The vocation of the The Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA) is to gather people who are having fun with old motorcycles, preserving, restoring and riding them. Every year fellow club members are rubbing elbows, shopping swap meets and showing their Old Irons in 9 national events around the country. And starting in 2010, the AMCA is opening its doors to a new audience of young riders who may not have the financial ability to own a true classic, but who are buying up machines from the past that they can afford, and turning them into their personal vision of a cool motorcycle.
So, starting this year, in addition to the club’s normal classes for beautifully restored classics, perfectly preserved original-condition machines and period-correct modified bikes, two of this year’s AMCA Nationals will feature a special “Custom Culture Class” designed to highlight ways that motorcyclists express themselves through their machines. The class will focus specifically on the era of the 1960s and early ’70s, when the custom-bike movement blossomed across the United States. The only eligibility rule is that bikes must have an engine that was sold in a production motorcycle sometime between 1960 and 1975, the most recent machines that fit the AMCA’s 35-year rule for antique designation.
The Custom Culture Class will be sponsored by prominent motorcycle publications at two of the AMCA’s premiere National Meets this season. Hot Bike magazine will sponsor the class at the AMCA Fort Sutter Chapter National Meet June 18-19 in Dixon, California, and Cycle Source magazine will sponsor the class at the AMCA Chief Blackhawk Chapter National Meet September 2-5 in Davenport, Iowa. For more information on the Custom Culture Class at this year’s AMCA meets, contact the following organizers: 1- Fort Sutter Chapter Meet, June 18-19, Dixon, CA: AMCA Fort Sutter (916) 455-7398 or (209) 368-7259. 2- Chief Blackhawk Chapter National Meet, September 2-5, Davenport, IA: Chief Black Hawk
Great effort by Matt Olsen, Eric Ellis and Chris Callen for putting this together. I knew it was coming and am very excited for Matt because he is just flat out ON FIRE for old motorbikes. Thanks to Eric and Chris for embracing Matt’s efforts and helping to bring this to life. I just wish I could be at all the events to take part.
I love all you guys in the most sincere way a bunch of brothers could!
Keep it up!
Joe
Good work! good luck!
I think this is EXACTLY what the AMCA needs to help bring younger riders in, me and Matt Olsen have discussed this many times and I’m glad to see this start! If there is anyone out there who just loves antique bikes more than Matt Olsen please introduce me LOL!!! As always if there is anything that I can do to help out please let me know guys..Roadside
ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS CONCEPT ……..WE’VE ALWAYS BEEN PARTIAL TO THE ” OLD STUFF” HERE IN OUR NECK OF THE WOODS. IT’D BE GREAT TO SEE THIS KIND OF THING HERE IN CANADA . GOOD ON YA GUYS !
Vintage Bike Addiction…spreading like wild fire..love it
Matt is truly the man behind all of this. His mind never stops working on ways that he can inspire other young men to love old bikes the way he does and in doing so is an inspiration even to us old dogs. I suspect having a pap like he does also helps….. Can’t wait to see how this goes this year!
Matt, I can’t wait to see the turn out in Dixon. Keep up the good work !
Good on you Matt, Cycle Source and Hot Bike magazines. The AMCA in some ways has been hard to change. Some clubs did this on their own some years ago and the bike class kept growing. Matt makes things happen and good on him for changing direction a little.
“The AMCA in some ways has been hard to change.”
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That’s for sure. A lot of years wasted, re-visiting machines like the “Flying Squirrel”, etc instead of creating a parallel “custom antique class, which would have included replicas. Club meet attendees would have had the opportunity to look at the antiques and then move over to the “replicas” and be able to compare the OEM with replica parts being produced.
So, now the club is caving-in to the current low-membership by scrambling to expand the AMCA’s appeal to an increasing “wanna build” group of “utes”.
Restoring an antique Harley is too easy – all the old OEM parts fit! Where’s the fun in that? 🙂
Here’s an un-tried noise-reducer for the inboard side of 3.5 gallon fuel tanks.
Turns noise and vibration into a low-grade heat that is spread throughout the covered area. Water based. I’m brushing it my ’57 tanks – 1.5 mm thick.
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/noise.html
Good on you Matt, Cycle Source and Hot Bike magazines. The AMCA in some ways has been hard to change. Some clubs did this on their own some years ago and the bike class kept growing. Matt makes things happen and good on him for changing direction a little.
This is cool, finally these bikes can be recognized. Good job, dude!! Are you listening Antique Motorcycle Club of Canada!!!
Mazz.
The AMCA seems to have been a club of exclusion instead of one of inclusion for a long time. When I first joined the AMCA I was in a discussion about 45s with an old timer that was pretty interesting. We had a good conversation until I let out that I rode a 45 chopper. He immediately turned around and walked away and never spoke to me again.
In the last few years the power that be have decided to include vintage European bikes, then began to include vintage Japanese motorcycles, and now to include younger riders. This change has been a very good thing for the club and I thank Matt for spearheading this effort. We need more guys like him in the club. Thanks, Matt!.
The AMC will let us all know – as soon as they create a “replica class” then? 🙂
Penalize the owner/builder that uses OEM parts.
Points off for an OEM motor, handlebars, or anything that’s “real” and old.
The only way to score a perfect 100 is to create a totally repop OHV, that fool the judges into making a mistake. an owner/builder gets points added if he can fool the judges.
Or, forget about having “judges” for the Replica Class – let it be a people’s choice for 1st, 2nd, 3rd.
A big part of the AMCA is the road runs and the swap meets, over the years the availability/restorability/runnability of the old orphan parts showing up at the meets has been dwindling, thus imo the club has/had to evolve to maintain existing membership and encourage new blood or all you would have for the most part is the same bikes over and over and no growth. The rule that specifies 35 years and older brings in some newbes and bikes but not enough.Those rare good/useable parts that are still availible in bikes of age have driven the pricing up to the point that only select people of economic well being are able to/can build/restore a bike of age. These new catagories supplement the club and the membership and keep keeping old iron on the road. If Matt would post the rules for the new class it might clear up some of the commenting, my question is it it a period correct, modified or a custom or a combination class? Keeping the old iron running.
By the way I am not questioning Cyril’s posting of the class just seeing if their is any more specifics now or coming down the pike before people start buiding the bikes for said class.
Some how it always takes a disaster to make people change. Old people don’t like change. That’s a fact.
The best way to clean house at the AMCA is to get rid of the old people that are over 50 yrs. old.Find a real mechanic to be the AMCA club president.
When youngster Bob Bishop was the prez of the San Diego Antique M/C in 1991, he conducted a phone-plea to all the younger members (those under the age of 50) to vote the old people out of the club director chairs, so we could all move the club forward. It worked.
Old [people make good judges because they’ve seen it all, but letting them lead a club into disfunction is a mistake. That’s why the AMCA is in a membership dilemma today. True or False?
It’s a mistake to give someone like Jay Leno an old 2-digit membership number, just because he’s show biz. It sends the wrong message. Leno ought to move to a 4 or 5 digit number and give his #34 number to Chuck Wesholski of Kick-Start M/C Parts (same guy that ran full and half-page ads in the AMAC publication for years. Paid for out of his own pocket, they raised his rates until he couldn’t afford to run classic pic ads.
Yeah, you’re right, I’m rankled. Old people as club officers are a mistake. They need term limits in the AMCA, imo.
Sorry but one more point of clarification on my question. This implies one could build a bike for this class with a 65 pan motor but not 48 to 64 pan motors, or a late 45 G or GE motor but not an earlier 45 model, etc., for example. Might open it up a bit more if its motor type or ? Just a thought.
To all concerned:
http://www.batorauctions.com/
It would be a relief (from Barrett-Vegas jalopy parades) – to see the auction in LA with LA m/c people running the show. It’ll give the entire world the opp. to see real calif. m/c & street-fashion walking around. Mechanical & Style Mavens take note.
A real-today look at our culture in Calif. – cool idea, you and Deni worked for it to develop to this. Hoping we see it on the Speenviz re-running for a week or two.
Get as much positive bang out of this first-time event as possible.
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Thank you very much for the vote of confidence and also for helping us to get the word out! Without getting to political, I thought I would share some of my thoughts and ideas with you.
We hope to be able to help jump start the California motorcycling community with this auction. It is past time for all of us to come out of hibernation and start living and doing business once again!
So what if the prices are off by 15% to 20%! They are going to stay that way until our community realizes that they need to adjust to this new pricing and get back to buying, selling, and building!
The economy dies if the flow of dollars that are traded suddenly dries up! A lot of people have the money and interest in doing business, but they are holding fast due to the uncertainties in the world. It is a proven fact that in the past, the small business owners are the ones that jump starts the world after such a recession.
My advise is, if you are buried in a motorcycle that you no longer interested in, sell it for the lesser price, and then purchase what you want for a lesser price! It is apples and apples! We witnessed this during our last Daytona auction! People were willing to sell their bikes with no reserve. They rolled the dice, took what “THE MARKET WILL BEAR” and in turn, purchased other bikes at the auction for a great price! We had a 85% sell rate with a 65% no reserve inventory! We had two hundred bikes go over the block and everyone went home happy! This auction worked and the money moved in the room!
Anyway, I hope that you come and join us during the auction. In case you are interested, we have sponsorship packages available that range between $500.00 and $1,000.00. This gets you a boot inside of the auction tent on Friday and Saturday, a half or full page ad in the auction catalog, a link up from our website to yours, two VIP passes for the weekend with full amenities. We will also have a Friday night mixer with a small charity auction. All in all, it should be a great time for all. Pasadena is a great city and with the new accommodations at the Pasadena Convention Center, it should prove to be a good time for all involved. – See you there then, Glenn
Does that mean the auctioners have dropped their fees as well, just asking.
Let Glenn and Dina set the new standard of cycle sales and buying. Whatever the auctioneers charge – they’re worth it. It’s hard work – from office to concourse. Been there. Ever rig for a tent-carnival?
Here’s some 3.5 Gallon tank news to contemplate:
http://www.aimag.com/forums/harley-panhead/8718-3-5-gallon-tanks-v-twin-vt-38-0787-a.html
Don’t ask if the new tanks will be as good as (or better) than OEM, you’ll get to judge for yourself. I’m taking this set to the Pasadena show in August and get a booth. So, if you haven’t seen the tanks by August 2010, then show up to check them out (CCW turn, pull the shut-off rod, then turn the knurled brass knob to close the shut-off rod into the shut-off rod eat.
We’ll have the tanks at kid level in Aug. / Pasadena.
If Jay doesn’t trade-off his AMCA #34 to Kick-Start M/C Parts – then he should offer it to these guys at V-Twin® that keep all of their antiques rolling in mass, imo.
“So, if you haven’t seen the tanks by August 2010” – NOT
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The event is Saturday June 5, 2010, with pre-viewing on Friday, June 4th.
http://www.batorauctions.com/
Dear All,
I want to thank Kirk for adding the above to this website. I had no idea my e-mail response back to him was going to go out to the masses. Any and all publicity “good or bad” is better than not getting the word out at all.
Deni and I have been dedicated to the classic motorcycle and car world for quite a long time. We resurrected the El Camino and Hanford shows and swap meets well over ten years ago. Just last year we were fortunate enough to find Marshall Baker “a local So. Cal. boy” to take the ball and run with those two events. To date, he is doing a very good job to continue on these traditional events and we hope everyone will continue to support them.
Last year we purchased the Daytona Classic Motorcycle Auction from Jerry Wood and since then have received a crash course in this business. Since the purchase, we have hosted four events in the past year. Two Daytona’s, one at the Barber Museum in Birmingham Alabama, and an estate auction for Sam Goodman at S&G Custom Cycles in Columbia, Tennessee.
Being that I am a So. Cal. boy myself “born and bread”, I wanted to create a first class event here in our back yard. I looked at the Santa Monica Airport, the Peterson Museum, and settled on the Pasadena Convention Center for a number of reasons. First off, the price for the venue was way better than the other two, secondly, the Convention Center just completed a very substantial remodel and added a number of halls, ball rooms, and an event building where we will be hosting our auction. Another reason I really like Pasadena, is the laid back and very nice atmosphere that they have there. The “Old Town” shopping is just down the street, and a really nice outdoor shopping and restaurant mall is just across from the main entrance. This in it self will allow the wives to go out and have a nice day spending all of your money while you and all of your pals are having fun at the auction.
Now on to the auction, we are currently recruiting motorcycles for the line up. We now have about forty-five bikes including the majority of Bob Stark’s collection consisting of about twenty-five motorcycles. We also have a great line up of bikes coming over from England and Italy with mostly selling at no reserve.
Currently, we need more units as we are attempting to hit the target number of two hundred motorcycles. We hope all of our friends that have a bike or two that they would like to sell, please consider jumping on board and entering them into the auction.
To help make the event better, we will have the auction broadcast live over our website, we will have international phone bidders, as well as the “L.A. crowd” present with their wallets open and ready to buy all of the cool bikes that you have to offer. In the line up we have the last Brough SS100 off of the assembly line, two HD Bobbers built by Paul Wheeler and Pat Taylor, and Mert Lawwill’s very first “Street Tracker” that he produced in 2004 just to mention a few.
I hope that you will all come and support our inaugural auction. We want to make sure that we continue to have events like this one as well as the El Camino, Hanford and Long Beach swapmeets around for years to come.
When we have these activities to go to and enjoy, “and the more the better”, this will continue the interest in our sport and hopefully will help the young bloods to get involved. We will need the next generation around so when we are to old to handle the responsibilities, we can hand the reins over to them and then we can have fun giving them crap and telling them what they are doing wrong!
For more information, please go to http://www.batorauctions.com
Best regards,
Glenn Bator
Here’s pics of V-Twin’s (38-0787) Bobbed Gas Tank (set) 3.5 gallon.
http://www.aimag.com/forums/harley-panhead/8744-3-5-gallon-tanks-v-twin-vt-38-0787-a.html