycamore tree at the heart of Villa d'Este's grand terrace

Anxiety over the Sycamore’s fate defines the beginning and the end of troubles at the Concorso d’Eleganza di Villa d’Este; as lucky guests and journalists float on the music of clinking glass flutes, the poor tree plays Cassandra for the real world’s troubles - vanishingly absent from the scene otherwise. Burbling Rivas deliver the happily elegant to the hotel’s shores, not the desperate, so we may rightfully celebrate the fabulous treasures of our world on the weekend, and return to reality on Monday.

For BMW's centenary (it was established in 1916, making airplanes), this early BMW-powered monoplane was moved (not flown) from villa to villa. When fired up, an LED display on the prop made the BMW logo - nifty.

For 2016’s iteration of the most coveted spot in the show-car/show-bike calendar, Nature offered a 3-day gap between torrents; tourist-brochure perfect days, suitable for the otherworldly perfection of 50 cars and 40 motorbikes gleaming with elbow-grease, from helper-hands conjuring prize-granting djinns via yellow microfiber cloths. And that, readers, is serious work, conducted by an unsung and invisible army, never thanked from the podium by the Jereboam-armed, ribbon-draped swells who paid their salaries. The Little People, as tactless Oscar winners once at least acknowledged, whose labors transformed the inert cash of connoisseurs into an invitation to this truly incredible party beside Italy’s most beautiful lake. As tax-haven oligarchs stage dramatic, black Amex duels at fine auctions houses, sending car (and now moto) values to the lofty heights inhabited by the finest of arts – the realm of the gods - rolling sculpture has become the last publicly visible evidence of real wealth, as great art disappears into freeport bunkers, and nested shell companies obscure ownership of part-time mansions.

This original-paint 1938 Triumph Tiger 100 was originally owned by BMW! They bought it for testing/comparison, and soon blew it up. It lay undisturbed for years, and was recommissioned recently, with its patina intact. Fantastic.

Temporary membership to this sunshiney, sweet-smelling tableau grants one – e.g. me – a few days’ overlap with wildly different Venn circles; it only hurts when the bubble protecting wealth and beauty floats off, and the sweaty tang of real work and deadlines returns. My nominal job at the Concorso di Moto (judging the assembled treasures) is difficult only in the weighing, discussing, and choosing, which can only be counted a pleasure in such company as the since-1949 Motociclismo fixture Carlo Perelli, the director of Prague’s Technical Museum– Arnost Nemeskal, the chief of BMW’s motorrad design - Edgar Heinrich, French moto-institution Francois-Marie Dumas, and, god bless our host country, the editor of Italian Cosmopolitan, Sara Fiandri, who scatters Milan’s pedestrians like leaves aboard her racy Honda.

Fellow moto-judge Sara Fiandri in the driver's seat of the 1911 Magnet Selbstfahrer, a remarkable machine, used as a taxi in Berlin originally!

It must be equally true for our automotive counterparts that Choosing is a profession of thick-skinned devils, as subcurrents of politics, aesthetics, nationality, status, and history swirl around every vehicle, while judges argue – oh yes we do – their views on such matters. We have a day to observe, discuss, ponder, and reassemble before the prizegiving ceremony on Sunday, overseen in the case of motorbikes by the affable and poly-tongued Roberto Rasia dal Polo, while the four-wheeled crowd suffers the inconceivably smooth Simon Kidston, whose puns and light verbal pokes reveal his intimate familiarity with the assembly.

Yours truly aboard the BMW R5 Hommage concept bike, which used original 1935 R5 engine and gearbox castings, with everything else new. The grotto behind me is original toVilla d'Este from the 1500s.

BMW, owner of the Concorso, litters the grounds of Villa d’Este with new Rolls Royces and prototypes, while neighboring Villa Erba, which hosts the Concorso di Moto, is saddled with drudgeries like a ‘Teens BMW monoplane, a terrific display of concept cars/bikes beside the machines which inspired them, and the public, which has free range on the expansive grasslands of the park. This year’s overall theme was ‘Back to the Future’, which translates from German as ‘retro’ – the concept car unveiled at Friday’s swanky cocktail party claimed parentage from the 40 year old BMW 2002 (though it was hard to see resemblance, it was a sharp effort by Adrian van Hooydonk), while the concept motorcycle was an industry first – no factory to my knowledge has ever used a vintage motor as the basis of a show vehicle.

A terrific display of rally cars on the grounds, ready to spit some gravel skyward. A 1972 Ford Escort 1600RS, 1973 Renault Alpine A110, and 1975 Lancia Stratos

The ‘R5 Hommage’ ridden in noisily by Edgar Heinrich (beside designer Ola Stenegard on an original 1936 R5) used the castings of an 80-year old engine as its heart, although the vintage 500cc OHV motor sported a new supercharger, disc brakes, and a discreet swingarm. While seemingly odd for a technophilic team like BMW to dig around its museum for the actual building blocks of a prototype, ‘heritage’ is the most potent design tool in the moto industry today, and the smooth castings of the old flat-twin motor just might point to an upcoming engine redesign? Back to the future, indeed.

What it looks like in the jury room - not eleganza! But we're in the conference center at Villa Erba, near the motorcycles

Picking winners in the physical context of Lake Como and a pair of grand Villas seems almost gauche – if you’re there, you’ve won, as has your vehicle. But everyone loves the tension of a contest, and so the list: the under-16 public referendum went rightfully to a 1974 Lancia Stratos rally car, while the drinking-agers chose a bottlefly green ’71 Lamborghini Miura P400SV, which only proves the crowd was Italian, and excitable. The gentry strolling the closed party at Villa d’Este preferred a streamlined ’33 Lancia Astura Serie II, while the judges appointed an exquisite ’54 Maserati A6GCS as Best in Show, a title having much to do, I have learned, with what might look best on the cover of next year’s catalog. This was actually discussed amongst the motorcycle jury, and with vehicles of near-equal money-no-object perfect restorations, what Should tip the scales?

Epic; a 1937 HRD-Vincent Rapide 998cc V-twin

But, we are reminded annually that ours is a Concorso di Moto, not an Eleganza, and thus chose the charismatic and oh-so-English 1929 Grindlay-Peerless-JAP ‘Hundred Model’ with illustrious competition heritage from new, multiple Gold Stars from Brooklands, and a fantastically mechanical, and poster unfriendly, all-nickel finish. What bridged a chasm of disagreement among jurors between suavity and pugnacity was a special Jury Award to the very most elegant ’37 Gnome et Rhone Model X with tailfinned Bernardet sidecar, lovely awash in cream and burgundy, which pretty much describes lunch. Wish you were there.

The motorcyclists tour the lake on Saturday, finishing up with a burble across the grounds at Villa d'Este for the entertainment of the hoi polloi. Several two-stroke bikes guaranteed a Zika-free zone.

Drama, with a 1944 Alfa Romeo 6C 2500 Sport Coupe and 1933 Lancia Astura Serie II

Lago di Como

At the far end of Villa d'Este, a Bizzarini, Lamborghini Miura S, and early Countach lurk

All bubbly; 1961 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato and '68 Bizarrini GT Europa

Pushing all that 1925 Böhmerland Reisemodell to the display

The Concorso di Villa d'Este has the best (hardback) event programs in the industry.

Puzzling out the relative simplicity of an early Ferrari V-12 engine

Instructions for Concorso losers

Happiness is Jürg Schmid on his 1938 Gilera VTGS Saturno

Some of the elaborate nickel-ness of the Grindlay-Peerless 'Hundred Model'

The Grindlay-Peerless logo is famously mis-spelled on this tank, and shows up in many books on vintage racers. When I asked the owner if he'd change it, he said, 'the mistake is too famous now!'

Alberto Soiatti and his peerless restoration of his 1968 Hercules GS

Special Jury Award for the magnificent 1937 Gnome-Rhone Model X- Bernardet outfit of Jean-Claude Conchard

1980 Lamborghini Athon, with body by Bertone - deliciously understated

Timeless design - the Miura is eternal

Lovely BMW display of concept vehicles with the originals which inspired them.

Strike a pose, there's nothing to it. Vogue. But dig the pebble mosaic work on this 1500s grotto

Serial #1 'Black Pig', the 1967 MV Agusta 600 of Tobias Aichele

Head of BMW's motorcycle design team, Ola Stenegard, aboard an original 1935 BMW R5

Caught mid-flight, borrowing Sebastien Gutsch's BMW R5 racer around the grounds of Villa Erba

A proper view of the R5 Hommage - the rear end is a 'softail', with a vertical monoshock at rear. Only the engine and gearbox castings are from the '30s, all else was built by Unique Custom Cycles of Sweden

Trying on the R5 Hommage for size. But my suit; a commission for Dirty Needle Embroidery's Cody McElroy, who did a genius job on the Russian prison tattoo theme. Soon to be copied by a major fashion label. (Photo by Hermann Kopf)

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CLIFF VAUGHS - REST EASY

July 17, 2016, 12:28 pm

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Cliff Vaughs at the Motorcycle Film Festival panel discussion, which I moderated - a film of his visit to NYC is being edited as we speak (photo courtesy the Motorcycle Film Festival).

Cliff Vaughs, best known for his creation of the ‘Easy Rider’ choppers, sailed away from this world quietly on July 2nd from his home in Templeton, CA. Had it not been for Jesse James’ ‘History of the Chopper’ TV series, Vaughs would have likely vanished from history, but the question ‘who built the most famous motorcycles in the world?’ needed an answer. That led Jesse to a sailboat in Panama, where he found Cliff, who’d left the USA in 1974. Why he lived alone on a sailboat in the Caribbean, instead of soaking up praise for his work on ‘Easy Rider’, and his filmmaking , photography, and civil rights work, is a long story. I told some of that story in my book ‘The Chopper; the Real Story’, but Cliff’s life was too big to fit into one chapter of a book, and he dismissed 'Easy Rider' as "Three weeks of my life".

Cliff Vaughs on Malibu beach in 1973, on his white H-D Shovelhead chopper. (photo courtesy Eliot 'Cameraman' Gold)

Cliff Vaughs was born in Boston on April 16th, 1937, to a single mother, and showed great promise as a student. He graduated from Boston Latin School and Boston University, then earned his MA at the University of Mexico in Mexico City – driving from Boston in his Triumph TR2. Moving to LA in 1961, he encountered the budding chopper scene, and soon had a green Knucklehead ‘chopped Hog’, as he called it; that’s where he befriended motorcycle customizer Ben Hardy in Watts, who became his mentor. Cliff was recruited to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in 1963, and brought his chopper to Arkansas and Alabama, where he drag-raced white policemen, and visited sharecropper farms “looking like slavery had never ended.” He added, “I may have been naïve thinking I could be an example to the black folks who were living in the South, but that’s why I rode my chopper in Alabama. I was never sure if the white landowners would chase me off with a shotgun. But I wanted to be a visible example to them; a free black man on my motorcycle.”

Danny Lyon's photo of Cliff Vaughs at a sit-in in Maryland, 1964. This photo is currently on exhibit at the Whitney Museum in NYC in Danny Lyon's career retrospective 'Message to the Future.'

Cliff’s chopper adventures in the SNCC was a story never told – he was too radical, too provocative, too free for the group. Casey Hayden (activist/politician Tom Hayden’s first wife) remembered Cliff as “a West Coast motorcyclist, a lot of leather and no shirts. Hip before anyone else was hip. A little scary, and reckless.” Cliff’s ex-wife Wendy Vance added“He was a true adventurer. ... There was just some sort of fearlessness in all situations. It did not occur to him that he was a moving target on this motorcycle. At a march in Selma, the civil rights leader John Lewis refused to stand next to him. ‘You are crazy,’ Lewis said, ‘I will not march next to you.’ The fear was that, somehow, Cliff would make himself a target.”

A never-before published photo of Cliff on his white H-D Shovelhead chopper in 1973 (photo courtesy the Easyriders archive)

Cliff was indeed a target of many failed shootings, and his tales of riding his chopper in the South were incorporated into ‘Easy Rider', after he returned to LA in 1965 to make films like 'What Will the Harvest Be?', which explored the nascent Black Power movement. Cliff was Associate Producer on 'Easy Rider', and oversaw the creation of the Captain America and Billy choppers, which became the most famous motorcycles in the world. He didn’t get the recognition he deserved for those bikes, partly because the whole crew was fired when Columbia Pictures took over production, and Cliff’s payout/signoff included a clause keeping him off the film’s credits. Publications like Ed Roth’s ‘Choppers Magazine’ explored Cliff’s role in ‘Easy Rider’ from 1968 onwards, but both Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper at various times claimed credit for building those bikes, and Dan Haggerty took credit too. Hopper acknowledged in his last year the seminal role Cliff Vaughs played, as did Peter Fonda, in 2015. Cliff went on to produce ‘Not So Easy’, a motorcycle safety film, in 1974, but left the US to live on a sailboat in the Caribbean the next 40 years. He was brought back to the US in 2014, as appreciation spread for his contribution to motorcycle history, and he was celebrated at the Motorcycle Film Festival in Brooklyn last year; a documentary from his time in NYC is being edited as this moment. Godspeed, Cliff.

Cliff Vaughs with a re-creation of his 'Captain America' chopper in 2014

- For my first discovery of the lost black history of 'Easy Rider', click here.
- For Cliff's story on his role in 'Easy Rider', click here.
- For Peter Fonda's acknowledgement of Cliff's role in 'Easy Rider', click here.
- For the NPR story on Captain America, click here.
- For copies of 'The Chopper; the Real Story', click here.

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THE OLD SCHOOL AT BONNEVILLE

August 8, 2016, 5:00 pm

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≪ Previous: CLIFF VAUGHS - REST EASY

Blackie Bernal on his reverse-head Triumph Thunderbird, which averaged 144mph at Bonneville in 1952. Blackie is wearing long underwear, hi-top tennis shoes, gloves, a helmet, and nothing else!

I purchased a 1952 copy of Cycle magazine at the flea market last weekend, which included a tremendous cover photograph of Blackie Bernal's Triumph Thunderbird record-breaker, ready to be foot-shoved off the starting line at the Bonneville Salt Flats. The pusher's foot sneaks into the photo, but most dramatically, Blackie is wearing nothing that might be called safety equipment, barring a 1930s era 'pudding basin' helmet. As Rollie Free proved in his 1950 Vincent 150mph 'bathing suit' speed record, less clothing means less drag, and no doubt less heat under the Utah sun. While the Salt Flats sit at 4200', and temperatures are rarely above 90degrees, the blinding white salt and utter lack of shade on the dry lake bed can be punishing.

Note the large intake funnels - free supercharging? Also note the significant ding in the tank - that was courtesy Tommy Smith, which led to skin grafts.

Blackie Bernal is best known for his use of a 'reverse head' on his Triumph, with the carburetors facing forwards, presumably in the interest of free 'supercharging' of the incoming fuel/air mix. To this end, he fitted huge metal funnels to his carbs to focus the incoming wind, which presumably included a measure of salt spray as well! He ran and re-ran the black-line course for a full 8 days to reach his goal. While the engineering philosophy behind his work is questionable, there's no doubt his machine was very fast; he averaged 144.338mph over two runs, giving him the 40 cubic" Class A American speed record.

Blackie Bernal being 'footed' by another rider to start his Triumph Thunderbird, at the starter's scaffold.

That speed was purchased at the expense of a considerable swath of skin from Bernal's rider, Tommy Smith of Turlock, CA. He'd come off at over 140mph, and according to Cycle, "had a spellbinding spill. When he had finally stopped grinding bodily across the salt, Tommy arose and waved to the crowd that he was all right, before sinking back to the ground." Racing on the salt was then suspended for 4 hours, while the ambulance was away with Smith, who required several skin grafts. One shudders to think of a near-naked bodysurf across the surprisingly rough surface of the salt flats - rubbing salt into the wound indeed!

Doing the 'Rollie Free'aboard a supercharged H-D Panhead; Jack Dale running Bus Schaller's machine, which didn't set a record...

The fastest time of the meet in 1952 according to the organizers the Southern California Timing Association (then only 3 years old!) was 168mph, achieved by the 80 cubic" Harley-Davidson Knucklehead of CB Clausen and Bud Hood. The Knuck had no fairing and no supercharger, but probably ran special fuel - a respectable speed in any era!

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WHEELS&WAVES: CAYUCOS

September 9, 2016, 6:39 am

≫ Next: JAY LENO AND THE ROBERT WHITE COLLECTION

≪ Previous: THE OLD SCHOOL AT BONNEVILLE

Brian Bent and his magnificent Hot Rod Church of Sinners mascot car...

The Southsiders MC have been organizing rides in Biarritz/the Pyrenees/Spain since 2009, when we made up a baker's dozen for a few days riding on vintage machines. I'd met Vincent Prat at the Legend of the Motorcycle Concours in Half Moon Bay in 2008, and he'd invited me to come ride with his friends in France. With exceptional riding roads, little traffic, and terrific Basque food, our merry band of vintagents had found a perfect combination of company and environment.

Most of the crew who came out for a ride in the Central Coast of California. The usual August fires were 30 miles away, and lent a golden haze to the light

The event was repeated the next year, and the next, growing with each iteration; by 2011, the Southsiders added a party in Toulouse to the ride, with an art exhibit and music, which was the prototype for Wheels&Waves, which began in June 2012 in Biarritz. That little ride with a dozen of us is now an event with 15,000 attendees, still with the ride in the mountains, and other fun in the region, like the Punk's Peak hillclimb/sprint, and now a flattrack race in Spain, along with the ArtRide exhibit, and music at the central 'village' at the Cité de l'Ocean in Biarritz. It's a terrific mix of moto-centric fun, and a unique mix of the vintage, custom, chopper, surf, race, and skate scenes.

Go Takamine's Indian Chout - a Chief motor in a Scout chassis. He said it took him 4 months of 'no sleep' to built it...

What does this have to do with The Vintagent? It's a strategy: one-make vintage motorcycle clubs, and groups like the VMCC and AMCA, have an aging membership, and their members/boards lament and fret on how to interest younger riders in old machines. Younger riders are in fact already interested in old machines - alt.custom sites like Pipeburn and BikeExif feature plenty - but aren't interested in hanging around a boring bike club. A mix of old an new machines is happening organically at events like the BikeShed and Wheels&Waves; what better place to fan the interest of younger riders than to bring old bikes, and ride them in the mix at cool events?

Scotty Topnik's Shovelhead chopper at the Cayucos Skate Park; a natural combination, give how many recent chopper converts are/were serious skaters...

To support this concept, TheVintagent partnered with the Southsiders MC last month to host Wheels&Waves Cayucos, a low-key flag-planting on American soil of a great event. A few friends were invited to the Swallow Creek Ranch for 2 days of riding through the Central Coast hills, and an opportunity to hang out without distraction. Our mascot for the event was Richard Vincent, who raced Velocettes and Triumphs in Santa Barbara in the early 1960s, and surfed in the area too. Richard brought his vintage surfboards, Velocette dirt racers, and a bunch of photographs from his racing/surfing days. Susan and I shot MotoTintypes with our Wet Plate Van, and portraits of a few friends, which I'm sharing here, along with a few of my iPhone shots. Stay tuned for next year's event!

The 'Hardley' from Revival Cycles beside an astounding grain elevator in Templeton, built entirely of stacked 2x6" boards!

Jalika and Alp Sungurtekin relax with their pup. Alp brought his 172mph pre-unit Triumph land speed record bike

Jeanette Mekdara and her Triumph Bonneville

A few of the ladies chill out by Swallow Creek barn

Yours truly with my 1960 Velocette Clubman, and the very brave Suzie Heartbreak

Revival Cycle's fantastic Velocette-Rickman custom

Polo Garat, a Southsider over from France, on a borrowed Velo...

Conrad Leach and Matt Davis hanging around Brian Bent's hot rod... (MotoTintype)

Birds of prey circled the skies...even a rare Falcon was sighted. It was great to see Ian Barry on the road again. (MotoTintype)

Dean Micetich making it all look easy on his Panhead chopper (MotoTintype)

Ana Llorente rode her Honda CB450 Black Bomber (MotoTintype)

The ladies of the Southsiders MC are not to be messed with (MotoTintype)

Those wild men from Revival Cycles - Alan Stulberg and Stefan Hertl (MotoTintype)

Roland Sands brought his cool Servi-Car based flat track racer (MotoTintype)

The Southsiders MC. (MotoTintype)

Photographer Travis Shinn with Roland's H-D. (MotoTintype)

There were waves, there were wheels. These vintage surfboards belong to Richard Vincent, who displayed them along with his racing Velocettes, and photos from his racing/surfing days in the early 1960s. The Southsiders MC - Julien Azé, Jérome Allé, and Vincent Prat - were happy to pose with them... (MotoTintype)

↧

JAY LENO AND THE ROBERT WHITE COLLECTION

September 15, 2016, 6:11 am

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It's not typical to auction a major classic vehicle auction for charity, but that's what the late Robert White stipulated in his will. Jay Leno purchased his collection of 17 Brough Superiors last year, with the funds headed entirely to the hospital Mr. White wanted to support; a cancer treatment center in an area of Britain not well served. Jay's video is a testament to a friend, and a plug for the upcoming Bonhams auction of the remainder of Robert White's motorcycles, cars, Leicas, etc.

The variety of machines is impressive, including this 1920 1220cc Ace four in beautiful condition. Eligible for the 2020 Cannonball!

What looks like an entirely original 1974 Ducati 750SS, with known history from at least 1985...

...and a gorgeous 1953 MV Agusta monoalbero 125cc raeer, which I looked over at the Banbury Run this year. An amazing, drool-worthy machine.

↧

CANNONBALLS DEEP: THE BEGINNING

October 4, 2016, 5:37 pm

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Shinya Kimura on his 1915 Indian twin, on a test run before its 4th Cannonball, as seen from the back of our 'wet plate van', my Sprinter with red 'safety' film on the window for our mobile darkroom.

It was history to be made, and 93 riders grasped the gauntlet; to be the first 100-year old vehicles of any sort to cross the United States. Cars, planes, bicycles, rollers skates, whatever - the 2016 Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Rally, this year called the Race of the Century, would the be the first attempt to my knowledge for any Centurion vehicle to cross the country in an observed trial. That claim was staked at the starter's banquet in the Golden Nugget hotel on September 9th in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during an oppressively hot and muggy late Summer week - 95 degrees and 90% humidity - the hotel having chiseled off it's 'Trump' name some years ago during a bankruptcy proceeding.

Trying to get a decent shot of the assembled 94 motorcycles on the Atlantic City boardwalk, just before the 10am start of the Cannonball.

It wasn't the only evidence of Trump, or bankruptcy, we'd encounter on our third trip over backroads America. Three Cannonballs, this one likely to be my last, and for once totally bikeless, as my partner (with the bike) couldn't take the 3 weeks off this year. My artistic and life partner Susan, after a crisis huddle, decided our MotoTintype project was too important to abandon, so we chose to follow the Cannonball as photographers, taking as many 'wet plate' photos as we could, and round out the hundreds of images we'd already shot on the prior 2 events, in order to make a book of the best images. Susan's brother Scott drove my Sprinter to NYC, and thus began another epic road trip.

...and the shot I was able to take, from the opposite direction from the official panorama of the start.

The Motorcycle Cannonball was initiated by Lonnie Isam Jr, as both an homage to the achievement of Erwin 'Cannonball' Baker's cross-country record breaking sprees in the early part of the 20th Century, and a challenge to the many owners of early motorcycles who didn't ride them all that much. Lonnie believed early machines were just as capable of crossing the country today - on paved roads rather than dirt tracks - as they were when new, and the first Cannonball was held in 2010, with a small cadre of riders on pre-1916 machines accepting the challenge. That first year was notoriously difficult, and an admirably bonding experience. Nobody had tried such an incredibly long ride - 3500 miles - on such old machinery, and nobody really knew what to expect, or how the bikes would hold up to riding and average 250 miles/day on a rigorous schedule.

Kurt Klokkenga, one of the 'motorcycle sweep' staff of the Cannonball, who were allowed to help repair machines en route without penalty. I'm sure many stranded riders were grateful of their help! Love his patina Panhead.

Not surprisingly, the tales of woe and late nights spent making repairs, every single night, made that 2010 event legendary. Most of the original 45 riders vowed never to do it again, and kept their promise! Some returned in 2012 though, especially as the rules were relaxed to include bikes up to 1930. That allowed me to naively enter the 2012 Cannonball with my 1928-framed Velocette Mk4 KTT. 'The Mule' had been my reliable rally machine for 12 years, taking in 7 week-long Velocette rallies, covering 250-mile days with aplomb. I'd already effectively double the Cannonball mileage on a similar daily schedule, so it seemed a plausible effort.

Beauty among the beasts! Rider Steve DeCosa's daughters joined up (help with her name!?), and Buck Carson of Carson Classic Motors was happy to pose on the 1913 Warwick delivery tricycle ridden by his father Mike.

Readers of my 2012 Cannonball reports on TheVintagent.com know I had terrible problems with two replacement camshafts I installed, the first lasting about 20 miles total, and the second, installed after many hours modification at a machine shop, lasted only a further 1000 miles. Those were blissful miles over the Rockies, I'll confess, but the truth was, the Cannonball defeated my preparation. The Mule remains the only overhead-camshaft motorcycle to run the Cannonball, and several H-D riders suggested that a machine which couldn't be fixed with a hammer had no place on a run like the Cannonball. Perhaps they're correct.

German engineering! Thomas Trapp and Paul Jung found the front fender of this 1915 Harley-Davidson too long, and fouling the front wheel at speed, so they bobbed it! Thomas is Europe's largest H-D dealer, from Frankfurt.

In 2014, I partnered with Revival Cycles to ride Bryan Bossier's 1933 Brough Superior 1150, which proved an absolutely remarkable machine, showing its heels daily to every other Cannonball machine, and cruising at a steady 65-70mph, even ridden two-up, with Susan on the back. Our only 'competition' was the 1936 H-D Knuckleheads squeaking into the pre-1937 rules, but a day-long ride on a Knuck over the 11,000' Independence Pass in Colorado, with its endless hairpin turns, revealed there was no comparison between the pride of American engineering, and a cobbled-up masterpiece of British engineering. Sorry dudes. (Read my 2014 ride report here)

We had plenty of visitor and day-trippers along for the ride, including Cannonball veteran and publisher Buzz Kanter of American Iron mag.

With no motorbike to concern us this year, Susan and I had an all-Sprinter Cannonball rally, and embraced the experience. Following the same route as the riders, we were blessed with the endlessly beautiful and fascinating landscape of the United States. The natural beauty of the East Coast forests, with their winding hills and hollows, lovely climbs were perfect motorcycle roads, dotted regularly with podunk villages and oddball eateries, brought a mix of awe at Nature and concern at Nurture. Signs supporting a blustering demagogue were inevitably mixed with Confederate flags in Pennsylvania, a clear repudiation of both the policies and race of our current president, in parts of the country left far behind the technology-based prosperity of my native California.

Our 'wet plate' photo of 'Round the World' Doug Wothke's 1917 Douglas twin, brought along for spares, since it was too new for the Cannonball.

The start of this year's rally was hot and oppressive, with daily 95deg temps and 90% humidity. Jumping in an out of the Sprinter to develop photographs was an experience in hydration management, a subject which became increasingly critical as the days rolled forward, regardless of our 'ride nurse' Vicki 'Spitfire' Sanfelipo handing out electrolite tablets like candy. Make friends with Gatorade, she said, so we did, and wrung out our sweat-soaked clothing at night (I'll cover our wet plate adventure in a separate post).

Cris Sommer Simmons has ridden 'Effie', her 1915 Harley-Davidson, on 2 Cannonballs now, and it acquitted itself very well.

September 10th was a short ride of 158 miles through an endless series of New Jersey stoplights. The heat, and the constant stop-start, took a heavy toll on machinery and riders, and by the end of the day in York, Pennsylvania, 23 machines were hors de combat. Some refused to start in the heat, some broke parts, some seized, and one burned to the ground. John Pfeifer had built an extra-capacity fuel tank for his 1916 Harley-Davidson, and the weight of a full tank pressed down onto the rear cylinder's rocker arm (atop the cylinder head on an F-head motor). It only took 80 miles or so for the rocker to wear through the metal, fuel to spill onto the magneto, and a great ball of flame to erupt. John watched his machine burn for 20 minutes before a fire truck arrived with a decent extinguisher. The first day was the worst day overall, culling the field quickly, and serving notice this wasn't going to be an easy run.

Our wet plate of Brent Hansen and his 1913 Shaw motor bicycle, with a very long road before him.

On a bright note, Susan and I had a terrific meal at the Left Bank in York, the first of 3 excellent meals on our 17-day trip. We tried our hardest to eat well, searching daily for the 'best restaurant in X', and finding lists online which invariably included chains like Jack in the Box. It's not difficult to draw conclusions about rural American culinary habits from this, and you'd be correct - America grows food for the world, but eats poorly in the very regions that food is grown. But we'd discovered that a couple of times already, and brought a sufficient stock of coffee and wine from home!

A visit from the locals! Atlantic city crew - the neighborhood '12 O'Clock Boys', although they sheepishly admitted they were 1 or 2 O'Clockers in reality, as a fully vertical wheelie is hard!

Rural Pennsylvania is a lovely place to ride through. We stopped in Collinsville, PA, for some ice cream

Day 1: carnage. The cylinder head on Dave Volnek's 1915 Indian blew out, but he had spares, and the bike was back on the road the next day.

Part of a strong German contingent, Andreas Kaindl rode his 1915 Henderson single-speeder, which he purchased from the Hockenheim Museum, and added a convincing faux-patina paint job. This was Andy's 2nd Cannonball.

Frank Westfall on his 1912 Henderson, and Buck Carson on his 1914 BSA single belt-driver.

A gentleman's mount! Kevin Waters has 'Beamed across America twice now, having ridden a '33 Sunbeam Model 9 the full distance in 2014. His 1915 Sunbeam single was a lovely, and very early, example of the marque.

Trouble begins before the beginning! The 1913 Douglas of Steve Alexander gets a flat in the first 6 miles, at the staging area...

Doug Feinsod, a Cannonball veteran, and one of the 'Thor Losers', a 5-rider team of rare Thor v-twins

Many kind words and thoughts were directed to our friend Bill Buckingham, who was tragically killed 2 weeks before the Cannonball. His usual #40 number plate was carried by a string of other riders, and '40' stickers adorned many bikes. Godspeed, Bill

↧

CANNONBALLS DEEP: THE BEGINNING

October 4, 2016, 5:37 pm

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≪ Previous: CANNONBALLS DEEP: THE BEGINNING

Shinya Kimura on his 1915 Indian twin, on a test run before its 4th Cannonball, as seen from the back of our 'wet plate van', my Sprinter with red safety film on the window for our mobile darkroom.

It was history to be made, and 94 riders grasped the gauntlet; to be the first 100-year old vehicles of any sort to cross the United States in a supervised trial. Cars, planes, bicycles, rollers skates, whatever - the 2016 Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Rally, this year called the Race of the Century, would the be the first attempt to my knowledge for any Centurion vehicle to cross the country. That claim was staked at the starter's banquet in the Golden Nugget hotel on September 9th in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during an oppressively hot and muggy late Summer week - 95 degrees and 90% humidity - the hotel having chiseled off it's 'Trump' name some years ago during a bankruptcy proceeding.

Trying to get a decent shot of the assembled 94 motorcycles on the Atlantic City boardwalk, just before the 10am start of the Cannonball.

...and the shot I was able to take, from the opposite direction from the official panorama of the start.

The Motorcycle Cannonball was initiated by Lonnie Isam Jr, as both an homage to the achievement of Erwin 'Cannonball' Baker's cross-country record breaking sprees in the early part of the 20th Century, and a challenge to the many owners of early motorcycles who didn't ride them all that much. Lonnie believed early machines were just as capable of crossing the country today - on paved roads rather than dirt tracks - as they were when new, and the first Cannonball was held in 2010, with a small cadre of riders on pre-1916 machines accepting the challenge. That first year was notoriously difficult, and an admirable bonding experience. Nobody had tried such an incredibly long ride - 3500 miles - on such old machinery, and nobody really knew what to expect, or how the bikes would hold up to riding an average of 250 miles/day on a rigorous schedule.

In 2014, I partnered with Revival Cycles to ride Bryan Bossier's 1933 Brough Superior 1150, which proved an absolutely remarkable machine, showing its heels daily to every other Cannonball bike, and cruising at a steady 65-70mph, even ridden two-up with Susan on the back. Our only 'competition' was the 1936 H-D Knuckleheads squeaking into the pre-1937 rules, but a day-long ride on a Knuck over the 11,000' Independence Pass in Colorado, with its endless hairpin turns, revealed there was no comparison between the pride of American engineering, and a cobbled-up masterpiece of British engineering. Sorry dudes. (Read my 2014 ride report here)

We had plenty of visitors and day-trippers along for the ride, including Cannonball veteran and publisher Buzz Kanter of American Iron mag.

Our 'wet plate' photo of 'Round the World' Doug Wothke's 1917 Douglas twin, brought along for spares, since it was too new for the Cannonball.

The start of this year's rally was hot and oppressively humid. Jumping in an out of the Sprinter to develop photographs was an experience in hydration management, a subject which became increasingly critical as the days rolled forward, regardless of our 'ride nurse' Vicki 'Spitfire' Sanfelipo handing out electrolyte tablets like candy. Make friends with Gatorade, she said, so we did, and wrung out our sweat-soaked clothing at night. A few ignored her warning at their peril. (I'll cover our wet plate adventure in a separate post)

Cris Sommer Simmons has ridden 'Effie', her 1915 Harley-Davidson, on 2 Cannonballs now, and it acquitted itself very well.

September 10th was a short ride of 158 miles through an endless series of New Jersey stoplights. The heat, and the constant stop-start, took a heavy toll on machinery and riders, and by the end of the day in York, Pennsylvania, 23 machines were hors de combat. Some refused to start in the heat, some broke parts, some seized, and one burned to the ground. John Pfeifer had built an extra-capacity fuel tank for his 1916 Harley-Davidson, and the weight of a full tank pressed down onto the rear cylinder's rocker arm (atop the cylinder head on an F-head motor). It only took 80 miles or so for the rocker to wear through the metal, fuel to spill onto the magneto, and a great ball of flame to erupt. John watched his machine burn for 20 minutes before a fire truck arrived with a decent extinguisher. The first day was the worst day overall, culling the field quickly, and serving notice this wasn't going to be an easy run.

Our wet plate of Brent Hansen and his 1913 Shaw motor bicycle, with a very long road before him.

A visit from the locals! Atlantic city crew - the neighborhood '12 O'Clock Boys', although they sheepishly admitted they were 1 or 2 O'Clockers in reality, as a fully vertical wheelie is hard!

Rural Pennsylvania is a lovely place to ride through. We stopped in Collinsville, PA, for some ice cream

Day 1: carnage. The cylinder head on Dave Volnek's 1915 Indian blew out, but he had spares, and the bike was back on the road the next day.

Frank Westfall on his 1912 Henderson, and Buck Carson on his 1914 BSA single belt-driver.

Trouble begins before the beginning! The 1913 Douglas of Steve Alexander gets a flat in the first 6 miles, at the staging area...

Doug Feinsod, a Cannonball veteran, and one of the 'Thor Losers', a 5-rider team of rare Thor v-twins

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CANNONBALLS DEEP: THE BEGINNING

October 4, 2016, 5:37 pm

≫ Next: CANNONBALLS DEEP: IN THE THICK OF AMERICA

≪ Previous: CANNONBALLS DEEP: THE BEGINNING

It was history to be made, and 94 riders grasped the gauntlet; to be the first 100-year old vehicles of any sort to cross the United States. Cars, planes, bicycles, rollers skates, whatever - the 2016 Motorcycle Cannonball Endurance Rally, this year called the Race of the Century, would the be the first attempt to my knowledge for any Centurion vehicle to cross the country. That claim was staked at the starter's banquet in the Golden Nugget hotel on September 9th in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during an oppressively hot and muggy late Summer week - 95 degrees and 90% humidity - the hotel having chiseled off it's 'Trump' name some years ago during a bankruptcy proceeding.

Trying to get a decent shot of the assembled 94 motorcycles on the Atlantic City boardwalk, just before the 10am start of the Cannonball.

...and the shot I was able to take, from the opposite direction from the official panorama of the start.

Beauty among the beasts! Alyson DeCosa and Buck Carson of Carson Classic Motors was happy to pose on the 1913 Warwick delivery tricycle ridden by his father Mike.