More Cock-A-Snoot

My fetish for the Cock-A-Snoot mascot is abundantly clear and I am always on the look out for any reference to it. I was not so randomly touring the internet when I came across this vintage advertisement featuring the mascot. The picture isn't the greatest but it does add more info to the history of the little devil. Seeing this has reinvigorated my desire to resurrect a classic version of the mascot based on one in my collection.Stay tuned!!

Simply Beautiful

If you are like me then you are going through withdrawal from the end of the racing season. This video is definitely methadone for the afflicted. Enjoy and check out The Cartorialist for awesome motorsport pics.

Do you like adventure?

Dumb question. Motorcycling is all about adventure! Who hasn't thought of riding the Panamerican Highway or some equivalent? But some actually do it and do it in a big way.We are all familiar with McGregor and Boorman taking the "Long Way Round". Definitely a series I enjoyed watching. But what if you and your buddy decided to quit your jobs and circumnavigate the globe on 70 year old Nimbus motorcycles and document the whole journey from rebuilding the bikes to the travels over the next 2 years. Well, you would get this:

The reference to Croesus  in King Croesus' Contempt for Death or KCCD is a complicated one which required some research on my part. The best explanation that I could draw from the Wikipedia refers to the fickle nature of one's fortune which is a natural and essential component to any good adventure. Their itinerary is an ambitious one that does a bit more than circumnavigate the globe:

I haven't read through the whole adventure yet but the blog is fantastic. It offers great technical detail, fabulous photography, and superb humor from two of the ballsiest Norsemen around. Check them out here and support their adventure!

Cool stuff

I don't really venture into the modern motorcycle world much but there are times when new innovations really interest me. I love adventures and I have thought about doing some long motorcycle trips a bit more complicated than the exodus to Sturgis. I'm talking about Ewan McGregor level work here. The key to making it nice for me is a nice place to sleep and even maintain my bike. Well, the solution is here....

The folks at NomadTent have come up with the perfect solution. Makes you want to get a Beemer and ride to Alaska straight away. Check out their site. Cool tent and awesome pics to inspire anybody to ride off into the sunset.

Art a Little Closer to Home

I write a great deal about motorsport art and enjoy finding new artists that capture the beauty of my hobby. For the most part, I have never gotten the opportunity to actually see in person the pieces I have featured but there are a few that I actually own. It was a pleasure some weeks ago to find a budding motorcycle artist within my own family. Turns out that my mother-in-law who was a well-known potter and photographer in her day has switched from doing colored pencil drawings of flowers to motorcycle related pictures.I was dumbfounded by her talent. She tells me that she really enjoys the subjects and has become more and more confident tackling mechanical details. Here's a look at the initial set with more in the pipeline.



Like many customizers and bloggers, I wouldn't mind putting the Rocinante Mecanico M.C. brand out there to fund some of my projects. Together my mother-in-law and I came up with a few prototypes:

A collection of greeting cards

A customizable calendar

We are still developing the details but are genuinely excited about the project. The goal is to make the calendar and cards customizable allowing the purchaser to choose the drawings they want included in their order. I should also say that my mother-in-law is open to commission work with a few artistic rules. If you are interested drop me a line.

2010 Classy Chassis Show

Last week-end, Kate and I went to the Houston Classy Chassis Concours. The Classy Chassis is a benefit show that has grown over the years to benefit the Shriner's Hospital. The Shriners are a benevolent organization that support children hospitals and the benefits from the show support local programs. It's truly a show for cars but there were a few bikes.

Custom Featherbed 500cc racer

Best in Show- Dupont Sports Car

Cool Guzzi Combination  in Parking Lot

Check out the slideshow!!

North Houston Swap Meet

I went to the North Houston Hot Rod Swap Meet today. The advertisement mentioned motorcycles so I was a bit excited at seeing some old bikes. Well, not much in the realm of old bikes and most of the car stuff was dedicated to late 1970's era blown engines but there were a few interesting items.

1959 Cushman Eagle nicely sorted

1940 Chevy Coupe

Classic Rat Rod with Flat Head and Sportster

Model T stuff

Gear Head Still Life #1

Gear Head Still Life #2

2010 Keels and Wheels Concours d' Elegance

Kate and I went to the Keels and Wheels Concours yesterday and it was marvelous. It takes place at the Lakewood Yacht Club in Seabrook near Houston, Texas. The Concours is unique in that it features vintage boats and cars with a few motorcycles and a WWI biplane. This show ranks among the finest on the order of Pebble Beach, Amelia Island, and the Broadmoor. Here are some highlights and at the end a slide show of all my pics.

Nice BMW outfit

A Morgan Aero from the 30's

Gorgeous Runabout

Japanese Cafe Racer

Sexy lines

Lincoln Indianapolis by Boani

American LaFrance (fire engine builder) Racer

A nice variety of vehicles to suit all tastes. I focused on the vintage machines but there are sections for specific marques, muscle cars, racers, even a few military rigs. Check out my slideshow below:

Happy 80th, Mr. McQueen

Today there are going to be many tributes to Steve Mcqueen. He would be 80 years old if he hadn't been stricken in 1980 by mesothelioma, a type of lung cancer almost exclusively attributed to asbestos exposure. So, here's a quick biography and a few interesting facts. Steve Mcqueen as we know him was actually born Terrence Steven McQueen on 24 March 1930 in Beech Grove, Indiana. Abandoned by his stunt pilot father, Mcqueen was sent to his maternal grandparents by his alcholic mother to live in Slater, Missouri. At the age of 8, Mcqueen was taken back by his mother to live in Los Angeles. This period was marked by familial unrest that no doubt contributed to his rebelliousness and involvement in petty crime. At the insistence of his stepfather, his mother sent him to the California Junior Boys Republic where he began to turn his life around.

Incorrigible even at the age of 42

1972 DUI mugshot in Alaska

At 16, McQueen left reform school to meet up with his mother then living in Greenwich Village. The reunion didn't last long and he left to the Dominican Republic as merchant mariner. Tremendously indisciplined, he was unable to fulfill that committment and found himself in Texas wandering from job to job working as a towel boy in a brothel, a carnie, a roughneck, and a lumberjack until his enlistment in the marines in 1947. His military career started rather inauspiciously with multiple reductions in rank and 41 days in the brig for being AWOL. That event provided the motivation for him to get his life in order and he developed into a model marine to the point of being assigned to an honor guard aboard President Truman's yacht. Upon discharge, Mcqueen used the GI Bill and the winnings from motorcycle racing to fund acting lessons and the rest is history.

Steve McQueen as Bullitt

While his filmography is well known, the roles he turned down are quite surprising. McQueen decided not to star in Ocean's Eleven, Dirty Harry, Apocalypse Now, The French Connection, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and even Close Encounters of the Third Kind after telling Steven Spielberg he couldn't cry on cue. The issue with Butch Cassidy was an inability to solve who would get top billing with Paul Newman.

So why do we love Steve McQueen so much? Our collective nostalgia resides in what McQueen represents. He embodies those manly virtues that we cherish and so rarely find especially in many of the new breed of actors. McQueen was a man of principle and conviction. He was a diehard Republican and supported the Vietnam War when both positions were extremely unpopular amongst the Hollywood set. McQueen was also very patriotic carrying the flag at the International Six Days Trials and hanging a giant American flag from his house when he found out he was on Nixon's enemies list. Tremendously generous, he never forgot those who helped him. His acting contracts were considered demanding to the extent that he requested bulk items such personal hygeine articles and jeans which he quietly donated to the reform school he attended when he was young. He frequently returned to the California Junior Boys Republic to encourage the young men; he even played pool there. His motorsports exploits are legion harkening back to an era of the true gentleman racer. He was a physical fitness fanatic despite his drinking and smoking. A martial arts master, McQueen was one of Bruce Lee's pallbearers with Chuck Norris. Exremely ingenious, McQueen even had two patents for a racing bucket seat and a transbrake. In short, Steve McQueen was a modern renaissance man.

Here is little gallery of Steve McQueen in action:

Willie G.'s Factory Custom Attempt

I went to the South Texas Motorcycle Show this morning mostly to get out of the house. I am genuinely interested in all bikes but really partial to Brit Iron. I was under no illusions that this was going to be a pure Harley fest but I was disappointed to see that it was all new stuff. Nothing vintage. Well except for this bike that was for sale.

1971 H-D FX Superglide

Motorsports history is replete with well-intentioned designs gone awry and the 1971 FX Superglide undoubtedly falls into that category. The bike was concieved by Willie G. Davidson in an attempt to  capitalize on the customization craze. It's a cross between the chassis of the FLH Electraglide and the smaller forks of the XLH Sportster.The design was then topped off with the boattail of the sportster. The result was not particularly well-received. I am sure many felt like I did upon seeing it- a little nauseated. It really looks ungainly with this massive fiberglass blob at the rear with puny looking forks. The bike lacks balance and is devoid of the iconic lines associated with Harley-Davidson.

H-D's attempt at a factory custom highlights a common mistake made by many corporations and that is deviating away from what one does best. Certainly, evolution is important but that can be achieved within the successful historical context of the organization. A good example is Porsche or Ducati. You can't be everything to everyone. You have to stay true to yourself. Besides, leave the customizing to the customizers.

A movie star, well perhaps not so much.....

There are tons of iconic vehcles out there. Bullit's Mustang. 007's Aston Martin. Fonda's Panhead. Mcqueen's Triumph. I could go on forever but there are two unknown actors who had the joy of riding a 1949 Norton Model 7. Their good fortune is forever though briefly part of cinematic history!

1949 Model 7 in Le Corniaud

Le Corniaud filmed in 1965 is a franco-italian comedy featuring the famous French comedian Louis De Funes. Interestingly this plunger framed bike features a two person seat. It is feature that I have never seen before.

The second movie appearance of a Norton Model 7 is in another but more obscure french comedy called Le Distrait. The movie was filmed in 1970 and it features what I think is the exact bike used five years earlier in Le Corniaud. If it's the same bike I am sure its reappearance is due to its classic beauty and unwavering reliability.

1949 Norton Model 7 in Le Distrait

This still photo from Le Distrait I consider very important in that within Model 7 circles there is a great debate regarding the silencers. Some believe the tailpipe exits from the top of the silencer body while others believe it exits from the middle. There are few period pictures that definitively confirm one way or another. In this case we can see that it exits from the middle. I personally have Triumph tailpipes for the moment. Anyway, I have always felt like a movie star riding mine!

Another Great Artist Very Much Worth Supporting

When I first started this blog, I didn't know what direction it would take me. I hoped to develop friendships and meet people from all over the world while exploring the hobby of classic motorcycling. I have been pleasantly surprised and the experience has broadened my vision of the classic motorcycle world. Most recently, I have had the pleasure to meet, at least through Skype and emails, Antonio Merinero. Antonio is from Madrid and works as a graphic artist. He is an avid motorcyclist and owns a 1972 Harley Electraglide, a 1972 BSA Lightning, and two Vespas. Antonio has ridden in such exotic places as India, Morroco, Nepal, Thailand, Malasia, Portugal, as well as all over his native Spain. His artistic endeavours take him to Mumbai every year where he has cultivated a relationship with Indian classic motorcyclists. You can see more at Antonio's blog.

Antonio in India

Indian Mechanics keeping classics on the road.

A treasure trove of classics hiding in India's alleys

Mahmood can fix bikes from any era

American iron on the Indian Subcontinent

Indian biker style

Antonio's art draws heavily from his backround in the graphic arts. He uses multimedia techniques, grafitti style, and stencilling inspired by advertisements of the 1950's to produce prints that truly capture the spirit of post-war motorcycle culture. He works out of his mother's garage in the suburbs of Madrid. Take a look at Antonio at work.

Here are some of Antonio's pieces that are available for purchase at his webshop.

This post really doesn't do Antonio or his art justice. Antonio has some major projects in the works to include a collaboration with Harley Davidson in Madrid. I can't wait to see the results. If you want to see more, please go to Antonio's sites below.

http://bybikenglish.blogspot.com/

http://bybike-shop.blogspot.com/

http://antoniomerinero.com/

How much would you pay?

1925 Bugatti Brescia Roadster

A close cousin of above

I was researching a post on an Ettore Bugatti subject related to motorcycling when I came across this story. On the 25th of January, Bonhams auctioned the severely corroded 1925 Bugatti Type 22 at the 2010 Retromobile Show in Paris. The vehicle was estimated to sell for 70,000 to 90,000 pounds and ended being the subject of a bidding war topping off at 260,500 pounds. Experts agree that it is impossible to restore the vehicle since only about 10% of the parts are usable. The new owner will most likely leave it in state as an exhibit for a new automotive museum in California.

The real value of this wonderful piece of  early automotive engineering rests in the story of this particular example. This 1925 Bugatti Type 22 "Brescia" was pulled from Lake Maggiore after 70 years of resting in over 50 meters of water. The rumor of a submerged Bugatti had been passed around until the August 18, 1967 when Ugo Pillon discovered the car laying on its side. For the next 70 years, the Bugatti was a popular dive location of the Centro Sport Subacquei Salvataggio Ascona.

Why the car ended up in Lake Maggiore is more a story of practicality than intrigue. The car was initially purchased by a gentleman in Nancy, France then sold to an architect in Paris by the name of Georges Nielly. In some manner or other it may have come into the hands of Marco Schmuklerski, a polish architect, around 1936. The legend is that the import duties were never paid  and the local taxman knew it. As was the custom, the vehicle had to be destroyed  and that is perhaps how it ended up at the bottom Lake Maggiore.

The story of its return to the surface however is decidedly more tragic. The Bugatti was raised from the depths by the local dive club to raise funds for the Damiano Tamagni Foundation. Damiano Tamagni, a dive club member, was brutally beaten to death by three youths in Ascona. The exhibition of this Bugatti is a fitting tribute to Damiano Tamagni and the proceeds from the auction will definitely help his foundation do its work.

For a more in depth version of this story go here.