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Vintage Industry Vintage vehicles have never been as popular as in the past couple of years. Vintage racing events like the 'Klausenrennen' attract huge crowds. Jaunts on vintage airplanes, boats, cars, coaches and railways are cherished by families. Collectors around the world spend zillions on vintage airplanes, bikes and cars.
Some remarkable feats
A british firm takes orders to rebuild the famous WW2 Spitfire fighter plane for approx. $ 1'000'000. See picture below from Fehraltorf 1988. Two British trusts are dedicated to the preservation of the Avro Vulcan, a strategic bomber of the cold war area. The 'Friends of the Fighter Collection' most successfully restore and display vintage aircrafts. Swiss Fredy Kumschick runs a successful business and TGP racing team out of Schötz/LU Brit George Beale recreated Honda's most famous racing bike, the 250/350 Six. The first machine was sold in 2003 for 265'000 Euros. The Honda Six was a mechanical marvel when it appeared on the race tracks in 1964. The engine was a 250 ccm aircooled fourstroke six-cylinder featuring two gear driven camshafts, 24 valves and a seven speed gearbox. To recreate the bike, latest technology and CNC machines were employed.
Norton Motorcycles
The Norton brand is one that has been blessed with over 100 years of motorcycling heritage. From James Landsdowne Norton 's first production motorcycle in 1904 through the years of dominance on the racing circuits of the Isle of Man to the commercial success of the Commando, the Norton brand holds a special place in the hearts of all motorcycling enthusiasts. Performance has always been synonymous with the Norton brand to the degree that, in some years, only race ready motorcycles were produced. That reputation for performance was enhanced by the commercial success of the Commando series in the late 60's and early 70's when coupled with the famous “ Norton Girls” campaign. After the decline of the British motorcycle industry there were many stops, starts and restarts. Some restarts were heralded as the return to greatness, while others were bemoaned as misrepresentations of a legend. Today Norton Moto rsports, Inc., has the consensus support of both the industry and the Norton faithful. The new company is committed to restoring the luster to the brand and carrying the Norton torch as if the original Norton Moto rcycles were still in business today. 1995: Vintage Rebuilds in Portland , Oregon gets started in the restoration business specializing in British and Italian motorcycles. 1998: The Vintage Rebuilds business had increased to include parts and accessory sales in addition to the restorations. We added more staff to accommodate the increase in business. 2000: Vintage Rebuilds moves into the Gladstone Facility to “remanufacture” the VR880 Norton Sprint Specials. New engine, cylinder and gearbox castings are designed off of the originals with improvements to the new design to replace worn out original parts. Other new technologies are utilized in the “remanufacture” of the VR880. 2002: I was currently engaged with an engineering firm in Spokane, WA. We proceeded to design a new engine that would look and feel like the old Norton twin, but with all new thought and design to cure the ills of a much outdated motor. The initial design parameters included, 80's HP/ 60's ft lbs of torque, less parts, and ease of assembly. Make it new, but keep it simple 2003: Just after the New Year we were back at it hard. With all the finished components in house to build the first concept motor, Floyd Holschu (a 74 year old retired machinist who made parts for us), Brett Hoyt , (employee) and myself fired off the first new Norton Commando motor (in 26 years!) at 5 am in the morning. All systems were go. With the motor running, we rigged up some fuel carrying devices and put it on the road later that morning. 2004: With entirely new motor castings in CAD, and revised engine components ordered, the first “Beta” motor saw life in January of '04. All of this could not have happened without the inclusion of several key new hires. 2005: Knowing that the “devil is in the details”, I engaged an engine development firm in January ‘05 and we have been honing the edges in preparation for production tooling. Along with that, we have also engaged several outside services. These are firms that have experience essential for production including engine and chassis engineering validation, Engineering PE's to validate critical designs before tooling is ordered, all this in order to do it right the first time. The bike is 80% and gaining ground rapidly every day. All this from doing our homework right from the start. By Kenny Dreer
Please consider
1) Are you interested in vintage vehicles? 2) Would you enjoy restoring vintage cars or bikes? What kind of work would you like to do? Body work, engine repairing, electrics? 3) Is a recreated car or bike from the past a genuine historic vehicle? 4) Find some more examples of historic machines in the Internet. 5) Compile a short history of Norton Motorcycles. 6) What can Kenny Dreer do to survive with Norton Motorcycles? 7) Will vintage vehicles ever lose their appeal? Airplane preservation http://www.avrovulcan.com http://www.tvoc.co.uk http://www.fighter-collection.com Fredy Kumschick http://www.kumschick.com Norton Motorcycles (Vintage Rebuild) http://www.nortonmotorcycles.com | ||
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