Topic: ANCIENT BUILDS!! What was your first project back in the day?

[grumburg]

I like that super hawk vorhese. Those were the days!!
Lets play name those cars. Can anybody name them all??

Picture 1
1953 Pontiac
1966 Ford pickup
1955 Chrysler Windsor

Picture 2
1959 Chevrolet
1966 Chevrolet wagon
1956 Ford
1964 Pontiac

[grumburg]

I like that super hawk vorhese. Those were the days!!
Lets play name those cars. Can anybody name them all??

Picture 1
1953 Pontiac
1966 Ford pickup
1955 Chrysler Windsor

OOPS!
Missed the 61 Comet
1965 Chevrolet truck
Picture 2
1959 Chevrolet
1966 Chevrolet wagon
1956 Ford
1964 Pontiac

[Old Scrambler]

My first custom bike build was a '67 black bomber CB450........the wheels, frame and motor were left original. Everything else was changed including separate clocks, fiberglass tank painted Cadillac Gold, and alloy fenders.  I remember riding it from Wisconsin to the Indy 500 with my open meggas. The side-mounted license bracket broke on the way home. I traded it on a new '69 CB750.

My next build was to assemble a '57 Triumph T110 Chopper........Coffin tank, raked head, Amen Savior springer with 1/4-moon rocker and 21" spindle wheel, Harley 16" rear, stepped seat with bayonette sissybar, chrome frame. The motor was puched to 750cc and it surprised me that I could build my own wireharness and have the bike start on the first kick........Got married a few years later and sold that one for cash!

[ChevelleSSLS6]

I like that super hawk vorhese. Those were the days!!
Lets play name those cars. Can anybody name them all??

Picture 1
1953 Pontiac
1966 Ford pickup
1955 Chrysler Windsor

Picture 2
1959 Chevrolet
1966 Chevrolet wagon
1956 Ford
1964 Pontiac

The big 'farm truck' in pic 2 might be an old dodge??? I'm only 24 but an 'old car truck tractor motorcycle nut' so I might be wrong.... or right?

[Freaky1]

Early 70's Honda Z50, I took everything apart and put it back together, didn't replace anything just cleaned it and painted it, I think I was 14? After I moved out my dad GAVE it to my nephew and he sold it about two years later, I'd kill to have one of those now for my son.

[754]

That Farm Truck,

 pretty sure its 64-66 Chevy ,50 series maybe..

[scottly]

This wasn't my first project by any means, but it was my first street bike: a 1953 BSA 650 twin, that I bought as a basket case. The pic was from '73, when I was 19 (and still had hair)

[Hush]

Cool bike for a young fellah Scottly.

[scottly]

Cool bike for a young fellah Scottly.

Thanks. I sure felt cool riding it back then, mostly 'cause I had brought it back from the dead!

[greasy j]

your stock 71 is what mine looked like when new. and yeah, you had some hair alright. what we called in my neighborhood a 'hair farm'. some serious hair farmers in mount lake terrace, WA where I was raised.

my 1st bike and project was a 1974 cb200. the project was to cover it in punk/hardcore stickers and ride it everywhere. up and down stairs, over other unsuspecting people, on sk8 ramps.

I got pulled over on it drunk w/ no sickle license and a buddy on the back. and I had a Black Flag 'police story' sticker on it. (a cop w/ a gun in his mouth) the cop said " black flag, eh" I thought I was screwed, then he said he used to be a punk and to walk my bike home. my buddy wrecked it about a week later. and I got another one! cb200's rule! when you could still get honda cb's for under $100.

[turboguzzi]

my first project..... had to sort out a carb-less 1941 Ex British Army Ariel 350 NG to have my first ever ride.

should have pictures from those times somewhere. Luckilly, I still have that bike, just stored away pretty far right now. She still starts first kick everytime.

TG

[scottly]

my first project..... had to sort out a carb-less 1941 Ex British Army Ariel 350 NG to have my first ever ride.

should have pictures from those times somewhere. Luckilly, I still have that bike, just stored away pretty far right now. She still starts first kick everytime.

TG

Find the pics, TG!!!!

[greasy j]

my first project..... had to sort out a carb-less 1941 Ex British Army Ariel 350 NG to have my first ever ride.

should have pictures from those times somewhere. Luckilly, I still have that bike, just stored away pretty far right now. She still starts first kick everytime.

TG

dude, you're awesome. still have your 1st bike! wish I did. wish I lived in Milan, as well. my family's from Naples. I'm told. never been to the motherland...

my buddy goes to Milan every year to do the tattoo convention. he says it's the best one in the world.

[grumburg]

That Farm Truck,

 pretty sure its 64-66 Chevy ,50 series maybe..

Blew up the picture as much as I could. Is a 65 or 66 Chevy. The taillights on the far right are a 1960 Pontiac.

[turboguzzi]

OK, got em, thought I'd have more, better and bigger pics but still nice.

second pic is together with a 1949 Zundapp 200 two stroke with hand shift (still got that one too)

added an extra pic of a W/NG (not mine) where you can really see what an Ariel NG is, learned to ride on this thing.....

[turboguzzi]

but this is my REAL first project after making the Ariel run and just respraying it in khaki, a 1954 Matchless G80S.... and yes, still got that one too, but in pieces.

[zzpete]

  Awesome pictures Turboguzzi and its great you still have your first project, in pieces or not! I regret there are a few I let get away.

[traveler]

This wasn't my first project by any means, but it was my first street bike: a 1953 BSA 650 twin, that I bought as a basket case. The pic was from '73, when I was 19 (and still had hair)

Pics like this remind me of better days.

~Joe

[Outboardbill]

The year was 1975.  I worked in a Harley shop and a 1973 Sportster XLCH came in totaled from an accident.  I made a deal with the owner and the insurance company and got the bike for $800.00.  The folks at Milwaukee gave me a frame that had been replaced under warranty but was easily fixable.  I found a complete front end for 125.00.  Several coats of black paint and clear laquer and a top end rebuild finished the job.  I was 19 and on top of the world.  Not long after I had to sell it for school money.  A sad day.  I know I have some pictures somewhere, just can't find them. 

[scottly]

Thanks for the pics, TG!!

[Retro Rocket]

No pics but the first bike i did a rebuild on was the first bike i ever owned and it was an old R5 350 Yamaha....great little bike.

Mick

[bucky katt]

well ok my very first project ever was my 1972 Cadillac Superior built hearse. i painted it (dove grey basecoat) with silver/purple/metallic blue flames, and crushed velvet interior to match. what a great cat.............for when 92 octane gas was only 1.20 a gallon  i hauled 7 or 8 people and their skis and luggage many a weekend up to Stowe for a weekend of sliding down a snowy mountain on a pair of long skinny boards, what the hell was i thinking back then?