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VOL. 53 ISSUE 20 MAY 24, 2016 P123 is also possible that the FIM was doing its best to protect the interest of NSU. The German manu- facturer had long been one of Germany's most famous marques, along with BMW and DKW, and it had longstanding relationships with the FIM by way of its international racing endeavors. At an early 1950s FIM congress gathering in Dusseldorf, NSU hosted a lavish dinner party for the delegates, so undoubtedly the ties were strong between the entities. And this is pure speculation, but one might assume that the FIM may have looked down on the effort put together by a small group of Texas enthusiasts. The Texas group most certainly had nowhere near the budget of NSU, and even though they quietly got technical assistance from Triumph, it's possible the FIM may have looked down their noses at the small American team's effort. The FIM's decision not to ratify Allen's 214.17 mph run in some ways may have actually in- creased the exposure of the accomplishments of the team and the Triumph Streamliner. Jack Wilson thought so anyway and said as much in an old video interview. "Edward Turner and Wilbur Cedar both agreed that they got more publicity out of it, being unap- proved, than they would have if it had been ap- proved," Wilson said. Wilson also gave credit to a small group at Triumph who were behind his team's efforts. He felt that Turner might have actually been against the idea initially, later to come around when the record was established. "I don't think Mr. Turner liked the idea," Wilson explained before mentioning some names of those affiliated Triumph who helped with the effort. "Ivor Davis, Syd Shelton, John Nelson and Frank Baker really came through for us. Some of the things they did for us, if Edward Turner would have known about it he would have probably fired them." After the streamliner sat in mothballs for years, Wilson was especially grateful to British Na- tional Motorcycle Museum's Roy Richards, who sought to bring the Texas Ceegar out of years of storage to be displayed at the museum in Eng- land. Wilson spoke on the occasion of the Texas Ceegar being put on display at the museum and the celebrations that surrounded it. "I want to thank Roy Richards for giving the old streamliner a permanent home where every- body can see it," Wilson said. "It was hanging in the rafters here full of rats when we took it down to send it to him. I am so sorry that Stormy and Johnny can't be at the celebration with the rest of us. It would make it one great day." Unfortunately, the original Texas Ceegar was lost to the tragic fire that destroyed hundreds of priceless motorcycles in the British museum in 2003. The good news is that Save Our Streamliner (S.O.S.) was founded by a group of Triumph fans, the North Texas Norton Own- ers associations and a dedicated group of old friends of Wilson. The S.O.S. team brought the remains of the streamliner back home to Texas for rebuilding and restoration. The engine and transmission were replaced since all the aluminum parts had melted. The badly warped, bent and twisted frame was painstakingly straightened and the body was recreated from the original fiberglass molds that Mangham never discarded. One of the members and reconstruction experts was Ed Mabry who has a long history of setting records at Bonnev- ille. Keith Martin at RPM Cycle, who worked with Jack Wilson over 12 years, reconstructed the engine and gearbox. In 2004 the restoration of the historic ma- chine was completed and it was returned to the restored museum in England. Long will be remembered the small group of Ft. Worth enthusiast who shocked the world with their speed exploits 60 years ago. CN Subscribe to nearly 50 years of Cycle News Archive issues: www.CycleNews.com/Archives