Well, another successful Huntington Beach event has come to a conclusion and it was a great event as usual. This year we managed to get a separate group for the Nimbus, this so it is not lumped in with ‘others’ or as pre/post world war II European bikes. So like standard names like Honda, Suzuki, Harley Davidson and BMW we now have our own category of bikes.
First off I would like to thank this year’s participants, Leif and John Gyldstrand, Dave Jensen, Dave Nelson and last but not least Allan Laugesen that rode his 1953 military Nimbus all the way down from Solvang, 160 miles north of Seal Beach, and back again at 7 am this morning, braving the Los Angeles highway commuter traffic.
Of the 6 Nimbus there 5 were judged, since I was elected to judge our own category I was obviously not eligible to be judged at the event, and as expected Leif took 1st place with his 1949 postal service bike, David Nelson 2nd with his original 1942 solo Nimbus, and Allan 3rd with his Civil Defense military bike.Also a thanks to Mike Moon, one of the key event board members for the motorcycle section, for giving the Nimbus and their owner one of the shadier spots under the trees at the event, not to mention providing a couple of cool barley style refreshments for the Nimbus crew, thanks Mike.
Besides the standard motorcycle makes and models, of which there seemed a lot more than I previous years, there were some very over the top special ‘guests’ one being Burt Munro’s 1920 Indian Scout, fully assembled as it was presented in the late 1960s when Burt broke the land speed record for this size bike, at almost 200 miles per hour. This event by the way, inspired a movie 40 years later that I personally believe to be one of the best made and well acted motorcycle movies of all time ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’ with Sir Anthony Hopkins in the lead role as Burt Munro. An amazing story about a man who took a 50 year old motorcycle (back then, 90 years old by today’s age) and turned this 56 MPH top speed bike into a screaming eagle at 200 MPH. Absolutely amazing by today’s standards, not to mention almost 40 years ago.
The other fascinating bike was one of only a handful of 1912 Pierce motorcycles left in the world today, and more amazingly it was in running condition, even with the old wooden pulley and flat belt on the rear wheel.
Yet another well organized Concours car & motorcycle show that will see the Nimbus again at their 26th annual event next June. And one that left enough time for a quick cool pit stop at Mother’s in Sunset Beach.
