Car Boot Sale | a note seen last weekend at one of the numerous ‘flea markets’ in the UK. Typically the tables are loaded with cheap offerings from peoples house emptying efforts, but here someone was using the opportunity to locate something… I probably have these in a box of spares from my own Cub rebuild but the cost to ship ’em back to blighty would outweigh their cost of picking the items up locally.
Rocker Drumroll | Quiff’d and leather jacketed; this young leather boy curls his lip up at the camera ready to rumble the streets of inner cities and country A-roads alike.
L-Plates | The perfect little motorcycle to learn on: a lightweight and easy to control Triumph Cub 200cc. 1950’s swing dress on a bonnie lady under an English sun. The large windshield should keep the skirt fabric under some control.
Optimism | Iconic motorcycles usually look back for inspiration. Tradition, timeliness, nostalgia. “If it ain’t broke; don’t fix it!” Well sometimes we need lifted by inspiration of a dream that could be. Sci-Fi is an escape to days of what-could-be. Not the bleak dystopian horizon that current world events often hint at: but a exciting dynamic Brave New World. This slick offering from Barbara Future Custom Motorcycle looks ready for 2059 – one hundred years after the legendary Bonneville.
Oh. And the future is electric too!
The Man in Black – Johnny Cash was born this day in 1932. He wrote humbling music which could pierce the coldest heart and sang with a calm but authoritative voice that sent shivers down your spine. “He walked the Line.”
65 years ago – a page in one of the periodicals of the day. The Thunderbird and Speed Twin extoll their fuel saving worthiness; especially in a Post-War Britain coming out of rationing.
No. 1 Corinthian Arch – this year is the 60th birthday of the classic small British car: the Mini. So the blog will periodically dip into the history of the coolest vehicle ever devised. It beats the Beetle, dashes the Deux Chevaux, sinks the Cinquecento. I like this photo for the black and white photojournalist look as well as the Arch at Stowe where my wife live IN for a summer back in the mid-nineties.
The Day The Music Died – Sixty years ago today a small aircraft took off from Mason City Iowa flying into winter conditions with poor visibility and crashing near Clear Lake killing all on board. Of course this was Buddy Holly 22, Richie Valens 17, and JP Richardson (The Big Bopper) 28; as well as the pilot.
Waylon Jennings gave his seat up on the flight to Richardson.
In regards to Buddy and his love of motorcycles; here in Jennings’ words:
“They loved Marlon Brando in ‘The Wild One,’ and when they got to Dallas…they decided on the spur of the moment to buy motorcycles and drive back home on them.” Waylon recalled. “They took a cab into the city and walked into a Harley-Davidson shop. They had their eyes on a trio of 74-inchers, but the proprietor didn’t think they had any money and treated them like a bunch of bums. ‘Hell, you boys couldn’t even begin to handle the payments on that.
Then they went over to Miller’s Motorcycles, which specialized in English bikes. There, Joe B (Maudlin, the Crickets’ then-bass player), and J.I. (Allison, the drummer) bought a Triumph each, a TR6 and Thunderbird, respectively, while Buddy picked out a maroon and black Ariel Cyclone, with a high compression 650cc Huntsmaster engine. They paid cash, bought matching Levi jackets and peaked caps with wings on them, and rode home through a thunderstorm.”
A Speed Twin called Daisy and her exploits in the Highlands.
“There is no such uncertainty as a sure thing.”
Burns Night – in celebration of The Bard here are some fun photos taken by a Triumph owner back in 2002 as he rode his Amaranth Red hub sprung Triumph through the lochs and glens of Scotland. As they romp through Glencoe they stop at the layby near it’s summit where they ask the piper to pose with Daisy.
All Smiles 🙂 Old Triumphs with enthusiastic owners ready for racin’ & ridin’. The sun is shining and the outlook is rosy.
Cuba – Triumph of the Revolution (Triunfo de la Revolución) – 1st of January marks the anniversary of the victory of the Cuban Revolution by Fidel Castro in 1959. We travelled there in 2003 on a Cultural Exchange program between the US and Cuba.
It would be a tremendous adventure to travel across the island on two-wheels.
Rural Idyll – what better way to enjoy the bucolic surroundings of the countryside than aboard a blue Thunderbird. This classically illustrated image evokes so much enjoyment for a riding experience. “Pet! Let’s gan oot for a spin! I’ll waam the bike up; best put yor Tweed skort on it’ll be a tad parky!”
Boxing Day – traditionally the day after Xmas when servants, postmen and errand boys received a gift of gratitude from the household. This item here would be a good boxed offering: a still-in-crate 1957 Triumph TRW 500cc side valve (flathead) military motorcycle.
A Ray of Sunshine – today is the birthday of one half of preeminent mid century designers, the Eameses. Ray Eames was born in 1912 and along with her designer husband Charles created some of the most iconic objects in the fifties. Their hard work ethic relied on playful creativity to push the boundaries of design.
Thursday Hack – a trifecta of combinations. Top is the utilitarian Dnepr; a Soviet vehicle built like a tractor with two-wheel drive. Center a jovial Pannonia from 60’s Hungary, the Duna sidecar is aeronautical in style. And last, but not least, at the bottom is a mercurial Vespa scooter and bomb nosed sidecar – a loop around the Colosseum and whizz back to the Trevi Fountain…
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