Updates and more updates...

Ah, the Throes of February;  Generally for me the low point of the year.  I only get a couple days of work a week,  the weather is poor and my garage unheated.

I am very pleased to say that this year has been far less trying;  With the low Canadian dollar, selling of parts has gone better than usual (unfortunately not so much for buying) and the weather?

This was taken a week and a half ago..

Unfortunately the weather hasn't quite held to this high standard, but the reprieve was more than welcome.   That quick blast through the country side with Katie has me smiling, even as I write this.

I will never be able to say enough about how wonderful these bikes are.  I can't think of anything else on the road with the level of style, performance, reliability and fun for the money.  While I choose to remain mostly stock, the custom possibilities for modern Triumphs are seemingly limitless.


All told it was a good year for riding,  She turned over at 29,000 on my sister's birthday back in December.   If you have read previous posts, I have explained the connection so I won't go into it here.   She passed away at 29 years of age and to see that number on Katie's Odometer on that day  I know she is still with us.

Very little was required maintenance wise this year apart from an oil change, new rear spoke, new rear inner tube and rear disc.   These are all items that are par for the course, especially when you commute daily as I do.  This spring she will be getting progressive fork springs (something I bought years ago, misplaced and have found again) fresh oil all around and fresh brake fluid.

I also need to consider some new rear shocks, at the moment I am leaning toward a set of Hagons.

Some high grade cleaning products to enhance and preserve the black engine casings and frame are also on the list.   I've been doing research, primarily on the Triumph Rat forum and some Harley forums.  The general consensus is that this stuff is best:

http://www.s100.com/s100_eb.htm

I believe I can get it locally and will post the results once I have given it a go in a couple months.

Onto the VW!

With the help of my very good friend, (who is wary of Online media so no names or photos used) we have acheived an astounding amount work:

Here is the current state of affairs:

Here is a quick breakdown of the work (off the top of my head)

- New Floor welded in

-New heater Channels welded it

- Various patch panels applied 

-New front clip welded in

-4 cleaned and repainted wheels

-New tie rods 

-New front shocks installed

My friend will be taking the car to his property to finish the welding work in the spring.  I have all the parts required to finish the work including a brand new wiring harness.  I hope to be driving in primer at least by September!  I am thankful to some great people on The Samba forum and for the holiday sales (with free shipping) from CIP.ca.  

Next entry we will cover some new exciting projects and new rust removal techniques.  

Stay Tuned! 

Farewell Daisy

* This entry was written and intended for publication in September of 2015.





I feel like a bastard today.

A deep sadness culminated this morning when I unloaded pieces of Daisy at the scrapyard.
Laying among discarded barbecues and beer caps,  I told myself she deserved much, much better.

Perhaps I should start with an introduction before I reach a Farewell.

I first saw Daisy in 1995 in all her faded almond green splendor.   She humbly sat, still bearing her English plates at the back of the driveway.  A 1969 Morris Minor imported in the early 1980's by my sister's best friend's Mother (did you follow all that?).

Daisy had been an integral part of the family fabric for years, both abroad and here in Canada.  Taking the girls to school, getting groceries,  a true member of the family.   As we know though, sometimes family members become ill and even worse, pass on.

I hadn't thought of her in quite a few years,  until I received a pop up message on Facebook from the owner.  She was selling her home and wanted my thoughts on what to do with her oldest friend.

She had been offered a paltry sum for Daisy, scrap value essentially which seemed a touch out of order.   I made arrangements to come by and visit, not sure what would await me in the backyard.

Sadly it was far worse than I remembered, the sills were rotted and the car couldn't be moved safely.

The only option I could offer was sell her for scrap or cut her up and salvage the valuable parts for sale.  The owner agreed and my father and I began a months long process (on weekends a couple of hours at a time) of cutting, (bleeding) salvaging and responding to ads posted for parts.

As Daisy became smaller and smaller each week, I felt worse and worse.  That sinking feeling that I was destroying something special, I even found myself apologizing to her aloud as I took angle grinder to her quivering frame.

When the rust was settled, I did sell on the engine, front grill, windows and several other bits with others remaining to be posted on Ebay.

As I stood in the scrapyard, unloading those pieces that no longer served purpose,  "Come Together" by the Beatles blasted from a stereo in the main building.  The irony wasn't lost on me as she was sent off to a song that very well could have played on her stereo when it was first turned on.

It seemed to me that another piece of history was dissapearing at my hand.  The fact that I couldn't have saved her, regardless of space and time constraints didn't seem to matter.  This cut deeper.  It was the active participation of destroying a small part of world that I recognized, that I knew and loved.  A simpler way of life or as I prefer to see it, a more honest life.

Daisy was built by men and women, real people earning a proper wage, feeding a western economy that has all but faded.  That meant something and it still should mean something, but it just doesn't seem to anymore.  She had tremendous charm and character, something else direly lacking from our modern roads (and world frankly).

The thought of melting her remains so she could become a tawdry, poorly made Chinese barbecue that someone will buy at Walmart horrifies me.

Those that know me, truly know me, might understand my obsession with all things old and wonderful.  Even then, there is a perception that I am a hoarder (despite my constant selling of goods).  It is an incredibly difficult thing to quantify;  There is no easy explanantion to the uninitiated.  I have said 'This is an important bike because....(fill in blank)'  more times than I can count to blank stares.

  If any one of them felt as I did when I let Daisy go, they would never ask me why again.  They would understand what it's like to let a little piece of magic slip away from our modern world.

Not the real Daisy, but exactly as she would have looked in her full splendour.

Alive and Kicking................!

I realized today that it had been a ridiculous amount of time since I posted anything, so I decided it best to drop in a quick update! 

The Beetle project is indeed alive and well with quite a bit of work done! I have a bevvy of pictures to upload in the coming days depicting the current state of affairs.  Since Thanksgiving I have sourced parts (new fender, seats and bonnet from a '61)  Workshop manual (and what a massive tome it is!) New heavy duty floors from Cip1.ca and 1 heater Dansk heater channel.  I am patiently waiting my drivers side channel to arrive so it can be purchased, shipped and installed.  I am told the boat from Denmark docks next Monday, we shall see.   

Truly the biggest and most exciting news was captured in this video taken on December 24th. (see Below!)

With a new coil, HT leads, battery, distributor cap, rotor and ignition key our friend came alive!    

What a wonderful Christmas gift!   

Nothing can provide more motivation than hearing that project run for the first time.

A couple days later, I did an oil change and was very pleased that what came out looked pretty clean. It was evident that the PO had looked after the car (to a degree).  Once I get a little further in I plan on reaching out to him and letting him know that the Beetle is being resurrected.  

I had always heard that these cars were beautifully simple and joyful to work on.  I can honestly say that having only had the Water-cooled VW experience with my Rabbit and Fox those whispered words ring true.  This is a classic car for the everyman.  With limited tools and skills anyone can enjoy and take pride of ownership.  It is also the least expensive car project I have ever been involved with,  parts are plentiful from various corners of the world both NOS and reproduction.   It is very easy to understand how such a cult developed around these charming vehicles.  

Please stay tuned for more long awaited updates!  In the meantime here is video, enjoy!

Meet The Beetle....!

As per my previous post,  I slowly set out to scour the local ads (Kijiji and the like) to get a feel for the market and make some contacts;  Within a week this is what I had gathered:

We have a box of varied '66 parts including a nice Speedo, headlamps in nice shape with decent lenses and various other bits.   The beast below is a 1969 engine which appears to be in pretty good order!  I found that in a heated garage where it sat for 28 years.  The elderly owner would go out and turn the motor manually every once in a while, which explains the strong compression.  I brought it home in the Pontiac Vibe, for anyone reading these little wagons are extremely versatile.  I did however neglect to secure the beast down,  leaving the back of the car covered in old oil and gas.  If you haven't had the pleasure of being immersed in that smell, I would advise that you postpone it as long as possible.  At least the motor had lubrication all that time which is positive.

My initial idea was to rescue a forlorn 1970 from a local scrapyard, with no floors and no engine.  After dealing with the proprietor, I was left with an uneasy feeling;  He initially wanted $500 for the bug on the condition that it was used as a parts car only.  He wanted an additional $500.00 for the car with the ownership which seemed incredibly odd to me.  I wasn't really prepared to buy a car, bring it home and have someone else dispute ownership after the fact so I walked away.  I hope that someone does rescue the poor fellow, he reminds me an awful lot of Victor, our old car.

As I continued my online searches, there was a rather rough but complete '62 two hours away that made it onto my radar.  When I saw a price drop of $400.00 I decided to contact the motivated seller on my break at work. Within 10 minutes I found myself having put a deposit on a car, sight unseen something I have never done before.  The buy in price and as it turned out the flatbed costs were low enough that it didn't need justification.   No choice now but to dive in and resurrect this charming little car back to old glory.   I am not sure if he will get the full Herbie, but I will do the Pearl white which appears to be the original colour.

Without further ado, I present the latest member of the family!

 

New Beginnings and old promises..

I hadn't realized how long it had been since my last post!  In my defence it was a rather turbulent summer,  with a plethora of home renovations to perform, work and other daily duties it went by as a blur.  All the hard work and sacrifice have thankfully paid off and MotoCode HQ has now relocated to a beautiful new location!   Twice the garage,  a third of the traffic, bigger mortgage but so it goes.

I have enjoyed the last couple weeks immensely;  The longer commute to work, through the countryside and onto a freshly paved stretch of highway with few traffic lights, the quiet evenings and space both in the home and around it.   The leaves will be falling soon and the scenery will be magnificent, in my mind I can already see it.  Something tells me my enthusiasm for country living will wane when the snow hits, but for now I choose to remain elated.  

Although I have been preoccupied these last few months with the vagaries of selling a home, packing and relocating there have been some developments on the bike front.  The biggest news being the thinning of the herd.  

After long deliberation, I decided it was time to part with the 350 Bridgestone.  I hadn't touched it in a year and I had bought it on a whim in the first place.  I am happy to report that it went to good home, an army Captain bought it for his ailing father who longed to have another one.  His father had apparently done 44,000 miles 2 up back in the 60's with the Captain's late mother riding pillion.   

Of all the bikes I have ever sold, I probably feel best about this one.  It isn't very often where we have an opportunity to bring someone that close to fulfilling a dream or goal.  I look forward to seeing the end result and hope that with his permission I can share those pictures here.  

On the fresh project front, something has been haunting me of late and has caused me to take a turn away from my 2 wheeled friends.   If you have ever had one of those dreams, the type that seem to speak directly to you, perhaps this will make sense.  If you are like me, when your eyes close the mind drifts to a montage of hazy imagery, sometimes coherent, sometimes not.  Then there are those other ones, the variety that seem to follow you throughout the day and almost define the state you are in. They carry a message or meaning that causes a shift in thinking, making what was important a mere day before less significant.

Mine was about a vintage VW Beetle.  

The humble but iconic little car, ingrained in the public consciousness now for more than half a century.  The people's car was a big part of our family for 14 years,  having an especially big impact on my late sister as it remained her favorite car until the end of her life.  She had a large and eclectic collection of beetle collectibles such as die cast cars, belt buckles and postcards. 

My father had bought Victor from new at Gran Turismo motors in Winnipeg in the fall of 1968.  A 1969 'deluxe' model (which included a gas heater and rear defroster, deluxe indeed!) together they almost immediately set off to Ontario where my father had accepted a position with Westinghouse.   He was there through marriage, home ownership and the arrival of two children,  he was there through snow storms and trips to my grandmother's home in the country.  In my mind and I'm sure hers as well Victor was a member of the family.  Watching the old Herbie movies was even more special with a real VW to play pretend with! 

 When my father made the decision to sell Victor and move on to a Datsun wagon, It was upsetting and I can honestly say I felt a sense of loss.  He was sold to our neighbor at the time and thanks to Ziebart rust proofing when new, lasted several more years on the road.  

In high school, I nearly bought a super Beetle and I recently unearthed some VW magazines I purchased at the time when my father and I recently cleaned up the attic.  I can't clearly remember what got them back into my mind then,  but I know what has returned them to my mind now.  The dream.  It was that dream where I remembered a promise made to my sister;  that one day I would find her a Beetle she could call her own.   

So the decision has been made and cast in stone.  The liquidation of assets has begun and superfluous items sold off to raise the funds.   I am still working on the finite details, I won't be diving in headfirst.  I know that whatever model I end up with will certainly look early (pre '67) regardless of what year it is made.   I have started to gather up small pieces to restore individually in bite size portions.  So far this is only a pair of early headlights and a bonnet, but it's a start.  

I can't say I have ever felt a sense of peace regarding a project before, but this time I do.  There is no anxiety, urgency, obsession.  There is only a sense of time and fulfillment knowing that I am being true to my word.  

Watch this space! 

We'll always have Paris

Got back from the Annual CVMG rally this afternoon, my first time actually arriving on a Saturday rather than the Friday. I had a good time as always, but found it was well.......lacking.  It seemed that there was a lot of space left unfilled, fewer stalls, fewer project bikes and a lot of rusty crap with rather high price tags.  This is first time I have left with money in pocket having spent less than $75.00.  An all time record.  Not to say there wasn't temptation.  I nearly went home with a smooth running All State 100CC made by Gilera that would have been an easy project.  The price was right, but with 3 Bridgestones, Triumphs and other projects 1 more would have just been greedy.  Besides handsome as it was, where would I use it?  I know, nonetheless that little bike will haunt me for a long time.  Much as it hurts, if you can't say no sometimes you know you have a serious problem!!   I will let the pictures do the talking from here out.

Really nice Husky, McQueen style.  Not sure if it was for sale or not.

This little Italian Charmer was fantastic beyond words, I wanted to adopt it!

These Kawasaki 350 Avengers were clean enough to eat off of...

A neat pair of restorable Cushman scooters!

Veri neatly built Aaermachi Special 

Spring.....Is that really you???

Ah, the sun....

I have vague recollections of how it felt to have you in my life;  I remember the warmth of your embrace, your kisses on my cheek first thing in the morning.   I am making it official,  Winter:  it's over.  I am officially filing for divorce and going back to my true love!


After a long dreary winter I am ready to return to two wheeled glory and share some other (indoor) hobbies that I have picked up to stave off insanity.  I have decided it best to document these things in separate blogs which I will share in the near future.

Plans for April involve (finally) putting the 175 back together into a roller, and hopefully finished by the end of the season.  I also plan on getting Katie some progressive fork springs installed, oil changed and fresh sprocket and chain.

Looking outside today it all seems possible,  let's just hope the bad weather doesn't come crashing in again to spoil the party!

Stay Tuned.....