Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Halloween - Radiator Springs

One of my long time friends recently visited Disneyland - Radiator Springs. Being a car guy, father of perhaps an even bigger car guy who was absolutely "Cars" obsessed as a tyke and married to a total Halloween girl I loved this.
Mater-pire.
 He said every so often this car would steam, groan and otherwise emulate a zombie. Brilliant idea.

Saturday, October 28, 2017

Friday, October 27, 2017

Thursday, October 26, 2017

Budschat Story Time

A recent Facebook post from Mike Budschat about his legendary Dad Bob Budschat. The photo's not great but the story makes up for it:

“My Dad beat their top fuel car at Arlington (Western Washington Timing Association) with a rigid 650 Triumph. He missed a shift and the car got ahead so he changed lanes, drafting the car. Just before the finish he pulled out and passed him. They weren’t happy about that. :)"
Mike said the following about the plate:
"This was a plate presented to my Dad for top point getter in Washington. It was painted by Cliff Cox and when you look at the plate the number one has a repeat of the rider, I loved looking at this as a kid!"

1956 Farwell Memorial

Tacoma Motorcycle Club 1956 Farwell Memorial.

Saturday, October 21, 2017

One Two Stroke

We've well established that I have a two stroke bias but this was probably my favorite custom bike at The One Show last year.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Vincent Drag Bike

There is so much cool in this photo... Clem Johnson with Vincent drag bike, Barn Job, in September 1961. Pretty impressive twin engine Pre-Unit too.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Craigslist

1947 Knucklehead motor. Completely gone through. Real deal HD. $15,000. No low ballers.

Monday, October 16, 2017

Offenhauser

“There are Street Rods and there are Hot Rods. Street Rods have a Chevy up front and a can of wax in the back. Hot Rods have a Flathead up front and tools in the back.”
- Fred Offenhauser


Sunday, October 15, 2017

Jag

Not my cup of tea but someone has a lot of balls to go there.

Monday, October 9, 2017

Oden’s Fury

I’ve posted this one before but it’s worth posting again. Oden’s Fury - Nimbus based LSR bike.

Saturday, October 7, 2017

Seattle Cossacks - Talk Show

This really bums me out both for the Team's sake and historically. 
For anyone that might be interested here's the actual audio from the show. In the show you hear Don admit he doesn't even know if the people he had the run in with were in fact Cossacks. For the record, all the Cossacks at the Oyster Run trailered their bikes that day.



First the historical aspect. The Seattle Cossacks were formed in 1938. To my knowledge none of the "outlaw" Motorcycle Clubs were officially founded until after WWII (I think the Boozefighters may have been first in 1946). In the Cossacks day an "outlaw" biker was a guy that raced events not formally sanctioned by the AMA...

These days the Seattle Cossacks make huge sacrifices to keep the Team legacy alive. They are completely non-profit. Each guy has to buy and maintain his own vintage Harley Davidson. They also commit nearly every weekend to some event about 9 months out of the year. That doesn't include practice time. It's a big sacrifice. Almost every team member has a family. It's a commitment in turn the entire families make. The families are just as involved as the members in many cases. As a result the team as a whole becomes a family and kids are almost always in toe. Many of these kids later grow up to become active on the Team and the whole cycle repeats. This has gone on for 80 years.

Very few of these sorts of Drill Teams exist anymore. The operating costs are extremely high. The legendary Royal Signals Motorcycle Drill Team in England just announced their end of operation after 90 years, and they have the backing of the UK armed forces. The Cossacks do it all on their own dime.

With restored Knuckleheads now commanding $100,000 figures very few people are still willing to jump theirs or ride it through a wall of fire. That said there are Knuckleheads on the Seattle Cossacks that have been consistently doing this sort of stuff for three generations! Grandfather/Father/Son and soon grandson - amazing. The Cossacks are made up of regular working guys. Some are Boeing employees, own their own businesses and have military, police and fire fighter backgrounds. 

I'm sure Don was just trying to be funny but the Team doesn't need his help. Previously confusion over the completely unrelated Cossacks Motorcycle Club's shootout with the Banditios in 2016 required an amazing amount of explanation publicity wise. This kind of stuff can genuinely damage the Team's reputation, which makes it even harder to book show. Without enough shows the Team can't afford to cover their operating costs like maintenance, travel and insurance.

In the same show Don talks at some length with pride about John McCain's sacrifices and being a war hero, so clearly he must at least have respect that. Ironically my brother-in-law (not a Cossack) was both a Navy SEAL and played football with Don O'Neill in High School. My brother-in-law has also supported the Cossacks at the Oyster Run on several occasions. I'd be willing to bet Don has no idea he has these sorts of ties to the organization he so randomly singled out to riff on. In the end, it just sucks.

Nevada

Nevada State Line.


Thursday, October 5, 2017

P-40

From Old Crow. If you had $45,000 in 1944 you could order a P-40 directly from Curtis. This is how it would arrive.


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