Northern California-Northern Nevad.Or.gon-Washington-ldaho-Utah-Alask.Canada- North.rn California-Northern Nev.
Introducing
the new
NORTHERN DATELINE
MENTER
6 pounds, 6 oz.
Born 12th of March, 1981
W.'re IOITY we missed all our
friends at Daytona but we _ .
waiting for this blessed event.
It was worth the wait.
Ted & Mel Henter
Ted Sr. & Emley
8&28 Hobson Street N.E.
St. Petersburg, FL 33702
1813) 622-2981
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r
GOfJlJ!fEAR"
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Among the "*'y , . . and exotic bIk•• displayed at SMttIe'. VIntage MotorcYcle Exposition were a Paton roed
rec:er ltop) and a Britlah Morgen labove' three wh....r. Note the engine placement on the Morgen.
Seattle'. vintage
bike expo
By Lane Campbell
SEATTLE, WA, MAR. IS-15
The occasion was Seattle's first
annual Vintage Motorcycle Exposition, held at Exposition Hall
in Seattle Center, former site of
the 1962-6S World's Fair, and over
%50 exhibitor I entrieS proved out the
S8
high latent interest in vintage and/or
exotic machiney. Co-sponsored by tbe
year-old Classic Motorcycle Club of
Washington and Castle Productions,
the three-day Expo combined rare old
antiques, rare exotic race bikes, special
exhibiu like Don Vesco's Bonneville
liner, dealer displays and special interest booths. Even the local DJ's responded, turning out in shifu to spin "vintage" '50s and '60s rock to help set the
properly nostalgic tone.
Walking in the door, show visitors
were confronted imJnediately by
Vesco's twin-engine, turbocharged Kawpowered saltliner, brightly floodlit,
with partial panel removal along one
aide to reveal the engines and their
extensive plumbing. This technoid
tour-de-force, with iu monocoque
chuIiIlt1'UCtI1re and bondedIcomposite
fiberglass shell, is aimed not just at the
motorcycle record, but the official
World Land Speed Record for wheeldriven vehicles - a record captured 15
years ago by Mickey Thompson in a
four-engined car powered by Chrysler
Hernis. (Side note - literally painted
on the side, Cycle News free1ancer
Marcia Holley is listed as crew member
for the record allempt.)
Beyond the Vesco exhibit, there
awaited a Morgan three-wheeler
(legally a motorcycle in iu native
Britain, the "Mog" tutored such
notables as Stirling MOllS in the an of
go-Eastin' long before they were old
enough under Britisb law to race or
drive a four-wheel vehicle). Next to
the polished-alloy-bodied MOTfln (with
iu J.A.P. l000cc V-twin engme hung
out in from of iu stone-axe sliding
pillar from suspension) was another
J.A.P.-engined stalwan, a Brough
Superior SSloo Alpine Grand Spon,
reputed to be T.E. Lawrence's fabled
"Boanerges" - the bike with which he
raced an airplane home, and won.
Next to that was a 19M Crocker
speedway bike owned by Classic Club
President Rich Shepard, whose wife
Marsha made up a ailkscreen print of
the bike to decorate the club's "official"
T-shiru. Not far away was another
1954-vintaF a1ky-burner &om Harley-
Davidson, a very rare example of that
finn's early dabblings in speedway
racing.
Behind the Morgan was perhaps the
show's most imaginative "theme" display: two Neracars in a suggested
pasture selling with natural din,
pebbles and autumn leaves scallered
about, baded by a rustic board fence.
One was a restored 1924 model - black.
with dual headlighu - and the other
was a 1925 "bullr." leaning on a moonshine jug, looking exactly the way
many of tbose rare antiques are discovered in the boonies prior to restoration.
Vb, what's a Neracar? The beasts
almost defy description, being pan
motorcycle, pan primeval scooter,
and pan two-wheeled "horselesa carriage." The single-cylinder two-stroke
engine was mounted axially, feeding
power into a variable-ratio, right-angle
friction drive. Weird.
According to Dave White of Dave's
Classic Bikes, there are over 50 Vdoceltes in the state of Washington alone.
Of those, White and restorer/Ve1o pans
king Bob Strode had assembled nearly
a dozen, making this the largest singlemarque display in the show. There
were two '67 Tbruxtons, a green '65
S50 Scrambler, a '64 Dunstall MSS
covered with race stickies, a '59 din-
