Passing a dedicated owner of this late model Triumph Speedmaster, my father couldn’t help hi’self and ask to sit on it and pose. Looking the part in his leather jacket the ‘bee-loud’ colour scheme certainly looks spiffy. The owner continued his care and attention as Robin moved along. The owner should splash a puddle of oil on the ground under the bike for a little authentic brit-iron character!
The Bonnie is nearing springtime riding completion: tank installed, a bit o’ gasoline, kicked ‘er over and after a few coughs and splutters she roars to life. A little rough after a winter lay-up but a heartbeat nonetheless! Some fine tuning and engine tuning then the jobs a gud un… Only problem was over tightening a new oil pressure switch and cracked its threaded insert in the timing cover “damn, damn and blast it!”
Plenty of toy AA combinations were available for the young lads wishing to enter vehicle recovery service. Here’s a selection of Dinky and Zebra. Varying degrees of detail, but nonetheless that doesn’t detract from playability.
An old postcard from sometime in the fifties of the small town of Wooler in North Northumberland. Here a idyllic quiet scene along the High Street. This is where I grew up and have fond memories of the beautiful countryside around and the muckle Cheviot Hills behind. Well, a lone ‘driver’ of what looks like an AA combination is tooling along in this image, and my family have a strong suspicion that this is my grandfather George Lawrie; he was an AA Patrolman during that time and was one of the only ones in that corner of the country.
Today we’ll go full size: here’s the actual Beeza AA combination also known as the ‘Road Service Outfit’ in gorgeous yellow. They’ll definitely see you coming along the road with this one!
These days the patrolmen tote around on easy riding motos such as the Honda Deauville, sweet 650cc V-twin, and the Burgman scooter, another 650cc ride. Jumper cables tucked in one of the panniers, no tonneau cover’d sidecar now.
A tiny three wheeled combination in yellow and black. This midget amongst small things has been sitting waiting to be painted and assembled (all three pieces of it!) Well I finally got around to it with as delicate a hand as I could muster. This is of course a miniature of the AA’s BSA sidecar outfit used in the forties and fifties to aid broken down vehicles. Probably the very same model my Grandfather rode whilst an officer in the Association. Indeed it was his experience with traffic and vehicles that directed him to the Military Police in WWII.
Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) A onetime honorary Hell’s Angel and journalist of the most counter-cultured kind here sits thoughtfully over the rugged Big Sur coastline. One day I’d love to take my Triumph along that Pacific precipice with the salt breeze waking up my consciousness.
As Francois Villon says: “In my own country I am in a far off land”
A perfect jersey for the chilly morning while working on your bike! Get one here… Get the kettle on and rustle up a brew; pull up a stool and just look at the bike wonderin’ what work needs to be done today. There is always something to do on an old Brit Iron!
Lovely black and white photograph by Giles Clement of a very clean early seventies oil-in-frame Bonneville; this time not in the usual greasy cafe scene imagery. Fancy a dip pet!
The Ed Kretz dealership was a well know stop for riders looking for a new top-of-the-line Triumph in Monterey Park on the sunny west coast. Evocative shop label of a muse atop the Thunderbird ‘paper dart’ logo.
A cool image of a bikers line-up along the shop front.
Ed’s Senior and Junior (left & right) with another “Hall of Famer”, A.J. Lewis. Standing by an early 50’s racing Triumph.
Kretz Sr. was friends with none other than James Dean, both in terms of motorcycling as well as racing. Here they chat awhile as Dean sits in his 1954 Porsche 356 Speedster. He traded this car for the infamous Porsche 550 Spyder later that year. Two Legends!
Ed Kretz Sr. (1911-1996) the original Iron Man was a force to be truly reckoned with in the early world of motorcycle racing: his dedicated and aggressive riding style winning him numerous accolades, including the first Daytona 200 in ’37. His #38 race number becoming a common podium sight. Regarded in high esteem by his peers as well as the senior racers from the teens and twenties he dominated the scene from the late thirties, through the forties and into the fifties until his retirement in ’59. Both father and son had a ‘cycle dealership in California, first for Indian Motorcycles until ’53 then Triumph after.
Son of Ed ‘Iron Man’ Kretz Sr. here is Ed Jr. riding Steve McQueen’s Triumph from the ’63 ISDT in the same race two years later; this time on the Isle of Man. Steve was filming The Cincinnati Kid and couldn’t attend, so he allowed Ed to race in his place. It turned into a muddy rout with the US team being thwarted by the typically wet British weather half way through.
A brief scene in the 1986 movie “Peggy Sue Got Married” shows a classic ride of the time, a pre-unit speed twin Triumph (probably). The rock ‘n’ roll age was blooming, kids were dancin’ to the tunes and the bikes were fast and cool. Kathleen Turner is P.S. and her beau is Nick Cage – later to be the fiery Ghost Rider. The inspiring music is of course the incomparable Buddy Holly.
In the early 80’s Triumph’s doors at Meriden finally closed. However all was not lost, an enthusiast and entrepreneur by the name of Les Harris acquired all spare parts and a few ex-Triumph workers and kept a Bonneville 750cc model in production and the British motorcycle industry alive. Albeit with a weak pulse, it was a vital pulse nonetheless. This gave enough time for John Bloor, who held the Triumph name, to get the show at Hinckley up and running in ’91. Les can be considered an important player in the history of Brit-Iron, allowing it to continue on for over a continuous century, now heading healthily ahead into the 21stC. Triumph currently manufactures 46,000 units per year. Les passed away in 2009 aged 69 surely feeling content with his lifes worth. At his funeral he was given a roaring salute from pallbearers consisting of members of the Royal Signal Corps motorcycle display team: the White Helmets. Tribute indeed!
Meeeoooowwww….. The Ninja sppeds along the motorway. Cats aboard, one on throttle, one pillion and another just taking it easy on the tankbag. I’m sure our cats Charley and Trixie would be just so on my old GPZ900!
geordiebiker.com 