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Sunday
29th February - At AMI
The Project Daytona Wrecking Crew Convenes
After
breathing BSA for days, increasing numbers of Harleys on the road to
AMI remind us what bike week is mostly about. But AMI is full of
classic racers, roadsters and people – it’s a social event too - and
we park beside Rob North. As we wheel our bikes to our exhibition
space people stare - there are other Goldies around but none looks
like our Daytona model… and no-one has seen anything like the green
Daytona green Shooting Star!
Here I
will meet all the other people involved in the project.
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AMI is where I meet the Daytona Wrecking Crew |
There
is Harris Turner who has been arranging all 50th anniversary events.
There is US bike writer Ed Youngblood who is curating the AMA museum
exhibition for the bikes after Daytona. Colin Washbourne, the BSA
apprentice who built the Daytona twins in 1954 will be here too. But
most exciting for me will be meeting the BSA riders from 1954. I’ve
exchanged emails and letters but this will be the first time I meet
people who have been heroes for many years.
Though
AMI is not ideal for displaying bikes Harris Turner has managed to
find the perfect spot – he will pull this trick again later at
Daytona. We setup display material, bikes, posters and t-shirts but
we’re besieged by people before we’re finished. This continues for
the rest of the afternoon and we’re run off our feet fielding
questions about the bikes and events. I’m so busy I forget to look
for the BSA riders until I turn to answer yet another question from
someone and I recognise Gene Thiessen – they’re here! I’m
momentarily star-struck but a wise-cracking Tom McDermott break the
ice. They spend the rest of the afternoon signing autographs so we
don’t get much of a chance to talk at AMI, plenty time for that
later.
Problems hit when you’re having most fun so it’s now that ours hit
us. Though we’re only parading our bikes they still have to go
through inspection to get on the track - but our Daytona bikes
aren’t finished yet! Disappointment hits me like a truck – we won’t
be able to parade our restored bikes. Since we’d promised Bobby Hill
and Dick Klamfoth these bikes in the parade lap this will take some
explaining but the blow is softened when Bobby (at 84 years young)
hasn’t ridden a bike for a year and would prefer just a photo on it
at the track – thanks Bobby! We put-off a chat with Dick Klamfoth
about his ride until later…
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Even Rob North needs a factory manual.. |
In the
evening at Harris Turner’s house we sit outside on a beautiful warm
evening with food, drink and take stock of the day. It hurts that we
can’t parade the bikes but console ourselves with the reaction to
the bikes on display at AMI - people are thrilled just to see such
unusual BSAs. That cheers us as does the prospect of all the other
events and fun ahead, but we still have the problem of a bike for
Klamfoth to solve…
What Happened Next
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A Day At The Races.
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