Antique & Classic Cars Blog

When Sport Wheels, the motorcycle salvage yard in Jordan, moved its entire inventory a couple miles up 169, they left this Honda 360 Super Sport.

Take a look at these photos and see if you can determine why.

Hint: it’s not a hidden defect.

Nor is the answer a gravity anomaly rendering objects in this spot immovably heavy. That, for purposes of this quiz, would be a hidden defect since only the really good gravitometers work off a lo-res internet photo.

In working on an unrestored bike book, I came across this sweet Italian-built ‘71 Harley Davidson Aermacci Leggero, which sat in a Midwestern dealership unsold until the owner pulled it off the floor and put it in his warehouse.

It was never titled; the battery has never been serviced (filled).

As simple as this bike is, and small and unassuming, with its years of accumulated dust and dry rot, it feels like long-lost treasure. (Photos by Jerry Lee.)

For when you’ve got that really important meeting and you’re getting out the door a little late…get one of these.

A 2,000-plus bhp car would make a great sleeper, though not much about this one’s potential remains hidden.

If you read about Cars and Coffee, the first Saturday of the month gathering for enthusiast cars and their owners, note that it kicks off again on Saturday, April 4, at the Automotorplex in Chanhassen.

It’s up to you whether you find it essential to come each month. Regardless, you should definitely check it out at least once, as there are many, many exciting cars and lots of nice and knowledgeable folks to have a cup of coffee with and talk collecting, racing, repair and modification.

This blogger made most of them last season and it was worth it. Good people, good cars.

Those yellow bicycles that various cities have tried on a take-it-as-you-need-it basis keep popping up in form and concept.

My wife was at the car wash this week and saw an Hourcar, this principle applied to automobiles. We even talked about doing it when either of our vehicles is ready for the great wrecking yard in the sky (or the metro, more likely).

Not sure I’m quite ready to become a shareholder in the company but the idea–offering cars that people can use only when they need one and foregoing parking, insurance, maintenance, gas, etc., for a shared car seems logical. Their main argument is that we pay a lot for these things and only use them a little each day.

If people would just come up with bedrooms, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and laptop facilities on the same basis, a lot of us could save a fortune–if we could get our scheduling down. Maybe that’s the trick: your own car ties you down to payments and expenses; sharing one ties you to careful scheduling.

If you’ve thought about getting a motorcycle but are worried drivers won’t see you, your answer might just be the Gunbus 410 (when nothing less than 6.7 liters will do).

(Gotta say, though, if I were that young woman’s father, I wouldn’t be so thrilled about her ankles being inches from those big, open chain drives.)

In northern climes, as winter grinds on into March, males of the species often leave home to provide help with car repair.

Replacing rear struts can be a perfect opportunity for such a gathering. On this Golf, my wife’s, they are secured with one bolt below and one nut, plus locknut, above.

Required tools include garage, heater, spanners, sockets and drives.

Bonus items, such as floor lift, group of friends, beverages, and televised hockey game recommended.

Best practices require one person to position strut while the other fits necessary hardware. One or the other holds work light, or a second wrench. Additional males follow hockey game, reporting on scoring, consuming beverages, telling jokes, and periodically checking on auto repair as needed.

I can report (for the benefit of all spouses concerned) that last night’s emergency gathering at Tim’s Pretty Good Garage for fitment of struts was a complete success. Thanks to all present. We couldn’t have accomplished it without everyone’s participation.

A friend of mine lives in Singapore. Yesterday, he sent me an email saying he had spotted an Aston Martin DB6 behind a gas station. He thought it was cool but wasn’t going to pursue it–”I guess I can do without the restoration cost of an Aston Martin,” he said.

I told him he owed to himself to look into it. If he learned down the road that someone else picked it up cheap, he’d kick himself. So here it is. Any self-respecting sports car lover digs a DB6.

This beautifully homely creation sat in a junkyard for many years before the right eyes recognized it as a marvelous piece of innovation and craftsmanship. Today it runs and drives (rides).

It is a motorcycle, in that it has the familiar characteristics of one—a motor and two wheels and an upright riding position and handlebars, fork, driven rear-wheel—but its genius, no doubt intentional on the builder’s part, is that it uses virtually no motorcycle parts. Only the twist throttle–perhaps not the original piece–appears to be from a motorcycle. Even the handlebars are cut down tubular table legs. Every other part comes from a car (wheels, engine, gearbox, frame members, headset) or a home (cut-down radiator) or something else non-motorcycle. Seat looks like small tractor.

Engine and gearbox are Chevrolet, frame pieces Model T, headset a Model T wheel hub. The tank across the top is coolant; fuel tank is below handlebars, which, as you note, do not connect to the fork directly, but through shafts like some of today’s most “innovative” show bikes. (Chrome pipe “above” headset is actually behind the bike and not part of it.)

This playful invention was crafted in 1939. The farmer who built it is pictured above it, astride the beast. (It resides in a private collection within 12,450 miles of the Twin Cities and belongs to a Mr. A, or a Ms. Z, or someone in between.)

Route 52 in Coates has some intriguing motorcycles for the passing motorist–sculptures of a chopper and low-slung drag bike.

There are at least a dozen sculptures here, all worthy of a look and free to passing eyes.

Sometimes the best part of a trip is what you see on the way.