The Classic Sunbeam

HH wanted me to tell Avus this Sunbeam is advertised for sale in the June issue of The Classic Motorcycle.  He hasn't ridden it for years, wants the room, and wants something to help pay for the little bitty car we hope to find.  The car should be a smidgeon larger than the Sunbeam.  All the pictures we took of it are so old they're on film instead of digital, but others have photographed it.

 Photos were taken at a show and barbecue at the nearest Triumph dealer's shop.  It's now a parts store because it's too costly to meet all the requirements for a dealership.  HH had a lot of fun with this bike, but he's so taken with bikes he's gotten since, this one's getting nudged out, poor thing.  It was purchased new in Massachusetts in 1947.  The seat was hand made in around 1968 by a daughter who was a leather artist and sold leather goods at street fairs in San Francisco, though looks like it was made for a Studebaker instead of a Sunbeam.  Anyway, he's excited to have the ad out, and wanted to share with you.

Here's the B-31 he's been pinion pulling at, and is planning a little solo trip with to the redwoods.  This is an old photo with the silly seat that it had when he bought it (from New Zealand.)  It's got a nicer seat now.

My Dream Car

 The guy with the Vincent Black Shadow stopped by with his newest purchase.  He didn't mind me ooing and ahhing and taking pictures, and he didn't mind that I was jealous, either.  He was so happy with it that I ended up not being jealous but happy for him.  He opened everything to let us look.  HH got to go for a ride in it.  He offered to take me around, too, but I declined.  Probably a good thing, since as HH was getting in he complained that The Guy didn't have anything with easy access.

It's fun to stay home and see what will show up in the driveway.  This Smart Car showed up last week, and the week before, my brother stopped by with his latest Porsche.  I made him tea.

It's Spring

What fun.  I get to play with a brass and pipe organ group for Easter.  Rehearsal was last night, and there are two trombones.  I got the fun part for the Gigout Dialogue, which is the Trombone part.  The other guy got stuck with the Tuba part and apologies.  He got the best parts on everything else, but nothing else is as good as the Gigout.  So Lucky Me!  What fun!  It's all fun, really.

HH got the Laverda all working and pretty and put together.  He has a bench seat, too, which isn't as nice, but he says he'll put it on and he take me for a ride after he does some more tweeking.  His test drive was 50 miles, and he wasn't satisfied, though he said it was great.  He's ordered a few more parts and grumbled about how he should have done this and that the first time.

I'm pretty excited because he's talking about maybe getting a fun little car, like our old Metropolitan (which was built on a big-eye Sprite chassis), only different, but which he sold.  I've been saying how I miss it, and was surprised and delighted just to hear him talking about getting something similar.  I'm open to suggestions, but whatever he finds will probably become It.  If I'm lucky.  I find things, too.  I found the Metropolitan and the Avanti that we we used to have.  Can't hang on to cars like we can motorcycles, because cars take up so much room!

This Morning

George (not his real name) cam over this morning.  HH, George and I (I got to work the jack) installed the Lavarda engine in the frame.

George with one of his bikes pictured below.

Happy January

There are slugs outside.  I see one smashed all over the front entry; a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The survivors are happy because there are lovely crocus blossoms to eat.  Happy slugs.  The crocus look happy, too.

The Laverda has mostly left the guest room, where it was taking up the entire bed and floor as well as the blanket chest at the foot of the bed.  It's not all together yet, but an amazing amount of progress has been made.  The engine went from this

(Isn't it lovely?) to this

in a short time, but only short since HH started the reassembly process.  It's been quite a while since he took it all apart and got it all pretty as these pictures attest.  He claims he had to redo some of his work because he'd forgotten how it went together, and the manuals and his photos were lacking in details, but he's pretty sure he's got it right now, and even started it with the starter motor.  What larks!  Happy engine.

Old Cars Remembered

Avus posted about his cars, and HH pointed this out to me, so I'm posting about mine.  HH says he never saw a Morris Minor convertible, but I remember the gorgeous one I saw while on a family visit with my parents and brothers in Oakland, California in the 60s.  It was on the downtown streets hauling men in suits around the Kaiser Building--with top down.  I saw it briefly, but pegged it as high among my favorites.  Here are photos of one of my Dad's Morris Minors that my brainy brother Bill drove to university.  My brothers and I used to all three ride in the back seat with Mom and Dad in the front, and it was a tight fit for sure.  Now the brainy brother has a Morris Woody or two, but they're in some storage barn waiting for the mythical Someday. 

My second car was a beauty, as seen in the photo at right.  Like the first only spiffier.  The first one Dad bought for me.  It was three colors, a Volkswagon-burnt orange red with a white top and a blue right hand door, which opened on it's own schedule, usually when making a left hand turn, but not when the passenger wanted to exit.  Another exciting feature was the rain it collected on the floorboards which sloshed back and forth with the use of brakes and gas pedals, and always made me laugh, especially when maneuvering out of a parking place.  Everything on this second car worked, except the defrost, so when it was icy out, the window had to be down with the scraper in hand working like a window wiper.  It just wasn't made for ice.



One more car, a 1960 Jaguar MKll.  Dad bought it in the early 60s while I was away at camp and drove it to visit (and show off).  I saw it parked and ran to get my little brother Stan to show him the beautiful car parked in the alley.  He was very pleased to tell me it was Dad's.  When I went to the tech school in town Dad let me drive it.  Years later, HH said I could have it and we made Dad an offer, which he accepted.  This photo was taken while it was still Dad's car.  That's his Porsche on the other side of the Jaguar.  Brother Bill bought the Porsche and has it still.  We sold the Jaguar to pay medical bills when DD was born.  It went back to England, but was fun while it lasted.

Success with Seeds

We took a trip this spring, and when we returned, temperatures were in the high 90s, so I waited for them to fall back to the low 80s before planting seeds.  I bought Mailbox Mix morning glories, and it wasn't until very recently (possibly late September) that there were any blooms.  It's such fun to look every morning and see what new flower has opened.  I think this is the most it's given me in one day.  There are also pole beans tangled up with this, and I've now harvested enough to make a pot of beans.  This is much better than the time I grew zucchini or turnips--my other attempts as seeds.  The birds, however, are having quite a fruitful time planting seeds in the driveway.  What to try next year?

The Amazing Box

 HH's brother sent his old lathe, which weighed in the box somewhere between 300 and 400 lbs, to Portland for Himself to retrieve from the shipping company, which was in the industrial area about 175 miles away or so.  We had to use the truck to get it because it wouldn't fit in the car.  Everywhere we went people were giving us admiring glances and high fives, not knowing the trouble that lay ahead for us.  The day was hot and the traffic heavy, and we broke down twice on the side of the interstate, the first time on a narrow bridge near a very busy exit onto another interstate, with trucks whizzing by what seemed like inches away.  There was a vapor-lock and fuel refused to get past the carburetor.  What Himself says about it is, "If you have old vehicles you don't know what's wrong with them until you drive them."  He thinks he might need a new fuel pump soon, because maybe it was just getting too old and weak to push through that vapor-lock, and maybe it's time to service the radiator.  He got to check things and see what was working and what wasn't.  Anyway, it was an exciting adventure for us.  We had a picnic in the cab while we let it cool off.

 We made it safely home after a second breakdown, but this time he knew it was just too hot, and he got to check things, and we got home in the very perfect exact nick of time for me to get to the park and play with my band, which was having an extra bonus concert just down the road from our house.  Just one fun thing after another.

Brother of HH likes to do things well, and that is how he made the crate for the lathe.  I never saw a label bolted on before I saw this.  This was the second freeway breakdown without a motorcycle in as many months.  I'm happy and lucky to get to have all this fun and adventure.

Look What I Found

i am amazed that this blog is still here, just sitting around doing nothing for years.  HH and I took a little drive (he likes to say it was 8,000 miles) to see old friends and relatives on the other side of the Mississippi River.  We also saw the Atlantic Ocean from the tip of one side of the Chesapeake Bay.

I got distracted by the Capitol Dome, which we saw on a whirlwind tour of Washington, DC, which they just call Washington on all the road signs, but here is HH with both the Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean behind him.

This green photo was taken at a relative's in Ohio.  She has a bottle tree and a glass tree.  The yellow sign just peeking out from the left says to watch out for motorcycles.  We made it to the east coast and back to the west coast, just by taking the little roads through the little towns and farms.

Sprocket

When asked to help replace a sprocket, the trombone has to go somewhere...  The hoist seemed like a good place.  I am not a big fan of Alto Clef.  Well, maybe I like it OK for violas,  I just don't like reading trombone parts in it.  That's because I need to spend many hours practicing, and if I got good at it, I'd like it fine, I suppose.  But the sprocket worked out well.  I love when Himself lets me use tools. That doesn't happen very often.  Especially right now when a cute 350 Honda from the 80's is resisting all his efforts to make it run smoothly.  I got to help him, but had to use my hand to hold first a bolt, then a nut.  Success.  Himself has his own repair business now.

This weekend was the club picnic, and lots of bikes showed up.  There were so many people there, not everyone got a chance to talk to everyone, though there was a constant flow and no end of topics -- each bike being its own topic, and everyone wanting to know everything.  They let me sign up new members and take money.  This Triumph Bobber was so artfully done I couldn't help but like it.

July 4

We went to Monmouth for the 4th of July so we could catch Ben Rice and his Ben Rice Band with Paul Biondi on "horns".  That's Ben Rice with the green sunglasses and his brother Tommy climbing the bass.  They entertain!  Ben writes most of his songs, and they're GOOD!  To hear some of this music, here's the web site: http://www.benricelive.com/  

What am I Doing?

Just for the heck of it, right now I'm playing in 4 musical groups.  There is a serious problem for the groups counting on the local Parks and Recreation department for practice space funding, because everyone, nation, state, county, city, everyone is having a hard time making ends meet, so we'll all have to come up with our own funding.  The Symphony isn't dependent on Parks and Rec, so so far so good there, and the quintet is small and practices in members houses.  But the big band and the community band are too large not to need a space.  The big band just came under the wing of the community band so donations can be tax deductible, but one of us had to be on the Band Board of Directors, so I'm it.  I try not to disrupt the meetings too much.  That is harder than it sounds.

Himself has retired from fixing county vehicles and equipment, and started a motorcycle repair business, and to help with that, I'm taking a class at the local community college in Quick Books.  I'm am quite the slowest thinking person there.  Good thing I'm not competitive.  One of Himself's friends recommended the class, and he is taking it, too, so when I see him outside of school we can talk about it and discuss problems.  Great class, and great teacher.  I enjoy helping in the shop and picking up parts, too.  All I have to do is sign, and they have everything ready for me.  Fun!

Just last weekend his old motorcycle club had a ride and show, and I got to help put exhibitor ribbons on all the bikes and take pictures.  Himself was so busy talking to people he didn't get to see all the motorcycles there.  I didn't get to see all the interesting bikes in the parking lot, but I saw everything that was entered.  The Norton above was a recent customer, and though he didn't win a trophy, he got a ribbon at the show, and he went on the ride.  Below is the town where we stopped.  

Spring Snow

Moonlight Shadows

Last night the moon was full and round, and casting shadows from the newly pruned apple trees to the driveway where the BSAs are parked in the photo. The shadows looked very deformed. No one here is a champion arborist. Our new gravel is pale and may have helped the shadows show up. I don't know how to take pictures of moons or moonshadows.

Concert Sunday, and big write up in paper. Beautiful ballerinas will dance at the end to Ballet Egyptian.

Contrast

The little tucked up doggy is ours, or at least lives here because her mommy, my MIL, is in a nursing home and can't get out of bed on her own. It's raining this morning, so little Heidi was put off by the drizzle, and refused to potty. Her poor little legs aren't tall enough to keep her out of the puddles.
The lovely fearless girl reflected in the Allegheny River in the other photo lives with Himself's brother across the country. This photo was taken by our niece.

Lots of Motorcycles

The poor fellow is getting bored from having a broken leg, so to amuse himself, he buys motorcycles. I think we're up to 17. Just Tuesday we drove off to Stayton where he bought a CB900 with a dual speed differential, which you can read about here, http://www.motorcyclespecs.co.za/model/honda/honda_cb900c%2082.htm -I don't know how to be fancy about it. He bid on a scooter for me, but so far they're not impressed with the offer. He is hoping to be back at work before the month is out. I don't think there's room for more bikes. Maybe he'll go buy a barn next.

His mother is 90, and thanks to her ear doctor, she can hear again. He put tubes in her ears, but because he also had a motorcycle land on him after putting him in a ditch, she had to wait 6 weeks while he healed. He had so many more things broken than Himself, but is 30 years younger and heals faster. He and his assistant are quite excellent, and knew how I could help and how to communicate that to me. Just me holding her head and petting her made a huge difference, or so she said later. It was harrowing for her because she had to stay quite still and with a guy poking things in your ears, that's a hard thing to do. I was very proud of her.

Ducati Update

There are so many pictures I wanted to put here, but didn't have the time it takes with dial-up, so now with this fast internet, I can maybe make up for lost time a little bit. Above is the very beautiful Ducati 750 GT all reassembled. The owner took the tank, fenders and side covers to be painted. Aren't they lovely? Now I'll show you the engine.

As you can see, all the bits got back together. This was such a fun and exciting project! Too bad I didn't write this at the time, because Himself explained it all to me then, and now I've forgotten so much, but not the feeling of excitement through every step. You can see why, right?

What's Up?

This was new to the bike garage in November. I am lobbying for no new paint because it has a decal that wouldn't be replaced, but the front fender is missing a bit, and there's now a new front fender, and Himself is insistent that the complete front fender, which is not attached yet, needs to be painted. The colors seem to match now, but I'm sure if it was painted, then nothing would match, so the whole bike would need paint. The original owner was a fireman. Look at this.



In March we went to a show in Idaho with a couple little 50 scooters like ours only more pristine and a nice-ish 250 Sears Puch. I don't know if there's a connection, but now we have one of those, which he found on E-Bay that turned out to be surprisingly nice. We had to wait and wait for that bike to come, because it was half the continent away, bad weather, had to find a shipper, and kept missing connections to get things going.



The 250 is like the first bike Himself bought when he was a teenager. Except his had two solo seats and was only called an Allstate. I have heard the story from three sources of how he tried to do a wheelie with it, and his friend Tom tried to cover for him by telling his mom they were playing basketball. Mom was not fooled. I think there was road rash. He refers to these bikes as Allstates. Maybe I should tell you now why Himself has had so much time to entertain himself with cute little motorcycles.



On Wednesday morning in Febuary, very early in the day, himself headed off to work, as he had many times before, through a light dusting of snow. About half an hour later, he came back very slowly. He was on the 250 Ninja. He'd fallen and broken his fibula, as we found out later. He's decided it was the wrong bike. His leg is healing very slowly, and the doctor keeps saying that's normal, but he's been off work, except for a week and a half when he tried to go back in May. He's been planing to retire at the end of October. We've been seeing more movies and eating out with him slowed up like this. We're going to Midnight in Paris this afternoon.

The Rake

Recently my brothers and I sold Dad's house, including this rake. We used to ride on it, mostly because it worked better with a weight on it, and originally, Dad drove the tractor and Big Brother pulled a rope to lift the tines to dump the cut hay in long lines, which we would then rake into stacks with pitch forks.

After a few years BB was old enough to drive the tractor, and LB and I sat on the rake, but weren't as clever with the tine-lifting, so an extension was put on the rope, so it was still BB who had control of the tines. When all the hay was in rows, we pitched it into piles, then into a wagon which the tractor towed to the hay stack just outside the corral. Then we pitched the hay onto the stack, which we would feed to Trigger, our handsome horse. Most all the work was done by Big Brother, but Little Brother and I did just enough to have fun and get our pictures taken. BB had hay fever and so was red of face and eye and not photogenic. This was Not Fair, obviously.

Only my Big Brother could ride the horse, aside from Dad, because BB was smarter and more stubborn than Trigger. I rode the neighbor's horse, Colonel, which was well mannered and smaller, when he was out of town. We never put the hay in the barn, because that would have messed up our basketball court. Besides, there wasn't that much rain, and Dad and BB put a tarp over the hay for when it did. Colonel and Trigger were fast friends, and looked very handsome together, being the same color pintos, both with brown circle-spots high-lighting their tails. I like to think my brother and I looked swell riding our pretty horses down the country lane just for fun and to exercise the horses.

For Avus

The following is written by Himself regarding photo's in last post:
The cylinder head you're viewing is from the front cylinder--(#2)-- of a early example of Fabio Taglioni's fabulous 750 Ducati bevel drive V-twin. It is the first one I've dug into and am quite impressed with the castings, quality control and mainly the beautiful mechanical design. Wonderfully made silent bevel gears are everywhere. The desmodromic update came soon after, and honestly, I'm glad I'm not dealing with that complicated "improvement"! I probably don't have to tell you this engine was the precursor to all the Ducati twins built since!

Next on the agenda--2 Goldstar 500's--One a very rare racer--I couldn't afford even the insurance!!!

By the way, I'm guilty of reading over the shoulder of Vita and really enjoy your tales and beautiful images.

Nice "talking" to you,
Himself--or--HH