Enjoy reading all those *first love* stories about your LBC's, British
iron and Triumphs.
Around 1960, I started with BSA motorcycles at 15, having found one for
sale
in a farmer's barn while staying with my very English grandparents', 600 miles
from
home. Beleive it or not, Grandma lent me the $500 to buy it (and yes I
did pay her back)! A 1952 Goldstar (I think) 250cc, beautiful maroon.
I drove it to high school for several years, but after doing a motor job on
it (to get more power, of course), it didn't survive. I didn't know
about re aligning the two halves of the crank shaft (asctually counterweighted
flywheels) so it chewed out the main bearings and the crank case!
So to a bigger BSA, this time a 650cc. It had been used by
another farmer to herd cattle, and had ended up on fire in an anthill
while he poured dirt on it trying to quench the flames. Luckily the
motor was OK, although the tank, seat and fenders were *toast*. What to
do? Replace them with the 250 bits, creating a mean machine that looked
like a 250, but went like a 650. I had fun with that one. Then it was
time to upgrade - finally a Triumph.
A black T110 with the 'bathtub' rear fender, white glass saddle
bags, a windshield, and that cute little *number plate* thing on the
front fender (mud guard). It looked just a real cop bike and I got a
lot of respect driving that thing. But by then I had acquired a girl
friend, and while tooling around on the bike was fun, there certainly was
no chance of anything more serious on it.
So by 1965 I traded it in on a second hand '64 Spitfire MK3, bright
red, the
only colour for a sports car (other than BRG, perhaps). Little did I know that
there
wasn't much chance for 'anything more serious' in a Spitfire either!
The car had to go in 1967 to pay for ship's tickets to Australia for my
ex-girlfriend, now wife and I, which resulted in the usual expenses of houses,
kids,
etc. Nothing exciting in those years except a little air cooled Toyota 800cc
station
wagon John Deere green, and a Morris Isis.
And then in 1986, back in Canada, my son had a chance to buy a
'74 1500, so guess who loaned him the money. We started working on it,
fixed it up a bit, but he ran out of money and I ended up with the car. When
he got
through that phase, we found a MK IV for him. More work and a famous Maaco
paint job.
Tragically, my son died in '91, and it took me 4 years to touch the cars again.
They
sat in the garage under cover, but I couldn't quite get around to selling them
or
working on them. But now I'm enjoying the restoration of the original 1500,
while I
drive the MK IV. I have 2 daughters who think they'd like to own Spitfires
some day,
so.....
My 2 car garage holds 2 spitfires, a body tub and separate chassis,
etc, etc,
for the restoration plus the family sedan. But my wife is very understanding.
Cheers, Fred
--
Fred & Wendy Griffiths
Calgary, Canada
mailto: griffco@cadvision.com
http://www.cadvision.com/griffco/index.htm
|