…I’m gonna make a big star out of you…
…..All you gotta do is, act naturally!
June 5, 2011
Mid Seventies Bonneville Cafe
A clean example of a cafe’d Oil-in-Frame Bonnie, Right hand shifting, discs, so must be T140V from 75 or 76. Nice black paint scheme and grey frame. This helped my own rebuild inspiration…
The racing hump seat , a reupholstered cover available from Vietnam of all places, affords a further speedy line to the desired appearance.
Eliminated front fender gives a bobbed look too. Clip-Ons the correct stance.
Close-up view of frame, timing side of engine and rear sets. The standard ‘boxy’ side covers actually look right with the grey frame finish and dull engine casings.
Anotehr view of the Norman Hyde rearsets, close in appearance to mine, as well as the gear change lever.
A final rearview shot of the rounded ‘rump’ and the long pipes; altogether a balanced build with clean lines and serious purpose of speed.
June 4, 2011
What doyou get if you multiply two by three?
A hot rod racer set up for a sub 10 second run… 1950cc at least! What a sound this must have made!
June 3, 2011
Todays Craigslist offerings…
A clean fairly original 76 Trident. $6500
…and a 79 Bonnie. On Consignment at Morries $poa
June 2, 2011
Line Drawn Triumphs
An ink and brush comic of the benefits of owning a triumph; could you see this on a Ducati advert today?
If only my brakes worked as well as this… hopefully someday!
Classic charcoal rendered Thunderbird, crisp graphics.
Line drawing of bike with engine as photograph. This is the introduction of the 5 speed gearbox on the T120V (’73). Also showing the larger UK spec tank that I have bought from Ebay in UK, soon to arrive!
June 1, 2011
Sunny Sunday ride in May
Perfect early Sunday morning weather, 60’s, sun, fragrant woods, cool breezes up the ravines, an occasional glimpse of the lake and quiet roads. Went up to Lake Bluff; bike running well too! Doesn’t get much better than this!
May 31, 2011
Vintage Rally
Arenowned meeting of vintage bikes next weekend in Kansas MO. Triumph being the selected make of the promotional poster; itself having a Milton Glaseresque look about it… see Dylan album cover below.
May 29, 2011
Great Escape movie poster
A week of Steve McQueen and The G.E. is closed off with this super narrow movie poster with the bike jump taking ‘center stage’, the black and white with turquiose highlight is cool too.
May 28, 2011
McQueen modelling
One last model kit featuring Hilts on his bike is this small diarama showing him in full posed evading capture.
Simple assembly but a good paint finish would be essential.
Plenty of images to reference too!
May 28, 2011
Prefab Sprout
An album from the Durham based 80’s group Prefab Sprout called “Steve McQueen” features a nice 60’s Trophy TR6C on the cover. A good look, and good music of that time. Ah memories…
May 27, 2011
Hilts rides again…
Keepin’ the theme going, here’s a 1:6 scale action figure and bike of Hilts on a german bike. Well padded leather flying jacket and small baseball glove. All it needs is a ‘Cooler’ diarama as well as a fence jump ramp!
Oh to be a kid again!
Now if they added the revving motor of an Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle…. too much fun!
May 26, 2011
A Model Escape
Here is an accurate 1:12 model of the bike used by Hilts to escape the Germans and the Stalag Luft. Actually a Triumph TR6, painted and detailed a little to replicate a wartime BMW R45 bike of the time; probably its because this is the model Steve and his pal Bud rode to great effect across the SoCal dessert. Nevertheless it is still one of the most classic bike scenes in ANY movie!
Below: a replica built for the Imprial War Museum exhibition on the G.E. in 2005/6 – A 1960 T110.
May 25, 2011
Desert Sleds
A great image of the Triumphs used for desert racing in south California. That first fella looks a lot like Bud Ekins; west coast bike shop owner and racer as well as pal to Steve McQueen.
Here’s an early Dunlop promotional shot of Ekins and his Trumpet Iron; look at that front wheel!
…and here he is with Steve havin’ fun on a Sunday desert race no doubt.
May 24, 2011
Bobber-ville
Here is a selection of the venerable twin customized into the hardtail low seating bobber form. Some nice details and individual bikes. I’m sure a hoot to ride… …starting with this pre-unit. #14
High Pipes and chunky tires.
Webbed tank painting, pedal kickstart and springy seat. Lowbrow forsure.
Whitewalls, lime green and throaty sound.
Even the later oil-in-frame models get the hardtail treatment. And a black finished conical front brake, that ebony patina wont help! Thin saddle and unsprung… ouch.
May 23, 2011
Parfum de King of Cool
Steve McQueen fragrance should embody the timeless elegance, charm and mysterious character of the man who inspired it, both tough and sensitive, handsome and mysterious, melancholic and mischievous … This is a fragrance that reflects the man whose appearance set the standards of masculinity and elegance.
Steve McQueen perfume was launched on 20th September 2010 as 100 ml EDP. The perfume is available in collectable limited edition box at the cost of $190 or 140 euros.
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