Baron's Speed Shop

The Delinquent has remained a favorite of mine since I first saw it about six years ago. I still go back to it often in my dreams of building the ultimate Triumph Pre-unit show bike. Pure early '60s elements of Candy, Chrome and vintage Speed Equipment.

I have talked to Dick a handfull of times on the telephone and he is a helluva nice guy that really knows his stuff. His custom Triumph's have made it into a stack of magazines now and the number of builds along with the attention to detail and quality while remaining true to the style of early 1960's California Customs is unequaled. Some of his work can be seen on his website HERE, but I've heard rumor of a new site in the works.

Dick moved shop not too long ago and sent over these pics of his latest masterpieces.

I especially like this duplex framed chop. Unique lines & nice proportions. Chromed Cub hubs laced to 21" rims are sweet!

Edwards V-8 Indian

Being a Triumph guy I'm not too excited by most motorcycles that weigh in at over 500 pounds, and in my, not always so humble opinion, some of the absolute worst of the behemoth category are the Boss Hoss type v-8 monstrosities. The other week at the DTMC chopper campout party there was a V-8 trike that looked like it probably had a top speed of about 160 mph or more. Looking at this high dollar piece of modern three wheel engineering I thought, I guess some people fail to learn from history or even investigate it. Ed Roth built a very similar machine in the late 60's called the California Cruiser. Now I love to haul ass down the asphalt as much as the next guy, but I also like to take the turns as they come and come out if them in one piece. The CA Cruiser design proved to be fatal to at least one owner due to the narrow wheel base in back and a tendency to flip over going into corners at any kind of speed. The modern version witnessed at the party had nearly identical dimensions as the CA Cruiser. Good luck bud!

But I digress, David Edwards was kind enough to send me some pics with short story of a Ford Flathead V-8 powered cycle that I can really dig. The fact that it was featured in a 1954 CYCLE magazine helps, but as I got a closer look and see the detail changes that are in the works I think this relic is going to be a true road rocket with old time Hot Rod class. Another labor of love from our prolific custom motorcycle survivor saviour, David Edwards:

"Paul, Bates fender arrived safe & sound, thanks very much. I think it will rechrome very nicely and looks like a dead-ringer for the fender in the old B&W. Again, appreciate your contributions and enthusiastic interest in the LVD project.

In my update I mentioned a Ford V8-60 Indian. What started as an innocent, "Hey, what's that?" when I saw an "Indian V-8!" cover blurb on the front of a 1954 Cycle magazine turned into an investigation as to the bike's whereabouts and then into a full-blown quest to purchase and restore the thing. I write about in the foreword to Tom Cotter's new book The Vincent in the Barn: Great Stories of Motorcycle Archeology about tracking down barn-find bikes. Long story short, Bill Drabek, a West Texas car mechanic, had a 1940 Indian 4 with a bad motor and a Ford V8-60, the little 2200cc flathead. He combined the two in a stretched frame that spans 9 feet from fender tip to fender tip. A 90-degree angle drive (oil field surplus?) moves power from the motor to a flipped Harley tranny.

Drabek put about 40,000 miles on the bike. Besides Cycle, it made Mechanix Illustrated and the Ford Times. Sadly, Drabek dropped dead of a heart attack in 1968. His grieving widow would not hear of selling the beloved V-8, so it was wheeled into a shed, where time, several generations of rodents, the occasional flood and, finally, stick-wielding juvenile delinquents had their way with the old bike. When elderly Mrs. Drabek was put into a home in the 1990s, it was in very rough shape. The bike apparently went to tax auction soon after, about the same time I started my sleuthing. As the story goes the new owner contacted Jay Leno, who declined interest, so he was primed to deal when I got in touch. Haggling done, I flew to Corpus Christi with every tie-down strap I owned, rented a truck and hauled the big white beast back home. That was 13 years ago.

After several years on the back-burner, I've turned up the heat again on the V-8 restoration. John Bivens at Indian Engineering in Stanton is doing the heavy lifting on this one. He does some of the very best Indian restoration jobs I've ever seen, but this project is definitely above and beyond the call. As shown in the snapshots, frame and engine are now reunited, radiator has been mocked up, Duo-Glide fork rebuilt and attached. Much still to do, but maybe it and the Von Dutch Triumph will be finished at the same time, making for a very odd set of custom-bike bookends."

David

Justin Kell Vincent Drag Bike

Way back when Dave Kirkland first sent me those original 1960's pics from his Dad's collection of old Triumph's included in his email there was this B&W pic of a Vincent Drag / Show bike that I did not include in the original Kirkland POST.

Dave sent me these pics recently with the backround story:

"Richard Slavens was the owner and my dad, Ernie Kirkland, made the intake manifolds and what used to be the gas tank on top of the oil tank. In '62 or '63, the two of them went to Marysville, OH and purchased the extremely rare road race heads from Harry Bellville and also bought a complete Lightening lower end which I would assume is still in this bike.

Richard sold the bike to a guy in Las Vegas. The guy in Vegas had called and said he wanted to buy the bike, "but I'm getting my leg amputated tomorrow, I'll call you after it's done." He called back the day after the amputation and said, "I want to buy your bike," so Richard sold it to him.

I have no idea, what year he sold it. The pictures that I got off of Facebook that I just sent, came from Richard's nephew who said, that these were the only pictures that his uncle Dick had left of the bike."

The updated story as of May 28th.

"I spoke with Justin on the phone yesterday about the Vincent. He is very interested in the original history of the bike and is actually in the process of putting the bike back together like it was originally and running it a Bonneville this year."
Dave Kirkland

The same bike today.The Bikernet story HERE.

Gotta say I love the road racer gas tank. The tank relief is the coolest!

Speaking of Custom Seats

I did a full post on this bike awhile back but did not include this picture I pasted together later from two pages before the scanner set up revolted on me. Click for large version.

Jason "Vor" South City Pre-unit Lowrider

The way it was before he bought it from world renowned internet know it all and all around expert on every subject known to man, "Hackasaw".

To me getting a custom chopper right takes a combination of things in proper balance with each other. Rear frame stretch, rake, gas tank mounting height, fork length etc. are things that can be done a million different ways. The original build by Hackasaw doesn't quite get it does it? Many things to pick on that I won't bother with, but the plate seat style is something that was especially bad in my book.

Some choppers beg for longer forks. I started with stock length on mine, then 4" over, and finally the latest version that's 8" over and I'm really happy with it now. This bike wasn't working with stock length and going longer would have made things worse. Jason lowered the stock Triumph forks and machined an axle to mount the small brake front wheel with 21" rim and now she's sitting pretty.
In the email he sent me this morning he said "I've got to tweak the front end a bit, mount the rear fender, tail light, and some misc, then I should be able to dig into the motor. I'm looking for a rigid preunit tank so I can move on. It's running a bultaco front brake, 21" akront, unit front end and rear wheel, some modified BSA foot pegs and brake pedal. "

There are a bunch of pics of the progress of this build HERE.

I want to thank Jason for making it to the DeathTraps MC Copperopolis party this weekend and everyone else that came out and made it a success. More to come!

Forget Everything Else,

and hit the road tomorrow!

Chip Quinn's '53 6T Showbike Project

I recently worked out a trade with Chip to swap the T120 head I posted for a TR6 head he has. He also sent me these pics of this super cool start he has to a rigid frame Triumph showbike project. I gave him my thoughts, and he's asking, so read his story and don't be shy about any comments you might have.

I like this work in progress stuff and as I've stated I'm a supporter of the long term project so feel no shame. Anyone else have a project or a mock-up they'd like to contribute email me some pics to kustomhut13@yahoo.com.

"I am enclosing some pictures of my '53 6T "show bike" project that I am slowly working on. This is the one that I was talking about back at Christmas that I stretched 13/4" in the rear lower rails. Your writing on your dads long term project made me think that it is about time to send some pictures and show what I am up to. This is the definition of "long term"project in it's most extreme. As I slowly find and am able to buy the various parts I want, I add them to the mix. Right now I'm trying to decide two things about it and soliciting opinions - should I run an aluminum front 19" rim and my Avon 2.75 x 19, or should I go with my 21" Akront aluminum rim with a 3.00 x 21? Either way, the hub and brake drum will get chromed, as well as the lowers, (just found some '56 - '57 types this weekend, they'll get shaved and go on soon) triple trees, covers, the whole works. The other big question mark at this time is what about the seat? I have a large rounded, sprung base type, (not sure of brand type) or should I go ahead and make the banana type that is mocked up from chipboard on the frame now? As I said, opinions are being solicited, and my skin is pretty thick, so use these photos as you will. They're not of super quality, but if you want use them on your sight, please do. The others are just kind of a look around my little slice of all consuming hell. I punch louvers for most of the hot rod shops around my part of the country, plus build chassis, wire, and trouble shoot hot rods for my living. Customer stuff always comes first, so my stuff always goes together slow. The background behind my bike is my '29 Ford roadster pick up, and getting it up and functional is next on the list of things to do. The view of the truck and bike is what I see from my press as I work everyday - not too bad! The last picture is of my humble '48 Plymouth, which is my daily driver. Hopped 360 Chrysler, Tremac 5 speed, revised geometry Mustang 11 front end and a bunch of other trick stuff topped with a body easily worth upwards of 500.00 dollars on the open market! Fast and fun, and has been driven the equivalent of to the moon and back in the last fifteen years as a hot rod. Oh, threw a picture of my '61 6T project in here too. It was going to be a Bonneville clone until you ran the pictures of Kepaloa - crap, more stuff to think about! Super long term on that though. One last thing on my '53, a friend said he would love to paint it for me ( his car is on the upper left cover of WORLD OF RODS) so now I have to think about paint schemes Any ideas?"

Long Term Success

Within a year or two of myself getting the Triumph bug about 20 yrs ago, my Dad Duane Gion, found himself a local Triumph parts stash for sale. A lifelong gearhead that had owned multiple 1950's & 60's Corvettes and other cool Chevy powered machines in his younger days, he had originally tried to talk me out of getting one of these backwards motorcycles with their horrible electric components and funny hardware sizes that required special tools. So much for listening to your parents. As soon as I took the plunge and bought my first Triumph basket case sight unseen knowing absolutely nothing about the motorcycles, I talked him into helping me rebuild it. In his garage we worked together, him teaching me how to figure certain things out by wear marks and other tricks any good wrench knows, and I learned some lessons myself by breaking perfectly good parts being too ham fisted when he walked away!

Well, the Triumph did start to grow on him (the disease we've all caught) and one day when I showed up to his garage, on the floor was three to four dismantled Triumph 650's that he had bought for a couple hundred bucks. The early 90's were a good time for buying old Brit bikes! Needless to say I was stoked. He let me pick a few bits out to add to what was the beginning of my parts stash and he started to pick pieces for his own bike project. Some pieces went to swap meets over the years and as the pile grew smaller there was a regret that spare parts were sold off. In the pre-ebay days you pretty much gave Triumph parts away. The parts that were held onto made up the custom Triumph you see here. Looking back on it I'm impressed with what he chose to use. The sexy slimline gas tank with top chrome detail strip and Triumph badges, a 1969 Bonneville engine and the super rare English made Metal Profiles forks.

But the list of as found parts is not long because the majority of this bike was custom designed and made by himself and it did not happen over night. You are looking at a 15+ year project that was just fired up for the first time this year. A partial list of fabricated items is as follows: Alloy front fender bracket / brace for a Harley front fender of unknown year, Alloy headlight brackets that are nylon sleeve mounted, vintage Miller headlight modified to carry a aftermarket speedo and ignition key switch, custom made oil tank made with screw on oil filter mount built in, alloy rear fender mounts to a pattern alloy fender and the tail light that looks aftermarket was actually custom made to fit perfectly to it. The list goes on and on. Not built to any specific style, the concept started by modifying the frame to get rid of the stock seat loop and lower and lengthen the bike. The swingarm was extended by lengthening the axle mount plates, a harder way to do it, but it looks cool with lightening holes drilled in them. He built what he thought would look good and work good and came up with something completely unique. Most all of the work was done himself with the exception of some of the welding.

Personally I'm a believer in the long term project. Long term projects have the potential to turn out the best due to extra time to find better parts and come up with better ideas. But we probably all know a guy with a "long term project" that without a doubt will never actually be finished. The key is to always have some bit of it that you are working on or have in the car to give someone to do work to. If your mind stays with it, you keep some level of progress going no matter how small, and you live long enough, it will get done.

Future plans include a new set of Hagon shocks, a alloy front rim to match the rear, and a high output alternator to make the Boyer ignition work better. But for now it's rolling and making his partial retirement so much sweeter!

Special thanks to our custom Harley riding neighbor Denny for taking my Dad on a Sunday putt last weekend and snapping these awesome pictures.

David Edwards Lost Von Dutch * UPDATE *

I'm very pleased to bring you an up to date report from David Edwards of his Lost Von Dutch custom Triumph. Originally covered on the Cycle World website HERE, David has been kind enough to write up the details of the progress that has been made since the last Cycle World post and provide them to the Show & Go faithful here.

The bike as found. Things looked even worse on the inside.

The plan: Take it back via restoration to this earlier form. The story in David's words:

"Work on the "Lost Von Dutch" continues, albeit at a slower pace, funded by eBay sales––who knew some cat in Austria would gladly fork over $500 for an oily old BSA A10 cylinder head? Motor is complete thanks to Bill Getty at JRC Engineering, who left as many Dutch'd parts as possible and replaced with new or used only as a last resort. Even kept the corroded timing cover with the owner's name, "Johnny," hand-engraved by Von Dutch. Polished up nicely and the after-effects of the corrosion are part of the bike's story. Motor and gearbox had seen some heavy use, more proof that the '57 T110 had been desert-raced before Von Dutch gussied it up for sale at Bud Ekins' Triumph shop.

As you may know, Bill Getty is in the business of selling Britbike parts to shops; he doesn't build engines for customers. I was honored that he spun wrenches on the "LVD" as a personal favor. JRC Engineering also had most of the chassis parts we needed.

Speaking of which, we have a roller! Denny Berg has been doing restoration work worthy of the Smithsonian. As you'll remember, the bike was originally built as a bob-job by Von Dutch in the late '50s/early '60s. Los Angeles sportscaster Gil Stratton owned it for awhile, traded it back to Ekins, after which young L.A. County lifeguard Johnny Suggs bought it. Suggs was a fan/friend of Von Dutch and would sometimes fetch him "breakfast," a fifth of vodka and a six-pack of beer! In 1968, to celebrate Suggs' safe return from a tour of duty in Vietnam, Dutch treated the bike to a new paint job, a brilliant yellow/orange with gold pinstripes. A couple of years later, at the height of the Easy Rider craze, Dutch chopped the Triumph for Suggs.

Perhaps because now it wasn't very rideable––or maybe it had something to do with Suggs' new career in federal law enforcement––the Triumph was parked sometime in the '70s. It remained outside baking in the Southern California sun, and at one point was half-buried in a mud slide after a particularly rainy spring. During the clean-up it was actually loaded onto a garbage skip. Much to Mrs. Suggs' dismay, John rescued the bike, but sold it a few years later to a car collector who soon thought better of restoring the rusty, muddy relic and put it on eBay, which is where I enter the picture. All mine for $3350 and the gas to get to Oakland to pick it up.

What looked bad in photos was worse in person. Without the Von Dutch provenance, it probably should have been in the city dump! Denny set about a restoration that kept as many "touched by Dutch" parts as was humanly possible, even when replacing with a like component would have been far easier and cheaper. He's welded up corroded parts and filed/sanded them back down. Painted the frame himself because he wanted a just-right finish. Modified the few replacement parts we've needed to exactly replicate the way they were customized. I've restored many a bike over the years but nothing has been as epic as bringing this one back from the dead––well, except for my Ford V8-60 powered Indian 4, but that's another (and ongoing) story...

Paint has been a sticking point. Originally, I wanted to restore the frame, engine and running gear but leave the Dutch paintwork as-found. But I ride my bikes and the original paint was so damaged and so fragile from its 40 years of outside exposure that riding wouldn't have been possible. Paint was flaking off in the wind as I hauled the Triumph home in my pickup! A second set of tinware was found (JRC for the oil tank and battery box, my friend Stan van Amburgh for the NOS Wassell peanut tank) and along with the originals was taken to Buck Wild Designs for a replica paint job. To call Buck a painter isn't quite accurate; the man is an artist who happens to work with motorcycles. He got right down to the molecular level with the original paint, channeled Von Dutch, and laid on an absolutely spectacular scheme, with fogging, pinstripes and a touch of pearl in the orange. This is what Dutch's handiwork looked like when new. And purists save yer hate mail, it's signed "Von Dutch '68 by Buck Wild '10" so we're not trying to fool anybody. At shows, we'll display the original bodywork alongside.

Still lots of work to do. The rusty rear fender, a Von Dutch original, swiss-cheesed and weld-repaired almost beyond redemption, will be a bitch to rehab but Denny will somehow pull it off. And we're still looking for the right mufflers, using your catalog research as our guide, thanks for that."

The original sheet metal next to the new. Von Dutch said that he preferred to work in solid materials such as metal & wood because they were more permanent and that paint was only temporary. When a bike is as beat up and neglected as this one I'm for the saving of original painted parts for display and new parts for the resto. The cool thing about doing it this way is that the bike can be ridden and used again when done without worry of further damaging of the painters original work, and the original body parts could be remounted for display, show or museum duty any time in the future.

A Bates P-pad in any condition is needed, if you can help please let us know. It's gonna be neat to see that Von Dutch rear fender grab rail redone and back on this bike. I'm sending a Bates front fender to David today to help with the project. David now has a part-time gig with the Bonhams auction house as they expand their U.S. sales. He's helping with strategic planning plus vehicle/collection acquisition for auction. People with cars or bikes they would like to consign can reach him at his business e-mail, david.edwards.media@gmail.com.

Kaz's Triumph

Out & About

Triumph Desert Sled Skid Plate up for TRADE

Well, after owning this "as used" piece of finely formed American steel for many months, I finally got around to squeezing under the 1961 TR6C to really get a good check of fitment. Thinking everything was fine since it was sold to me as a duplex frame part imagine my surprise when I found that it's not right, and that it is actually the pre-59 version for the earlier pre-unit swing are frames as described in the Bast Bros. ad above.

So I'm back in the market for an original aftermarket skid plate made specifically for the double loop pre-unit frames. Realizing that I may not find one I will settle for the original factory skid plate. I will trade straight across for this plate here or may also part with one of my Q air filters or even a nifty original Bates leather Srambles seat that I have as an extra now that I scored,

this sweet Cross-Country number that fits the TR6C like a glove! These came with a C shaped bracket at the back with some P clamps to the frame that I would like to find if anyone has some.