A family of true Biker Scum: UPDATE 1 Finished: The Panther...

[Beck-zuki]

My brother (that would be Daniel Kalal) somehow missed the opportunity to expand this thread to include old photos of ourselves....so allow me to share a few of him:

[Sport-Touring]

[Beck-zuki]

Another one of our Dad, in front of Coulee Dam, Washington:



And we'll wrap it all up with Dad plus little Danny:  

[Mac]

Very very cool pics.




I think my grandfather rode a motorcycle during wwII, but we have no pics that I can find of it. Its odd, because he was a reconnaissance photographer.

[sagerat]

Somewhere is a pic of my Dad with his Indian Scout, but I think my sister has it.  I'll take a look when I get over to Plattsburgh in about two weeks.

[heinee]

  This is one of the best threads in a long time. Thanks for starting and sharing Steve  

Oh and Lida is teh hot !  

[vulcanbill]

Steve,  you should really record the conversations / interviews with your family members.  And if there are a lot of pictures like that...  Dude, think book.  That would be an amazing project and you might just be able to tell the world about them.  I'd buy it.    I love stuff like this.  I'm the youngest of 9 and with the exception of my brother that rode a CB360 to college and now has a VFR that he's seen once in 2 years, I'm the rider in the family.  Don't recall anyone else ever riding and I've never seen pictures of anyone else ever riding either.  This stuff fascinates me.  Post on...

billO

[RedCBRRider]

Your aunt was way cool.  Not to mention gorgeous.  It was really trailblazing back then because women didn't do things like  that.  My wife still to this day gets looks and comments when people find out that she is a woman on a motorcycle.  Get more pictures posted ASAP please.  Thanks for the ones so far.

[SlakeMoth]

Not my family - but here's a friend's dad riding back in the day, back in the Old Country:

[steve.ski]

Just got home with an envelope full of great stuff. My aunt & uncle, Grandmother & Grandfather, friends, Mexico rides, bikes being reassembled after shipment from England, and more.

This is gonna be fun. I have to do some Dad stuff first, but I'll update this thread the evening with some stories behind the photos. If I have time...

[M.Brane]

  This is one of the best threads in a long time.

 +1

 You go Steve.

 I love looking at these old pics, and trying to imagine what it was like back then. Makes me feel better about my bike.

[Orson]

Not my family - but here's a friend's dad riding back in the day, back in the Old Country:

the man has joie d'vivre written all over his face  

life ain't worth livin' if you ain't smilin' and having a good time  

[yotes65]

Just got home with an envelope full of great stuff. My aunt & uncle, Grandmother & Grandfather, friends, Mexico rides, bikes being reassembled after shipment from England, and more.

This is gonna be fun. I have to do some Dad stuff first, but I'll update this thread the evening with some stories behind the photos. If I have time...

Great! I look forward to your next post... like many others, I believe that I am the first (& so far last) to ride in my family...  

My mother is pissed that I'm riding... 2nd day of my Sr. year of high school, I was a passenger on a bike that had a head on collision with a pickup... neither vehicle won. I was DOA & somehow survived. A few years after I graduated school, I went out & purchased my first bike. An 86 Nighthawk 700S, Red, White & Blue. To this day, my mother still worries about me while I'm riding... God Bless her.

[steve.ski]

OK, so I tried to write this a number of ways, and it didn’t work without a bit of background on the photos. Also, I expect I’ll be skipping around a bit chronologically as the photos get scanned and catalogued. So here goes….

My Grandmother and Grandfather (the grandkids called them Gonny and Bobby) were childhood sweethearts, married in the early 1930s and lived in Los Angeles until 1955 when they moved to Joshua Tree, California. They were always motorcycle people, riding on the streets of LA and wherever their hearts took them. My Great Grandmother, Nana, was always willing to take the girls (my aunt Lida and my Mom Margaret) when Bobby and Gonny wanted to take a trip on the bikes.

After WWII, Bobby and Gonny took a fancy to the Panther, a British single with plenty of horsepower (for the time) and good handling. So in 1949, they decided to buy a model 100. Check out the link below for a pretty cool website about Panthers:

http://www.pantherownersclub.com/PantherPage/p-m-hw-m100.html

Anyway, better yet they organized a deal with the factory to buy the bike in England, take a tour of the factory, and do a tour of Europe before shipping the bike back to the states and heading home themselves. So in November (yes, England in November!) they headed to the British Isles and took delivery of the bike at Earl’s court during a car/motorcycle show. They proceeded to tour all around England, Wales, Scotland, and jaunted to Europe for a bit too.

I remember Gonny telling me a story about riding on the Dykes in Holland; they were in such a bad storm that with the pounding rain and wind, visibility was virtually nil. Bobby was walking alongside the bike with it idling in 1st gear, and Gonny was covering her face and head with a shawl while holding Bobby’s jacket so they wouldn’t be separated. They came across a farmhouse or something, and the residents took pity on them and put them up for the night.

I don’t remember Bobby; he passed away in 1970, shortly after I was born. Hodgkin’s disease took him away from us long before his time. Through it all, he rode with my Dad and Uncle like nothing was wrong. Just a few months before he died, my folks were visiting and Bobby wanted to go for a ride. My Dad was really pensive about Bobby riding in his condition, but he insisted. As they were taking off for the ride, Bobby took my Dad aside, showed him a flask of Whiskey and said something like, “If I pass out on you, give me a shot of this and I should come around”. Yeah, were they tough back then or what?

Bobby was top class. My Dad had a terrible childhood, and Bobby took him in and became his Dad for the short time they knew each other. They put on thousands of miles riding through the desert; my Dad would be thrashing across the open desert on a Velocette, Ariel, or something the vintage guys would cringe at seeing off road, and Bobby would be lumbering along on a road, laughing his ass off at my Dad and Uncle beating themselves up. One time they all stopped to drink at some bar out in the desert, and the bartender asked them all for their IDs. Including Bobby. Dad says he almost fell off his barstool laughing.

 I still feel robbed that I never got to know him. Gonny and my parents said that Bobby and I were two peas in a pod. If only we could have ridden together. If only, Bobby…

Gonny passed away in 1995, and I remember our times together fondly. She was the epitome of a lady, but took crap from nobody! She took me to England, Wales, and Scotland in 1985, we used to ride dirtbikes at her house in the desert, and was quite ready to take a ride on my old GSXR in about 1991. I’ll never forget the times we had together. Hell, I’m getting a bit sappy here. Whatever. I love you and miss you, Gonny.

Ahem. Here are the photos:



In this photo, the bike was just uncrated; Bobby and my Uncle Roy (Lida’s husband) were putting it back together at Bobby and Gonny’s house in on 6th Avenue in LA.



It’s together! Bobby strikes a pose on the Panther, cigarette in mouth (naturally). I think everyone smoked back then…



Bobby and Gonny on the bike. Check out the AMPLE passenger accommodations! Can you imagine 1000 miles + riding pillion on that bike? They made them TOUGH back then, no???

After Bobby passed away, my Dad restored the bike. He has some photos of it after the restoration, so I’ll get those scanned and update the story. I remember the bike as a kid; it seemed just huge. Then I saw the bike as an adult, and it was TINY!!!

When I was little I remember my Dad would start the motor, and I’d sit on the tank and twist the throttle. When the RPMs went up, it would vibrate enough so the entire bike would move backwards on the rear wheel stand. Too freaking cool.

Next photos will be of the entire riding crew. Bobby was riding a Crocker at the time. A good basket case Crocker is $100K nowadays.

More coming. Stay tuned…

[Orson]

Who thought of touring Europe by bike back then?

almost nobody.

real pioneers  

[radlefty]

Great Stuff, looking forward to the next update  

[Jeff N]

Fantastic stuff.  

I'll be tuning in regularly to these magical tales of motorcycling as it once was.

[ianbh]

Thanks for the old photos, I love 'em.  I wish I had some of my parents in the 40's.  They lived about 90 miles north of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and rode two up on gravel roads.  I think the bike had a solid rear susension.  Dad said it would just spit you off once in a while.  Mom said it was boring until she started driving.  Both still alive-87 &93.
Mom's brother rode a HD from Winnipeg to LA after WWII (he was a POW) to start a new job.  Wished I had asked more questions as he passed last year.  Ian, Iowa

[JimWilliamson]

Another one of our Dad, in front of Coulee Dam, Washington:

SWEET!!

Now I know the who and where about that photo. It's one that's in my favorites selection. I always thought - "that's a cool pic". Thx

 

[SloNEZ]

Awesome thread - I love old photos.
Especially when there are bikes in them!

[mtrider16]

   Thanks Steve, Daniel, and Beck-Zuki.  Great pics and stories.  

David