SoCal VOC

Many years ago, Tom Andrus purchased a Black Shadow basket case, and also a sidecar basket case.  Take a look at these before and after pictures.  Like the guy on the tv show American Restorations, Tom can restore just about anything.  He has worked on Ferraris, Maseratis, Model Ts, Packards, Rudges, Scotts, and of course Vincents, including a really nice Firefly, which Tom owned for about 30 years or so.  Oddly enough, the current owner of the Firefly can be seen taking a photo of Tom on the Firefly at the 1980 Bass Lake rally, the fellow in the black t-shirt, Glenn Shriver.

Here are a couple of pictures of David and his Flash taken by Carleton Palmer II at the last Maxton land speed event.  Note the front brakes.  I asked David about them and here is what he says:

“The brakes are the 8″ brakes made by Hugh McAlister and sold by the Club. AHRMA allows me to use OEM style brakes up to 8.5″, so I decided to try them. They are pretty good for racing, although I suspect the 4 leading shoe conversion might be better. AHRMA does not allow 4 leading shoe brakes in Class C. The 8″ are more expensive than the 4 leading shoe, but for racing I feel you need to use new drums, so, in effect, the price is comparable. I had a rear brake drum shatter at Deland and although I have not had a hub shatter, others have, so I think it is good insurance to use a new one. A final advantage is that the geometry of the shoes appears to be correct. As has been discussed on the Forum, the Factory made a mistake when designing the original brake plates that makes the braking spongy.”

Click the thumbnails to view larger images

Congratulations to Steve Batesole and his 1953 mostly unrestored Black Shadow.  At our section picnic, the participants voted their answer to the question “Which Vincent would you most like to take home?”, and Steve’s Shadow received the most votes.  It is a very nice survivor bike, with a few period accessories like the locking twist grip, the headlight dimmer grip switch, and the crash bars.  The petrol tank has the original paint, although new decals and a coat of clear was applied, and both rims are replacements for the alloy rims that were on the bike when Steve obtained it, that is about the only cosmetic restoration work done.

Click thumbnail to view a larger version.  Photo courtesy Doris Endo.

Rollie and Margaret Free attended the 1980 Bass Lake rally, and at that time, Nick Pierce owned Rollie’s Black Lightning.  Nick drove out to California from New England with the bike, and Tom Andrus took some photos of Rollie reunited with his record setting machine.

From John Hanson:

“Tommy Auger, a long time Vincent drag racer, has lost his long running battle with cancer.  I was fortunate to become friends with him after Dick Busby told me the Lightning I was restoring was the one Tommy rode to so many wins.  Even with throat cancer we learned to communicate all things ‘Vincent’ and drag racing.  He was a great inspiration and will be missed. RIP Tommy”

Here is a picture of Tommy on the restored Black Lightning, taken at the 2006 NHRA Hot Rod Reunion, where Tommy was the “Golden Age” award recipient.

Carleton Palmer mentions special Amal bars that some early Series A bikes had in his section review in the June MPH.  A few days later, Doug Sawicki of the Motor City section phoned me to track down information about an early Comet in California that has one of these rare optional setups.  I put Doug in touch with Chris McIntosh, and Chris kindly filled in some details and provided some pictures.  Turns out there are two variations, ‘clean’ bars and ‘tidy’ bars.  Carleton was describing clean bars, where the cables can be run inside the handlebars.  Chris has tidy bars, where the brake and spark advance both attach to a common clamp, and the lifter and clutch levers both attach to a common clamp.  It is possible to have both setups, clean and tidy.  Thanks, Chris, for sending these photos of your tidy bar setup.