Seventh | in the late eighties we were up to regeneration number eight for The Doctor. Sylvester McCoy was the Time Lord and his sidekick Mel by the 70’s child star Bonnie Langford. When the Tardis is parked up they can tear around aboard a beautiful Vincent combination.
Stan and Ollie | A comedy duo from the golden age of Hollywood who got up to many japes and shenanigans. Their comedy was thoughtful idiocy and usually a ‘fine mess’ was ‘gotten into’.
M&M | Candy riding a sidecar combination. Seen on a display shelf at the noodle shop where I got our supper.
Catalog Time | As the seasons change and cold weather starts closing its chill grip then the mail piles up with catalogues. Today the JC Peterman one arrived, the cover has a nicely illustrated winter scene.
Mans Best Friend | what other color should a chimney sweeps hound be that white?
Comfy Chair | a respectable couple take their pet pup for a ride in the countryside. I’m sure there’s a picnic tucked away in there somewhere.
Royal Flying Corps | A despatch rider in the Women’s Royal Air Force (WRAF) enjoying a tea break while seated on her Phelon & Moore 500cc single cylinder motorcycle circa 1918. On 1 April of that year the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service were amalgamated to become a new service: The Royal Air Force (RAF). Image from the archives of the Imperial War Museum
LEGO – always a favorite for learning about building and creating. Here is a motorcycle themed set I’d never seen before. A motorbike dealership set from 1984. Complete with showroom, helmet display and office, as well as a little flower bed out front.
Driving with Dog – Exploring remote muddy woodland trails, on the hunt for a small conifer to decorate, sometimes your companion needs to be an attentive hack passenger. “Bark if you spot any suitable candidates George!”
Friday Feline – another fine outfit set-up for fun with a capital F and that rhymes with S and that stands for sidecar. We’ve surely got fun right here in Chi-town City…
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…
Don’t mention the War – winding up a suitcase gramophone this period dressed BMW R75 owner carefully took out old crimson labeled 78’s from their protective manilla sleeves and played the likes of Marlene Dietrich across the parking lot. The combination had a small trailer that would have been used to tow matériel into hard-to-reach front line positions.
The car holds a non-functioning MG42 machine gun whose air cooled muzzle looks fearsome. The driver had a very Teutonic air about himself which completed the outfit.
Red Square – center of the socialist world. May 1st celebrates the workers of the world and their stand for the rights of the laboring class. Started after the Haymarket Affair in Chicago which occurred after striking action for an 8 hour day turned into a riot. The Ural combinations ride in a formal line through Moscow in 1951. Soviet era banners fly from the GUM department store behind.
Sidecar Camel – this little fella seems quite content to be driven around in this homespun combination. Turquoise Ural looks great under the Steppes sunlight.
This is a still from the 2008 Kazakhstan film Talpan (Tulip).
“a sweet and funny tale of a young Kazakh man, Asa, who has been recently discharged from the Russian Navy and lives in the remote steppes with his sister and her family. While he dreams of becoming a herdsman, he is also actively looking for a wife and has his eyes set on Tulpan, the daughter of a neighbor, who is also the only eligible young woman in the area.”
