Ah yes, it was the Ariel 4square that he had in his collection.
The guy was a master in re-building old bikes, all on his own in his spare time.
I don't know what happened to the bikes after his death.
Yep! Always good to have trusted friends.
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Ariel built some seriously beautiful motorcycles. I certainly understand rescuing one of them from the 'heap'.
Here, we seem to see auctions of after death motorcycles. The family doesn't have the passion and would rather have the money. The new owners are usually really happy to get a new old friend...
Yeah, I have only seen that one Ariel, but it was a beaut.
Always the case when one dies my friend. People spend a lifetime building things and when they pass away, the children squander it. Soon the money runs out and there is nothing left.
I looked at one, and really agonized over buying it. It had been modified (professionally) into sort of a chopper style (not the huge front rake, but some). But it had a hydraulic front brake, an oil cooler and a 12 volt generator and electrical system. Would have made a gorgeous rider to take to the local coffee shop, but the 'sit' would have not been conducive to long rides. I ended up passing on the bike. It would have looked really good on my veranda...
Ah, the choppers are indeed great lookers. Ape hangers, extention forks and peanut tanks.
They were declared illegal over here and one still battle with the traffic department to get one licensed.
Real lookers though!
Remember the old Buick Special?
Oh, boy do I remember the old Buick Special.
My friend Ray (who I inherited my house from) was in the Army in North Carolina in '55 and bought a brand new special order Buick Special with a 3 speed transmission on the floor.
He drove it to Acropolis, North Carolina and rolled up to Lee Petty's yard and asked him to help him tune his Buick. Lee Petty is Richard Petty's father and a NASCAR Hall of Fame member in his own right. Lee Petty told him he wouldn't get his hands dirty but that Ray could do the work right there using Lee's tools.
It worked. I have a newspaper article that mentioned my friend Ray being arrested and jailed for street racing against a Jaguar XKE. The article also stated that the Buick clearly won the race :)
Ray said that race cost him a stripe (from Sargent back to Corporal) but it was damn sure worth it!
Wow, you certainly have a great story here about that Buick and it deserved a mention.
Now have you ever seen a Buick 8?
Very plain and primitive inside.
A pity that Hive does not have a pumping old car community, as there is nowhere to post these beauties and I have many of them.
I am sure that you also have many!