The wanderer returns . . Mid Ohio - July 2002
I seem to remember looking at my calendar
in early June and thinking that if I was going to try and get
back to Michigan to try and secure that large stockpile of parts
and bikes then it had to be just after the Rally as there were
other pressing events for the remainder of the summer. A search
on the Internet revealed that the airline business was not quite
in such dire straits as it was 6 Months ago, flights were around
the £500 mark and without some sort of funding I was reluctant
to part with that amount. So, I sit down and ponder about the
logistics of it all.
I STILL have a 1964 B8 125cc Kawasaki
“omega” stuck in Boston Massachusetts, with the events of Sept
11th no carrier would fly it out. There is also a Meguro
Kawasaki up in Iron Mountain in North Michigan that I would love
for my collection, Plus, there is also the “Vintage Days” at the
Ohio Speed circuit and I am led to believe that this is THE U.S.
swap meet to visit! So, I hatch a plan, The guy with the Meguro
also has a 1922 Henderson Excelsior that is a total pile of
rusting and rotted junk that is worth nothing . . . . to anyone
but an Excelsior collector! Luckily I took several high
resolution digital pictures of the bike whilst I was there and
after many mails I found a potential buyer for the bike in
Detroit (a mere 500 miles from the location) after a lot more
work I managed to secure a deal on the Henderson and the gamble
is that it would leave enough profit for the airfare and vehicle
hire etc.
So, if I can get the Omega to a location
near to the “vintage days” then I can put some wheels in motion
to book a flight. Some time on the Internet and I have booked
the Omega on a “yellow” truck and will collect it from a depot
in Ohio and take it in a UHaul to the North of Michigan where
the Henderson and Meguro are located. The plot is thickening and
the flight is booked! For the first time ever I am flying KLM,
the flight leaves Brum at a very respectable 11am and then via
Amsterdam it lands in Detroit some 11 hours later, this appears
on paper to be the best flight times that I have ever had!
The flight to Amsterdam was fine, the next
flight on a 747 Jumbo was not so pleasant, it was to be spent
cramped between a rather large lady and a guy on a laptop in the
middle of the centre isle – 8 hours cramped like a frozen
sausage in a straight jacket certainly won’t be fun! As I look
up, I find it pretty ironic that after 7 and a half hours
travelling I see on the overhead screen that we are just flying
over Sheffield - a mere 30 miles from home! Still, there’s only
another 7 hours to go L As we approach Detroit we are told the
airport is closed due to storms! Some of the passengers make use
of the “Paper bags” – finally after a turbulent hour we land to
cheers from the passengers! Once down in Detroit I get in the
passport control queue . . . for over an hour! Once finally
clear of passport control I make my way to the baggage claim and
the realisation dawns on me after 30 mins of watching the belt
that my second bag is not going to appear! Next it is on to
Customs control to be met with quite literally hundreds of
passengers and an obviously overwhelmed customs control –
luckily after around an hour or so I am waived through pass the
hoards that are waiting for close inspection. My next stop is at
the “North West” airlines customer service (they are in
partnership with KLM) I am told that my bag is in Amsterdam and
will be on the a.m. flight – If I leave a forwarding address
then the bag will be couriered on the next day - but I have no
real schedule other than a room booked in Ohio for the first
night.
I collect a “rent a wreck” (they have
towbars fitted for the UHaul) and head on down to Ohio – the
trip goes O.K. and I am in the Motel in a couple of Hours. Next
day it is time to find out about my lost bag – after being on
hold for 30mins whilst using a phone card in a gas station my
patience is absolutely at it’s limit, I finally get an operator
to be told that the bag has not yet left Amsterdam!
So, on with the journey – I need to get a
UHaul trailer and the closer I get to “Mid Ohio” the more
unlikely my chances are of finding a one. After contacting the
control centre one is located just 5 miles from where the “
Omega” has hopefully arrived. Some luck is finally coming my way
as I also get the last room in a hotel a few miles from the
meeting, not only that but I also beat a potential customer to
the last UHaul trailer for miles! As I checked in to the hotel
the lady on reception comments “nice accent, where are you
from?” “England” I reply, “neat, how far is that?” “Oh, around
3,500 miles”. “Wow! Did you fly or drive here?” . . . Duuuuh . .
My luck runs out as I go to the “Yellow” transport depot (in an
absolute torrential thunderstorm) to be told that the shipping
is not £220 as I expected but as I gave the incorrect weight it
was now in the next category at £400! I am not a happy camper
but as the power is out in the depot there is little I can do
about it. Back at the hotel calls are made to customer service
and after some pleading the cost is reduced to £350.
Once
back at the Yellow depot with the car and trailer it becomes
apparent that there is no way the crated bike is going to
squeeze in - I rip apart the crate that I had paid £150 for and
finally get to see the little bike that has caused all the
trouble – what a pile of crap! Admittedly it is a rare little
Kawasaki Omega, in fact just number 56 off the production line –
or so I think. This little bike was One of Kawasaki’s first
venture into the U.S. market, the bike was actually sold under
the name of OMEGA – “Built in Japan for Ken Kay” – in fact now
that I see the B8 for the first time I realise that this is not
a great bike! The silver painted exhaust held on with old rubber
and jubilee clips give a hint of the general condition of the
bike – the silver paint on the spokes and 70% of chrome peeling
off the rims confirms that this is not the best buy of my life!
It dawns on me that this bike has cost me something near £1,500
and it is not even home yet! Oh well, some you win . .
As my body clock is totally messed up I
find that waking up at 6am is a bonus as I can be at the Great
Mid Ohio swap meet before 9am, the entry fee is a surprising
thirty quid but Once inside the event is pretty huge! I would
liken it to be like the auto jumble part of Stafford show
doubled and put inside the infield of Cadwell park! I am so
lucky in that I have parked very close to the main concentration
of Kawasaki purveyors. This show is so much like the October
Stafford show, the vast majority of the stands are Japanese
orientated as opposed to Harley and old U.S. Iron. I soon come
across a stand with several triples for sale – all are
reasonably priced IF they were back in the U.K. but to add the
cost of shipping and taxes made any further enquiries
prohibitive. A root through the guys waterlogged stock revealed
several items that we could deal on – A pair of N.O.S. H2b/c
headlamp brackets, a Z1 rear mudguard and many small parts to
fill my rucksack – so Onward and the sun is starting to blaze
down and dry the soddened ground, I come across a guy selling
some triple parts that seems to have an idea of what he is
talking about, after a couple of leading questions it becomes
obvious that this guy is Kevin Knedler and as
I
tell him who I am his face lights up and he is shocked to say
the least – from there it is just a walk around the corner to
meet Joe Veal, these names won’t mean much to you unless you are
an Internet Junkie and a triple addict but Two nicer guys you
are not likely to meet – unfortunately time is not on my side
and I have just a few hours to cram this huge event into, some
bikes of note were a couple of severely rusty H2’s at £160 a
piece! A half rusty One at £300 and several more requiring
restoration at around £1,200 - £1,600 a piece – all good stuff
IF the bikes were on U.K. soil!
There are some nice parts available but all
the bargains were snapped up by the professionals on the
Thursday preceding the show, One guy shows me some N.O.S. H2
parts but $50.00 for a front indicator stem is out of my league
- It later dawned on me on my return home when I saw these same
items on EBAY that the guy was
Jenni@frognet (it’ll make sense to you ebayers) I have to
think about heading back up to the upper peninsular to try and
do a deal on the Henderson and Omega. As I walk into the infield
I come across a display by the N.A.K.T.C. I get to meet up with
Y.T. but again time is a severe constraint and I am forced to
leave early - as I walk back to the car I come across rather
tidy Brown H1f, at £900 the bike would be quite a good deal back
in the U.K. but the vendor shrugs off my offer, I better the
offer and talk cash and he seems to respond – but I leave
without a deal. A walk around the lot and I come across the
same guy – I tell him to think of the cash and the next thing I
know I am loading the H1f up to keep the B8 company on their 600
mile drive North!
So, it’s back along the route of 5 months
ago, last time it was blizzards and ice – this trip it is 80+
degrees – isn’t aircon wonderful? I call in to see Harry and yet
again fail to convince the stubborn git to lower the price of
his N.O.S. and New bikes! (for those of you not familiar with
this long running saga, Harry had two shops in Detroit in the
60’s & 70’s – in 1976 he shut the shops and moved the entire
stock and new bikes up to his land in Northern Michigan, I have
now been trying for Three years to buy this stock at a
reasonable cost). As I drive away from Harry’s place I came
across a Harley Dealership that has a Z650 parts bike at the
side, I stop off and ask if they are breaking any old Kawas
(they are Kawas in the U.S. not Kwaks) or know of
anyone
else local has any Kawasaki parts or bikes for sale? I am
directed a few miles away down dirt roads to a guy that
“sometimes has a few old Kawas for sale” I pull up at the house
in the middle of no-where to find a guy of my age
working
on his sons two Kawasaki Dirt bikes, as we walk round the side
of the house I am shocked to be met by TWELVE triples! All were
in a pretty poor state but what are the chances of stumbling
across a hoard like that, some are for sale but to be honest
nothing was worth crating and shipping back to the U.K. I head
off back on the trail . .
The next problem was soon overcome as I
found some rented storage for the Two bikes that I already had
on board, small lock up units are in abundance and for Twenty
quid a Month I get a 15 x 8 secure unit, the bikes will be safe
until I can work out different transport arrangements. Back on
the road and it’s onward the 350 miles to Iron Mountain, luckily
petrol is still cheap at around a Pound a Gallon J The next
problem comes remembering just where the old boy lived in Iron
Mountain, bearing in mind I had followed him for miles through a
forest that was knee deep in snow, however, in the lush colour
of summer I was struggling to get my bearings but within an hour
I came across him on his ride on mower “Iron Lung” and all! Jim
use to be a bike dealer until he got fed up with the trade (I
can sympathise) when he got out of the game (he is 70) he just
kept Two bikes, the 1963 Meguro Kawasaki and the 1922 Excelsior
Henderson that his father use to own, last ridden in 1947 the
Excelsior had suffered the ravages of time and was severely
rusty, the rims were rotted through as were the bars and many
other items, Jim was convinced that this bike was worth £20,000
restored or £4,000 as it was now!
Alarmingly
he also valued the Meguro at £2,500! Alarm bells started ringing
as I realised this may well be a wasted journey, if I paid him
those sums then not only would I be only break even I would be
losing any money that was going towards my costs. I have a
closer look at the Meguro – it’s in remarkably good condition
for a 40 year old bike, the spokes are still shiny and the only
restoration required will be a darn good clean and maybe a
re-chrome of the exhaust.
Finally Jim saw sense and I scurried of
down to a local bank to get some cash (you can keep your
plastic, the smell of fresh cash oils far more cogs!) ever tried
to get a bike out of a basement that has rotten rims, tyres
hanging off and seized wheel bearings? A little determination,
patience and thought saw the bike finally in the trailer without
either of us dying from exhaustion, now it is time for the 650
mile trip down to my potential buyer in Detroit. I drop the
Meguro off to keep the B8 and the H1f Company and arrive in
Detroit just 3 hours before I have to catch a plane. Nerves are
at breaking point as I meet the potential buyer of this ancient
pile of rust, we actually meet up at my counterparts house in
the world of Hendersons, this is a guy I can relate to but
things are not looking good as he gets a brass bush on the vital
organs of the bike, the chain covers are missing or rotten, the
rear wheel is off a 1920’s Harley and is impossible to replace,
the engine is locked up, the fenders are not rotten but they are
battered and will cost $1,000 a piece to restore – doom and
gloom and the clock is constantly ticking away. Finally we come
to a deal that has paid for my flight and helped with the
purchase of the Meguro - but there is another bike in the U.S.
that I want to buy so I have minutes to get to a bank and try
and get a bankers draft drawn up to post before I leave -
heading the wrong way up the freeway and desperately trying to
find somewhere to dump the UHaul did nothing for my stress
levels! But all is achieved and I finally fly out of Detroit
back to Amsterdam and then onto Birmingham . . . . where I go
to baggage claim to find that another of my bags did not make
the trip! It did however turn up at my door later that night
complete with smashed bottles of wine and claret coloured
clothes and electrical equipment!
One point constantly crossed my mind is
that at no time during my 2,000 mile trip that took in some
dodgy areas in Detroit - I didn’t see a single burned out car!
. . . . . . Is Britain really so ”Great” anymore?
El Presidente
