July 2013 - AMCA Europe

AMCA EUROPEAN CHAPTER NEWSLETTER
July 2013
Hello AMCA Europe Members,
This month we hear about a side trip to Norway, the
Dixon Meet in California, and the Banbury Run in
England.
Norway Visit
I used to work in Norway, so it was a pleasure in late
May to be asked to get Einar’s 1936 VFD Harley Big
Twin running again after 16 years storage. Here is the
delighted owner in Oslo after a few hours tinkering got it
back on the road.
Dixon Meet 14/15 June
I forgot to mention that the Oslo airport had been
relocated and then rebuilt after my last visit there, and I
was treated to the same experience in San Francisco
compared to when I used to drive down to Palo Alto on
business years ago. It did not seem possible, but the
traffic was even worse, with a long wait at immigration
dumping me out on the freeway in the evening rush
hour. However, my spirits were restored on arriving at
the Dixon Fairgrounds the next morning:
There is a second 36VFD with an adjacent serial number
I also saw in Oslo a few years back, this one showing
traces of its original Olive Green and Black export paint
job. These are typical export bikes of the time, with low
compression heads and iron pistons appropriate to
heavy duty or sidecar work on the low octane European
fuel of the time. Next evening we met with one-time
members of the Oslo Throttlesnappers Club, including
AMCA members Vegard (third from left) on the 1937 W
Harley small twin, and Bent (second from right) on the
1930 Harley V and sidecar just back from his nineteenth
Skagen Run the length of Denmark. Respect! These
guys are keen enough to scour historical shipping
records for motorcycle imports, and found a batch of
perhaps twenty plain-Jane W model Harleys were
imported into Norway in 1937, several of which survive.
To my surprise they also said a few Harley
knuckleheads were imported in 1936, of which some are
still known.
We had clear blue skies and sunshine right through the
meet, with temperatures in the sixties in the morning and
eighties in the afternoon, say 20-30 degrees Celsius.
The trees gave welcome shade, Marie Moore was on
gate duty when I arrived, and I was later to see husband
Jim Moore, plus Rick Najera and Red Fred Johansen, all
of whom I’d worked with on the AMCA Board. Rick had
brought this tasty 1960 original paint Harley Topper:
Larry built it 16 years ago with a 1935 VL taken out to
5.5” stroke, with improved braking to handle the 100
mph it can do ‘any day’. Nice handiwork, and a reliable
Road Run bike from an owner/builder. As we were in
California I saw these ridden-in machines by their tents:
I thought $6000 was all the money on this piece, but
then saw this bobber:
The Panhead chopper catches the eye, but the bike
behind is a ratty 1944 knucklehead of which fewer than
300 were built. Indians were represented by this great
1940 Traffic Car:
An original Crocker left hand crankcase and a ton of
fabrication from builder George Hood had resulted in a
$250k asking price for this one-off. More down to earth,
Larry Doane wanted to show me his 100 cubic inch VL:
While this fabulous replica of a 1910 Curtiss took the
Oldest Bike award, despite probably being the newest –
go figure:
Friday night was the banquet, and I had the chance to
congratulate the Fort Sutter Chapter on a great meet,
and then say a few words about the European Chapter.
We are a long way from Dixon, and not all US members
may realize how much enthusiasm we have for antique
motorcycles.
Saturday afternoon we started judging, and I had the
pleasure of judging the only two Class 3 bikes with
California expert Chris Haynes. There was another of
those pesky 1936 knuckleheads, plus a 1933 Harley
VLD flathead, and despite our combined efforts they
both did well in the trophy department. There were 114
vendor spaces at the Meet, a credit to the club given
there is a bike meet within two hours driving every
weekend of the year in California. Chris Bastiaansen
from Holland was also at the meet for the first time, and I
can recommend it to our European members if your
travel plans allow.
Banbury Run
This 16 June run by the British VMCC is the largest
meeting of pre-1931 motorcycles. Our own Peter
Reeves was one of several AMCA members putting in
an appearance and reported good weather and ‘just
another Banbury’. Pete rode his Cannonball Run 1929
Harley JD from home to the run, did the long route, and
then rode home with no problem. However, he did snap
these two great bikes among 600 present:
More Stuff
I was pleased to see the 2012 AMCA accounts
published in our latest magazine, and, as membership
dues or subscriptions were unchanged both years, we
can see that US membership of our Club was down 2%
compared with 2011, but a 23% increase in non-US
membership from a smaller base meant that revenue
was essentially unchanged. It was disappointing to see
$50,674 spent on legal fees in 2012 – the dues of nearly
1,700 members – so let’s hope the various spats are
behind us now and we can continue having fun with old
bikes.
In the fun department, I can report that Rich Schultz’
super Regent Brown/Egyptian Ivory original paint 1935
Harley will be looked after by French collector Francois
Hilfiger for the next few decades.
Pete Reeves will be attending the Wauseon Meet and
representing us at the Presidents’ Meeting, so please
contact him soon with any questions you would like to
raise. I’m off to the Hebron Meet for the first time in 20
years, so I hope to have reports on both meets in a late
August report.
2013 AMCA Events
I had to hit the books to find out this looks like a 1928
AJS four cylinder 660 cc bike built in very small
numbers, while this 1930 600 cc Matchless Silver Hawk
V4 is not exactly common either:
July 19-21, Wauseon National Meet, Wauseon, OH
August 2-3, Yankee Chapter Meet, Hebron, CT
August 5-7, Evergreen Chapter Road Run, White Pass,
WA
August 12-15, Empire Chapter Road Run, Vernon, NY
September 22-25, Fort Sutter Chapter Road Run,
Sacramento, CA
October 4-5, Chesapeake Chapter Meet, Jefferson, PA
France. Stuart Graham, [email protected]
October 7-9, Neshaminy Valley and Seaboard Chapters
Road Run, New Hope, PA
Latvia. Juris Ramba, [email protected]
Switzerland. Sandra Froehlich, [email protected]
Other 2013 Events
Bobbers. Paul Jung, [email protected]
UK
September 5-8. Beaulieu/ Netley March meets,
Southampton. Biggest UK swap meets.
Please volunteer if you would like to be representative
for a country not mentioned. You just need to know what
bike-related events take place in your country, and
answer occasional Email questions.
Germany
October 11-13. Veterama, Mannheim. Biggest European
swap meet.
Don’t forget to renew your subscriptions at
www.antiquemotorcycle.org
The next newsletter will be in late August, so please let
me have your contributions.
Switzerland.
August 3-4. Alpenknattern Run from Flims to Foppa.
www.alpenknattern.org/home
September 27-29. Klausen Race.
www.klausenrennen.com/en
European Chapter Directors 2013
Steve Slocombe*, President, [email protected]
57 Wear Bay Road, Folkestone CT19 6PU, England.
+44.1303.256266.
Vice President, Adri van Groningen, [email protected]
Martin van Kuijk, Treasurer, [email protected]
Peter Reeves, Assistant Chief Judge,
[email protected]
Martin Brill, Director, [email protected]
Fritz Simmerlein*, Director, [email protected]
Jan van der Werff*, Director, [email protected]
Per Leis*, Director, [email protected]
Country Representatives
In addition to those Directors marked with asterisks (*)
above, we also have the following country
representatives:
Belgium. Jean-Paul Piron, [email protected]
Finland. Fiskis Ekman, [email protected]
Wishing you safe and happy riding, Steve Slocombe,
President AMCA Europe