A gaggle of Vespas, 175cc and 160 cc
Story by Brandes Elitch
Photos and captions by Steve Snyder
Many car shows describe themselves as a “Concours d’Elegance,” but there is only one motorcycle event in that category, and that is The Quail Motorcycle Gathering, at Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, California.
Three 175 cc racers, a Mondial and two Moto Morinis. These often compete with the 175 cc modified Hondas in the AHRMA series.
For the last seven years, I’ve reported here every August on the Monterey Historics, often described at the most significant week of automotive activities anywhere in the world. If you’ve been there, you know that it is a combination of terror and ecstasy – ecstasy at seeing cars you have only read about, have never seen before, and will not likely see again, and terror; the terror of the crowds, crowding, parking, ticket prices, gridlock and congestion, and price gouging by local restaurants and hotels. And yet it seems that there are more people and more events every year.
But there are no such concerns with the motorcycle event in May. I say “event” because in addition to the actual show, there is a bike ride the day before, called The Quail Ride, limited to 100 bikes. These lucky devils get to ride together over about 100 miles of the Monterey Peninsula, culminating in a few laps at the Laguna Seca racetrack!, This would definitely be on anybody’s short list of things to do before checking out.
A 1936 BSA Q7 with an anxious “lets ride” passenger.
The organizer is Gordon McCall, who also organizes the August event, called “The Quail, a Motorsports Gathering,” on the very same field. McCall conducted an interview during the show with two AMA Grand National Champions, Mert Lawwill (1969) and Gene Romero (1970), and it was obvious from the questions he asked that he is a knowledgeable and enthusiastic motorcyclist himself. This goes a long way in explaining why this show is so successful. Part of this has to do with his personal contacts and friendships in the motorcycle community, which I suspect is smaller and a somewhat more insular than the world of car collecting. This is reflected in the fact that, in going through the list of entrants and roughly 250 bikes on display, it is surprising to see that many people brought more than one bike, and some brought four or five!
WW II 1943 Zundapp KS 750, German Army. This has a side car wheel which is driven via drive shaft from the motorcycle rear wheel. Blue -Gray color indicates Eastern Front use.
This is the seventh year that McCall has organized this event. Prior to that, for three years, there was a similar event, called “The Legend of the Motorcycle” at the Ritz Carlton at Half Moon Bay, just south of San Francisco. That was also a spectacular event, but my hunch is that the relatively small area for display, the ingress and egress was very limited, and the fact that it was right next to the ocean and thus extremely cold, probably contributed to its unfortunate demise.
WW II 1942 BMW R75 with a shaft driven wheel on the sidecar. Beige color indicates use in N. Africa.
McCall’s choice of Quail Lodge is good, because there is plenty of room and it is far enough from Monterey and Carmel that it can create its own ambience. Each year, there is a featured display. Last year, it was Bonneville Bikes, an extraordinary and unprecedented effort to bring these bikes together in one place. This year it was “A Tribute to Military Motorcycles, which I think is also unprecedented. There were also two other features: “the Formula 750 Group,” and “Iconic Choppers.” I found the 750 group particularly interesting because, as writer Kevin Cameron wrote in the program, “…the new 750 class reinvented the motorcycle. 1972 showed that the existing tires, suspension, and chassis were completely inadequate. New solutions were essential…technologies of today were forced into being by F-750’s collision of tire-shredding horsepower and tradition.”
Munch Mammoth TTS 1200 using a four cylinder NSU engine, 88 HP and tons of torque, enclosed rear chain drive, alloy rear wheel to take the torque. Exciting and great in the straight. ( Snyder rode one in 1985)
For me, one of the highlights was the interview of Lawill and Romero, because they are from The Golden Age of Dirt Track Racing. I didn’t know that the Grand National Championship was a mix of racing on dirt miles and half miles, Tourist Trophy racing, including part oval racing with jumps, short track, and road racing on established circuits! The riders had to be proficient at all types of racing. Romero’s career lasted 16 years and he won 12 national races. Lawwill raced for Harley Davidson from 1964 until he retired in 1977 with 15 national wins. They were both humble and funny, and I think grateful to be appreciated forty years after their race careers.
Harley Davidson X750 (45 c.i.) shaft drive developed in 1942 for use in the deserts of N. Africa where the sand ate chains. Based on the BMW R75. By the time it was available, the N. Africa campaign was over.
In addition, there are groupings by country of origin, and then there are individual collections spotlighted. Finally, there are vendor tents on the periphery, featuring products and services and bikes that each vendor has realized. Even moving quickly and deliberately, it takes at least five hours to see the bikes. And it is so much more relaxed than the Historics: getting in and out is easy, parking is no problem, there are no crowds, and you don’t have to worry about getting sunburned (the sun didn’t come out until 1:30 in the afternoon, and it was pretty darn chilly in the morning). There is another reason to attend that you won’t find at any other show: the food. A complete gourmet luncheon is served that is the equal of anything you would get in a high end restaurant in Carmel, and it is included in the ticket price! The logistics of feeding perhaps two thousand people and not making them feel rushed or hemmed in is pretty daunting, but it works very well and frankly, makes the event unique.
VeloceToday focuses on French and Italian vehicles. There were no French bikes there, and frankly a fairly small showing of Italian bikes, with the exception of the dozen Ducatis present. I found only two Moto Guzzis. I am partial to them, as I have a V50 -perhaps this can be a feature next year? I saw 3 MV’s, 2 Parillas, 1 Benelli, 1 Bimota, 1 Moto Morina, and 2 Laverdas. But no matter which bike you are interested in, you will find plenty of things to get your attention. As I walked around, it dawned on me how much easier it is to restore and store a motorcycle than a car. You could probably get 4 or 5 in the space of a one car garage. Hmmmmm.
A special custom V Twin next to a Harley Davidson Sprint; i.e., Aeromachi 250 cc. Dwarfed by an Ariel 1000 cc Square Four. Next a special Triumph and a customized Ducati.
WW II 1942 BMW R75.
WW II 1942 BMW R75
Just don’t even try to lean this Munch Mammoth TTS 1200 over in a sharp turn. .
WW II BMW R75/275 with two trailers, the latter for laying telephone wire. Very slowly. For this rig, the N. African desert never ended.
No. 44 is a James 124 cc track bike next to Malaguti, then a British service bike and a Moto Morini.
1941 Indian 841 with an opposed V engine and shaft drive. Very limited production; i.e. Buy More War Bonds.
Harley Davidson X750
A Harley Davidson cut-away for WW II motorcycle mechanics training.
WW II 1942 Harley Davidson XA, BMW clone, with a WW I dispatch rider. (Rider has to be at least 115 years old.)
I enjoyed seeing a picture of one of my bikes on the Veloce Today email as the lead photo to the story! Very nice photos and a good write up. I wanted to address some inaccuracies, however. First of all, there were a lot more Italian bikes than those that were mentioned. Left out were John Goldman’s “Best of Show” FB Mondial, and the Gilera Saturno which took “First Place” in the Italian bike category. There was also a very exotic FB Mondial displayed in front of the Bonham’s booth, and my own FB Mondial 175 Sport “Ocone” that was pictured twice in this article. I brought this bike along with a black & white Moto Morini 175 Tresette Sprint. Both of these bikes are Motogiro d’Italia veterans, and have been in museum collections ever since, so I’m not sure about the comment about them “often competing against 175cc Hondas in AHRMA series” comes from. In these photos, I can see three Moto Morinis including my own bike. There were a number of other Italian bikes displayed within private collector groupings, so they were not all in the same location.
The red ‘British service bike’ next to the James, Malaguti and Moto Morini is undoubtedly a telegram messenger bike, employed by the General Post Office in the UK. It is a 125cc BSA Bantam, in the customary ‘Post Office Red’. Copied from a German DKW design, it increased in capacity to 150cc, then finally to 175cc during the production run from 1948- 1971. This early model has plunger rear suspension but later versions had a proper swinging arm.