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| 1964 Royal Enfield Interceptor: "Royal Enfield was very advanced with their technical designs." |
My daughter Anna recently visited the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum in Birmingham, Ala.
Looking at her photos, your first impression is: "Those motorcycles are gorgeous"
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| 1965 Royal Enfield Continental GT: "The final version and has every conceivable option." |
Barber claims the world's largest motorcycle collection: 1,400 motorcycles (more than 650 on display on any given day) from 200 manufacturers in 20 countries.
The bikes Anna photographed each came with identifying commentary, often a bit sly. Here are just a few of Anna's photos, with captions quoting directly from the museum placards.
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| 1926 Royal Enfield 250 (Britain): "Typical 1920s commuter machine, probably giving over 100 mpg." |
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| 1970 Clymer Indian Enfield (U.S., Britain, Italy): "It is thought that only 10 of these 750s were built." |
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| 1946 Indian Chief (U.S.): "Indian riders were divided over the fenders, either loving or hating them." |
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| 1913 Flying Merkle (U.S.): "Flying Merkle has to be one of the greatest names for a motorcycle." |
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| 1913 Yale (U.S.): "The wide track allowed for the machine to run in wagon ruts for a smoother ride." |
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| 1894 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller (Germany): "Long connecting rods are attached to the rear wheel, which is actually the crankshaft." |
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| Honda Cub clip-on motor (Japan): "One of the first motorized products from the Honda Motor Co." |
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| 1957 Douglas Dragonfly (Britain): "Bold new styling on a very old design was their last fling." |
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| 1929 Majestic (France): "The chassis is two side panels joined by bulk heads." |
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| 1958 Ariel Square Four (Britain): "A lot of myths regarding performance." |
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| 1938 Triumph Speed Twin (Britain): "Built to look like a single cylinder from the side view." |
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| 1923 Scott Sprint Special (Britain): "Scott, the innovator, was responsible for nearly 60 separate motorcycle patents." My comment: "None of them was for beauty." |
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| And on and on and on... All photos by Anna Blasco. |
Thanks for those, David. The Square Four and Busmar chair. I had both but the chair was on a BSA M21 SV and the Square Four was attached to a Watsonian Carmobile 3 seater ("bus"?)
ReplyDeleteWhat magnificent machines! I hope to at least get to see them if I ever personally get to this museum.
DeleteThere were a couple of other Enfields when I visited in 2014.
ReplyDeleteSid Lal and Rod Copes should visit this museum. Maybe then they'll see how a company with far fewer resources than they ever had could turn out bikes that still live in people's memories 45-50 years later. Just a thought.
ReplyDelete