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Ken Nagai, (owner/founder of Ken’s Factory), is a great custom motorcycle builder, and although this project rolls on 4 wheels, it’s a V-Twin powered based on a 60’s Mazda Carol and worth the interest, I guess, of most of my readers. In Japan like in the US, most custom motorcycle lovers are also car buffs. It was only a matter of time before one of Ken’s clients would challenge him on a car project with motorcycle DNA. Reluctant first, but the request coming from a very close friend, Ken accepted to demonstrate that his custom motorcycle design philosophy (“Details Create Style”) could be successfully to an unassuming 1962 Mazda Carol…

The 60’s era Mazda Carol a “Kei” car, belonging to a micro class of cars in Japan. The Carol is Mazda’s first 4-door and it was originally powered by a rear mounted little 358cc four-cylinder OHV engine. Given that the original motor was in the back, there was plenty of openings and grilles to allow the motor to shed heat efficiently and Ken took advantage of this. He dropped a 1600cc H-D Twin Cam and added intakes above the bulbous rear fenders, jamming a constant flow of air into the engine bay. Thanks to an adaptor, a Volkswagen tranny was fitted into the small compartment.

The details giving the Carol its unique look are of a double wishbone subframe built from scratch, a wide-body treatment, billet wheels. Other fine details, among others, a highly customized and polished engine although it is invisible under the hood, performance brakes, many hot rod parts and a re-upholstered black leather seating. The result? A very unique and addictive to the eyes modern retro classic micro car. Ken’s Factory USA.

Specifications:

Owner: One of Ken’s best friends
Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Power: V-Twin
Engine: H-D Twin Cam, 1600cc
Drivetrain: Air Cooled VW 4-Speed Transmission
Suspension & Chassis: Front Double Wishbone by Ken’s Factory, Rear Semi-Trailing Arm Suspension by Ken’s Factory
Brakes: Front/Rear: Wildwood Multi-Piston Calipers/Disc
Wheels & Tires: Front, 16 x 7. Rear, 16 x 8. Colorado Custom “Lazear”.
Exterior: Steel Wide Body and Front Section by Ken’s Factory
Interior: Black Leather and Aluminum by Ken’s Factory and Back Drop Custom Leathers

You know the saying. “The work of a biker is never done”. What about the work of a Custom Builder? And what about this project from Bryan Fuller that I published “finished” in bare steel for the first time in September 2012? You are now looking at a multi-year metapmorphosis of an old bike into a rolling piece art. As I wrote several times before, I love when Custom Builders start a project working with parts from different OEM manufacturers, parts that were never supposed to meet on the same motorcycle. The result is always refreshing…

Bryan Fuller loves old bikes. He especially has an affinity for fuller fender models (pun intended) from the 40’s through the early 50’s, an era to him that represented beauty, grace and style. The big swoop fenders and art deco shapes with beautiful hand-shaped door handles, wind- shield frames and “bumperettes” remind Bryan of the car models that came out of Detroit at that time. Like the 1939 Fords and others such as Delage, Delahaye and Duesenberg. With a strong background in car building, Bryan knows better than most, that such revered beauty can sometimes come at a high price.

As the original start of this project Bryan was looking to build something very special, and was interested first in buying a vintage Indian. Unfortunately, he didn’t have the budget for such a bike. A visit to the Barber Vintage Festival in Birmingham, Alabama helped change all that. Luckily, he met a man there named Richard Conn. Richard understood Bryan’s passion for old bikes and took pity on him. Richard’s father had been collecting Indians since a time when most folks weren’t looking for them. Indian had a pretty established history in Birmingham that inspired an entire area in the museum dedicated to this period of Indians. Bryan asked Richard if he had any extra parts laying around from the 40’s that might be somewhat affordable. Richard gave him an address and told him to come by on Sunday after the Vintage Festival to look around, and that he just might have something for him…

It was about a two hour drive from Birmingham to an old barn in the middle of the Alabama countryside. When Bryan got there, he couldn’t believe his eyes: frames hung from the ceiling, fenders laying on the ground, boxes of parts were everywhere and there were even motors leaning against every vertical surface, even bench legs. Bryan didn’t need matching pieces and couldn’t afford a motor, so Richard made him a nice deal. They found a frame from 1932, front and rear fenders, a girder front end, and a tank gauge panel that hadn’t been used. The perfect starter kit for a metal fabricator to start with some creative ingenuity…

The parts made it back to Fuller Moto in Atlanta and then the extensive brainstorming began inside Bryan’s head. What power plant should be used? How about a Harley? Too offensive! Even the notoriously controversial Fuller won’t touch that one… What about Vintage Indian? Too expensive and not much power. Japanese? Wouldn’t sound right and not enough torque. How about a Moto Guzzi Ambassador? Perfect, he realized. The Guzzi’s have that perfect hot rod sound. Bryan says, “Of all the motorcycles I’ve ridden the Ambassador Twin has the closest sound to the old flathead hot rod V8’s of the past. A huge bonus too was that they are cheap. So, Bryan found a 1969 good running Ambassador for $3000.

The Italian steed was taken apart down to just the frame and motor for plastic surgery. Nice thing about the Guzzi is that the engine cradle of the frame also houses the foot controls. This makes it easy because they didn’t have to remake those mounts, they were built in already. The 1932 American Indian frame and 1969 Guzzi frame were trimmed to see how they fit together. Oddly enough, the 1932 and 1969 frames fit together perfectly. Bryan Fuller adds, “Just behind and under the transmission where we mated the two the width and tubing diameter of the cradle were nearly identical. I knew then it wasn’t coincidence and assumed someone had cheated off of someone else’s design.” Years go by, and no one knows why the frames are so closely related until the head of design at Indian saw the Chief Ambassador at the AIM show in Orlando. Indian had made a similar bike to this in preparation for desert warfare in World War II. It was called the 841 which had a longitudinal V-twin power plant, large fenders, and shaft drive; all to keep the sand away from vital running components. Harley got the war contract leaving only a small number of military 841 models to be built at somewhere around 1000 units. When the war was over Indian sold the blueprints and rights to produce to the Italians which eventually became the Ambassador. So now it was finally understood why the frames were so closely related… It turned out that the Indian and Guzzi are true cousins.  Even the Guzzi gas caps screw right on the Indian tank…

Once the stance was set right, the Fuller Moto crew went to work cutting, sectioning, and fitting the parts together into a cohesive unit. The front girder was cut into 3 sections to fit the earlier 1932 frame. Front fender was lowered, re-trimmed, and edged with solid rod for strength and style. The side panels of the fenders were removed and bead rolled to give some style and character. Bryan found an early Plymouth car light that turned into the tail light. Vintage style re-pop brass badges were fitted to the tank. Guzzi gas caps and peacocks were used too. Almost all of the running gear was taken from it: hand and foot controls, brakes, gas caps, engine, trans, and so on. The airplane steering dampener was another swap meet item picked up around the way. Mufflers are re-pop Harley Davidson JD style and head pipes are original to the engine. Continue reading ‘The Metamorphosis Of The Chief Ambassador’