CN
III ARCHIVES
BY LARRY LAWRENCE
H
ap Jones was best known
for founding a thriving
motorcycle accessories distri-
bution company, but he was
also a top racer in the 1930s,
winning the AMA National TT
Championship for 80-cubic-
inch motors in 1936. Jones
was a successful motorcycle
dealer and sponsored a
number of top racers over the
years as well as sponsoring
of many regional and national
races. Jones recognized the
importance of the history of
the sport and kept extensive
files on motorcycling's past.
Jones supplied several au-
thors of enthusiast books with important research
materials.
Loren A. Jones was born in 1905. He first be-
came interested in motorcycles in 1923 when he
purchased a 1919 Indian Scout from Ray Smith,
the Indian dealer in Spokane, Washington. Jones'
purchase of his first bike was a leap of faith. He
had put his life savings of $50 down to purchase
the machine and had to figure out a way to make
the weekly payments of $4. At the time he was
only earning $8 per week, of which $7 of that was
going towards room and board. He moved to San
Francisco and took a job as a motorcycle deliv-
eryman and worked part time as a mechanic for
dealers Dud Perkins and Rich Budelier.
In 1933, Jones opened a bicycle rental busi-
ness near Golden Gate Park. After moving the
bicycle business to the site of a former motor-
cycle dealership, Jones decided to start selling
used motorcycles. It was tough scraping out a
living as a motorcycle dealer during the Depres-
sion. Jones recalled one day when a poor rider
came in the shop with $1.50 needing a pair of
forks worth $20.
"Spurred on by an empty stomach, I sold
them for that amount," recalled Jones in a 1950
interview. "Then I closed up the shop, went out
and blew the whole buck-fifty on a rib steak for
my two helpers and I."
By 1937, Jones was awarded an Indian dealer-
ship. He sold Indians through 1946 when he be-
gan selling various British brands such as BSA,
Sunbeam, AJS-Matchless and later Norton.
Jones had a knack for hiring talented employ-
NATIONAL TT CHAMPION THE
FIRST MOTORCYCLIST TO CROSS
THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE
P100
