Let's review the clues:
Wonderful, but what does it all mean?
First we have the infamous Indiana Jones hat and whip. Next some Camouflage paint and some spare parts. A map of Birmingham and a clock set to 3:50.
This leaves us with a Birmingham built 350, built up with spare parts we have lying around, painted olive green, inspired by the Indiana Jones movies.
Here is the story.
At the beginning of the 'pandemic' things in my part of the world were starting to shut down. I was migrated from my office to a remote location and then sequestered to work from home. I had Matchless and Triumph parts on order and I knew they would be a while to arrive. Was this situation going to last months? Years? Who knew. I went onto Kijiji (always dangerous) and spotted a pile of BSA parts, essentially half a C11 and half of a B31. Both were rigid frames, something I was always curious to own without having a chopper.
I may have mentioned before that my Father's first bike was an early 50's C11. I was always interested in having one around for sentimental reasons. Sadly, he will never ride again but he is often eager to hear about my many, many projects. 'Don't call.' I told myself. Did I need another project? Not at all. Between what I have and my friend's '49 AJS my hands were quite full.
Then I thought about being isolated. Having months of time and few parts and getting very, very bored. Needless to say, I made the call.
The owner gave me a very good price for the lot and I picked it up the next day. There will be several left over pieces to sell in order to recoup some of the initial outlay.
I started to pull pieces off the shelf. Some BSA forks picked up from Andy (Way back in 2013),
Griffin headlight from an old Mustang bike with a Lucas lens, pre-war oil tank, etc. It was time to make use of what was collecting dust and perhaps do some fabricating.
I have a rocky history with BSA's. I have owned several in project form and never kept any of them. This one will at least get built up before it rolls anywhere else.
I started to think about the direction; Vintage bobber? Trials style bike? All lovely ideas, but not quite right.
I decided to put primer on the unknown oil tank. It came out a lovely flat green and a light bulb
went off. I would build a WW2 era adventure bike, something that would fit into an Indiana Jones movie.......
Until next time.......
