If I wasn’t spending all my time writing about Café Racers I’d probably be spending it writing about Triumph Bobbers instead. I don’t know what it is about a classic Triumph motor sitting in a hardtailed frame but it certainly looks good to me. As it turns out I’m not the only one with this cross culture obsession in custom motorcycles but unlike me, Marty Towers has turned his obsession into a business that all started with this bike, the Red Star Bobber.
I first met Jack Telnack in 1984 on a private student tour of the Ford Design Centre in Dearborn, Michigan. At that time he was Director of Ford North American Design. In 1986 he was part of the management team that hired me as a designer. One year later he became the Vice President of Ford Design worldwide.
Every year since 1990, Lake Gardiner in South Australia has played host to the DLRA’s (Dry Lakes Racers Australia) speed trials. It’s our equivalent to Bonneville’s famous Speed Week but in true Aussie style, you’ll need to be prepared to “rough it” if you want to attend. You won’t find any fancy motels or facilities nearby and the heat will have you sweating from every pore of your being, but when you’re out on the salt you won’t be hear any complaints from the event veterans and regulars. This year the salt came alive on the 18th of February for the 4 days of speed trials. It was earlier this year than usual due to bad weather shutting it down in previous years and everyone was eager to get going. Our esteemed leader and man behind the camera Luke Ray, made the pilgrimage from Melbourne out to the lake to witness the event and returned to us with much more than sunburn and sweat rash.
Following the glorious muscle car era, the sudden shock created by the fuel crisis in 1974 pitched the American auto industry into a black hole of emasculated engines and styling best described as fruity as a nutcake. Over at Chrysler however, there was one room the fun police had yet to force their way into. It was where the real men hung out – the Dodge truck division.
My interest in Triumphs was started after finding pictures of my dad and his pre-unit Triumph that he owned back in the ‘50s.
I bought this bike in 2007 after mentioning to my brother that I was looking for a Triumph to cut up. A week later he called to say he found an old 80s chopper sitting in a shed 10 minutes from where I live with a seized motor. Two grand changed hands and it was mine.
"DKS! spent eight months documenting the build of a 1928 Ford Roadster. Check out BMX’er Heath Pinter as he builds the roadster and treks cross-country to participate in The Oilers Car Club "The Race of Gentlemen.
Take a ride with DKS! and Heath as they travel on a cross country journey to The Race of Gentlemen in Wildwood, NJ. Follow along as they test drive the Ford Roadster on a dry lake bed in California, ride Harley Davidson Scramblers in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and get down with some BMX action in the caverns of Louisville, Kentucky.
If there was a survey conducted to discover the most recognised motorcycle in Australia, I have no doubt that the winner would be Honda’s CT110.
It’s not the CT110’s scorching performance figure of 7.5bhp or its stunning good looks that’s gained it this attention though, it’s the 20 or so years of employment by Australia’s suburban postal service. It’s also because of this that very few of the people who recognise the bike would know it as a Honda CT110, they would instead refer to it as a “Postie Bike”.
Karl’s been busy with the CF since we last caught up with him last year. At that point in time, Karl was working on the body lines of the van and getting things straightened up. The end goal for the Bedford is a high end custom paint scheme with a high gloss finish, so getting things straight at this stage is of course imperative.
I’ve been dreaming about featuring a drag bike in Tank since we first started pulling the mag together. Even the most extreme custom build for the street can’t compare to the visual impact of a stretched drag bike, but finding one from the right era was the challenge. While modern bikes converted for drag are impressive they don’t tend to have the same style as the retro racer I was chasing. Then through sheer coincidence and good timing local Victorian Ben James dropped me an email with a couple of shots of his Kawasaki Z900 Dragger and we locked in a shoot.
Located in the suburban streets of Bandung, Terror Garage is a petrolhead’s haven. Well, petrolheads who like early Volkswagens and Porsches anyway. It’s a place that had been on my radar for some time, but I could only watch in wonder as their social media posts popped up to show the projects that were being worked on. Even more interestingly, Terror Garage recently became the Indonesian HQ for Rauh-Welt Begriff, or ‘RWB’.
Meet Clarissa. She’s 21, she lives in Tamworth and manages a jewelry store. Oh.. and she drives one of the sweetest roadsters you’ve ever seen.
Growing up around hot rods and car shows, it was inevitable that Clarissa would catch the bug. Her partner Ben Love is also part of a hot rod family and has an enviable collection of cars. What’s a girl to do?
![Fuel Tank TV: [HOONIGAN] Black Friday - Chris Forsberg Drifts Mall](https://static1.squarespace.com/static/562ff836e4b05cda5f7ab9a5/5636e82fe4b06c8363f41110/566401abe4b08333d1fa7ab9/1449394911092/)
The return of the impact bumpers. This mild custom 911 is a personal project that marked the beginning of a lifelong passion for architect Hugh Feggans. Hugh's got plenty to say about this car and how the Porsche appeal is now a solid part of his life.