Old Bike Australasia

Old Bike magazine is a must for those who ride as well as the dedicated enthusiast and rebuilder, covering everything from Vintage to early 1980s bikes - marvel at the restoration of machines that could still sit proudly on the showroom floor. Each issue brings you the latest news and results from recent events, race reports and Rally Roundup, along with new and old bike news and reviews, readers letters, Club Directory, What’s On and much, much more.

EDITOR’S LETTER

Old Bike Australasia • NUMBER 120

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

RARITEE Best Letter

OUT IN THE SHED

Bathurst’s big night

Bridgestone Festival of Speed takes shape

Winton announces no bikes

Ray Owen Show expands

Australian Historic Road Racing Championships draws closer

Lester Morris

Lester as I knew him

Anthony Gunter

Bob Blythe

Gordon Marx

Ken Lucas

“I DON’T DO ANYTHING THAT’S NOT FUN” • At 81, Mal Stanton still sticks by his mantra, and why not? It’s taken him through a vigorous life of racing in the fabled Continental Circus of the 1960s, through various business ventures, including commercial aviation, and these days, he enjoys a relaxed, itinerant existence driving around Australia with his wife Terri in a massive motor home he built himself. He’s just completed his seventeenth circumnavigation of the island, and he is already looking forward to the next one.

THE RUNT OF THE LITTER • The Second World War was a devastating experience for most of the globe, but it wasn’t all that bad for Harley-Davidson. Cocooned in Milwaukee, the factory churned out thousands of military models, which kept the business afloat during the war years. Moreover, as GI’s returned home and back into civilian life, they saw motorcycles as a way to enjoy their new freedom and leisure time, and Harley was top of the shopping list.

A RARE BEAST • I first saw this superbly restored Bonneville-engined Triumph in 2016 but it wasn’t until I got the opportunity to do the research for this article I realised how rare it is.

PAIN AND GAIN IN SPAIN • The Colombres Rally in Northern Spain has a mysterious hold on classic enthusiasts. For myself, I thought it would be a one-hit-wonder but this was my third rally and I’m already pondering a fourth.

RESCUING AN INTER • Few motorcycles have reached the legendary status of the Norton International. Of course, by the time the overhead camshaft Norton engine appeared in 1927, Norton itself was already legendary, the firm proudly wearing the immodest label, “The Unapproachable” which had been coined in 1908 in advertisements acknowledging competition successes by the equally legendary Rem Fowler. It proved to be a very apt slogan which quickly fell into the language and remained there for many decades.

The mud mountain • In the late 1960s, what was then known as the Northern Centre of the Auto Cycle Union of NSW was a hotbed of motorcycle competition, which was almost universally dirt tracks (Short Circuit) with an oil-impregnated surface. But Scrambles were growing in interest, due mainly to the increased availability of specialised machinery – Cotton, Greeves and DOT from UK, CZ from Czechoslovakia, the German Maico and Swedish Husqvarna. The problem facing aspiring scramblers (or motocrossers) in New South Wales was where to race.

A GALLIC QUARTET • Peugeot may well be the longest-existing motorcycle company, which produced its first two-wheeler more than 120 years ago and is still in the same business.

DUCATI GETTING DIRTY • The first off-road motorcycle was also the first motorcycle, due to the fact that there were no (or few) paved roads at the time. But such was the pace of development, it wasn’t long before specialisation began to creep in, resulting in...