Wet Roads – tried to get a short ride in this morning but unforecast rains dampened procedings. So we had a coffee at Bob’s Pantry in Braeside. The new blacktop roads aren’t too goo in wet weather – not like the grippy UK roads which are constructed and surfaced for the more common damp conditions. Nevertheless a good chat over a cuppa is good too. Here Dean kicks over his Bonnie.
July 16, 2017
Hoofer
July 15, 2017
Custard Pie
They say you should stare at something yellow for 30 seconds every morning to start your day off on a positive note. Well here’s a modern Royal Enfield parked in downtown Chicago. Over easy I’d say.
July 14, 2017
Kickstarter
Weekend Kicks – hope this lass puts her weight into it. Those sixties Bonnie’s need a hefty hoof to turn the engine over. But with practiced technique and deft aplomb it’ll fire up. Nice photo.
July 13, 2017
The Part of Sums
Knolling: a Norton motorcycle in pieces. Laid out components and complete. Assembly required…
July 12, 2017
Tempera on Board
Stop – A single rider stands at an anonymous stop light in an off-color rural America. A grey sky holds the promise of rain yet the sun shines down on the motorcyclist. It’s one of Andrew Wyeth’s pieces from a decades long career of creating raw American art. It is stripped away and emotional imagery. We saw his home and studio last week in Brandywine PA. Today would have been his 100th birthday.
July 11, 2017
Full Circle
Back Home – we finished our road trip with a couple of stops in mid Ohio then a zoom back west to Chicago. Picked the dog up from his carer then home to the talkative cat. Plenty of fun Americana seen on the venture. It’s a big country and so much to see across its wide miles. We weren’t as adventurous as this Norton powered couple; but that looks like one of the many scenes we saw on our travels.
July 10, 2017
Gulf
Fill ‘er up! Or so you would have asked Dick Dunkle, proprietor of the Gulf service station on the old Lincoln Highway (Route 30) that went cross country in the days before the Interstate system was laid. The terra-cotta tile work and old mechanical pumps as atmosphere. As did the rain stotting down on Bedford PA. The Minx sits in the forecourt: “one for the album!”
July 9, 2017
Car Heaven
D-Type On our outings around and about Philadelphia we stopped in at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum. A seemingly endless line-up of sportsters from the last Century. There was one gap in the display.. a certain 1956 Jaguar. Asking where it was I was informed it was in the workshop. Luckily they turned the lights on an there it was sat up on the lift. Beautiful even from behind. The collection covers race cars that were used in historical events such as: Le Mans, Nürburgring, Sebring, Bonneville, Watkins Glen, Brooklands, Mille Miglia and Targa Florio. Fred Simeone’s ’55 Mercedes Benz SL300 Gullwing sits in the ‘shop, as does a Porsche 356 that was donated to the collection.
July 8, 2017
Alas…
City of Brotherly Love – cool photo of a busy motorcycle workshop in the near north of Philadelphia. Yorick & Sons Moto is a full service repair and build garage. Located in the blue-collar hipster neighborhood of Fishtown. http://www.yorickandsons.com/
July 7, 2017
Weeding
Common or Garden variety – we’re rained-in Longwood Garden Conservatory waiting for a fountain light show. So I’ll get on with a blog post. A gouache illustration with aged Triumph Thunderbird amongst verdant greenery. A moss covered dry stone wall and gloomy rain-fattened sky denote a very English scene.
July 6, 2017
Mac Men
Mad Man – the original Don Draper is an illustrator by the name of Macaulay ‘Mac’ Conner. We stopped in at the Delaware Museum of Art where a superb exhibition of his work is on show. 50’s glam advertising with clean bold lines and fashionable people… that was when people smoked like chimneys and drank like fish… but they were ever so beautiful!
July 5, 2017
PVGP
Faster, faster – more graphics from the City of Bridges; this time a crisp screen printed poster for a race event five years ago. Held every year at Schenley Park it is for both cars and bikes; sadly our travel plans don’t intercept with it this year… perhaps someday.
July 4, 2017
Doug
Hell’s Angel – we stopped in to an Irving Penn exhibition at the Frick Museum Pittsburgh. One of his series was capturing the late sixties counterculture, and in particular the Californian Biker gangs. This platinum palladium print from ’67 captures a surly Panhead chopper owner in an evocative portrait.
July 3, 2017
Ohio River Road
Biker Memorobilia – leather jacket, old lid, tasseled shirt and vintage photographs of a bygone motorcycling scene. We’re in Pittsburgh today so the Prowlers jacket seems appropriate…
July 2, 2017
Neon & Paint
Signage – one of my many interests. We visited the American Sign Museum today in Cincinnati. Old neon and hand painted examples covered the walls and hung from the rafters of an old clothing factory. The lobby had sponsors advertising of which I spied this two-wheeled themed one.
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