This is a series of stories that Norm wrote several years ago. They start with his early history as a young boy in 1958 and run up through his first marriage trips. Along the way he moves from a homemade ‘car’, through scooters, small bikes and finally up to full size bikes. I imagine that a lot of us older folks can relate to much of it and that most of the younger folks will find it informative and somewhat humorous. I do hope that you all enjoy them as much as I did….Patrick M.
Part 1
One of my best summers ever was 1958. I was 12 years old, and my father had built me a homemade car. It had a 1-1/2 HP Continental lawn mower engine mounted in front. A pair of v-belts connected to a clutch, which was adapted from a printing press. It was on the input shaft of a three-speed transmission from a 1934 Chevrolet. On the back of the transmission, a set of bevel gears ran a cross shaft with a drum brake on one end and a small bicycle sprocket on the other. A long bicycle chain drove the rear axle, which was supported by simple leaf springs and ran on wheelbarrow tires. My car drove just like the real thing and had a top speed of about 30 MPH. I drove it all over the neighborhood the whole summer. It attracted lots of friends, most of whom were 1-3 years older than me. At the time there was no problem with the police, they just smiled and waved at me. I never crossed or drove on main roads.
The next spring, my fun came to a screeching halt because the previous fall, the state enacted the “scooter law”. This law permitted kids between 14 and 15 years of age to get a special driver’s license. With this license they were permitted to ride a motorcycle or motor scooter of less than 5 hp. That was good news for many of my friends but a disaster for me. I wasn’t old enough to get a license, and there was no provision to license a homemade car regardless. I drove my car until I got stopped a couple of times. The police made me push it home and let me off with a warning. Some of my older friends got motorcycles and scooters. Since my homemade car wasn’t very reliable, my father had taught me a lot about gasoline engines and repairs. The inexpensive motorcycles and scooters of the time were not very reliable, so my friends would take me riding with them in exchange for my help with maintenance.
There were a wide variety of bikes and scooters. At the absolute bottom of the pile was the Sears Allstate Moped, which sold for $210. The pedals and a compression release were used to start the 50cc two stroke fan cooled engine, which had a conventional clutch and a two-speed transmission that shifted on the handlebar. The vibration from the high revving motor assured that parts were constantly coming loose and falling off. Like most other machines of the time, cables needed constant adjustment and often broke. The joke about the Allstate Moped was, “The longer you have it, the mo’ you peddle it.”
The 125cc Vespa was a popular scooter. It had a 3-speed transmission that shifted from the handlebar. The motor was direct drive. It wasn’t too pretty but it was reliable.
In the middle was the Cushman scooters. They were expensive considering that the motors were high end lawn mower technology. The cheaper models simply had an automatic clutch and a single speed, while the more expensive ones had a two-speed transmission. The top of the line was the Cushman Eagle, which had more of a motorcycle style frame and tank, while retaining the small scooter wheels. None of the Cushman’s had rear suspension.
The top-of-the-line scooter was the Zundapp Bella. Very solid and reliable with a four-speed foot shift transmission, it would run up to about 60 mph. It cost about $450.
I was more interested in motorcycles. My best friend bought a (well) used 125cc Harley. This was a two-stroke machine with a three-speed transmission that was built for Harley in the early ‘50s by DKW of Germany. It had a girder front fork. There were no springs and no hydraulic damping. The “spring” was three very thick rubber bands. Like most machines of the time, the electrical system was a disaster. Power came from a crankshaft generator with brushes, a voltage regulator, and a 6-volt battery. The wiring was insulated with waxed cotton braid. The connections were screw terminals.
This was a nasty machine to ride and maintain, so my friend bought the hot bike of the day- a 125cc Jawa. People laugh at Jawa’s today, because they are nearly unchanged from 40 years ago. But in 1958, this was a cool machine. The bodywork was sleek, and the 16-inch wheels made it look low and fast.
The single cylinder two stroke motor had dual exhaust and the Jawa was about the fastest thing under 5 HP. The four-speed transmission was unique. The shift lever was linked to the clutch. You would use the clutch lever to engage first gear and take off, then you could shift gears up and down just by backing off the throttle and hitting the shift lever. The most unusual feature was that the shift lever was also the kickstart lever. To start the motorcycle, you would push the shifter shaft about an eighth on an inch in and rotate the lever around. You could then kick it with your foot and start the motor. My friend discovered that if you kicked the lever all the way down to start the motor, then let it snap back all the way around to shifting position, it would have enough momentum to kick into first gear. If the motor was revved up, this made for some very exciting starts.
I wasn’t old enough to get a motorcycle, but my older friends who were getting close to 16 wanted to borrow my car to learn how to drive a stick shift. I was happy to trade a drive in my car for a chance to ride a motorcycle. I got quite a few opportunities until the police had stopped all my friends. They finally threatened to confiscate the car if they caught it on the street again. My parents were dead set against me getting a motorcycle, but I was determined to have one as soon as I turned 14.
The scooter law was a disaster with lots of crashes and injuries, so the scooter law was repealed. The repeal went into effect nine days before I turned 14. First, I lost my homemade car, now this. My parents heaved a great sigh of relief. Their plan was to provide a car for me to drive when I was 16. With cars to drive, I would forget all about motorcycles. It almost worked.
To be continued….