Anyone know what kind of bike this is? The rider was a member of my Father's combat engineer battalion in WWII. The photo was from 1943 or 44. The rider is Ho Yee.
Posted on 11/05/2015 4:33:39 PM PST by Olog-hai
George Barris, the legendary custom car builder who created television's original Batmobile and helped define California's car culture with colorfully designed vehicles ranging from the stunningly beautiful to the simply outrageous, died Thursday. He was 89. [...]
Barris customized cars and buses for TV shows, movies, celebrities and heads of state and was a pioneer in designing small, plastic models of those customized cars. The models popularized his wildly imaginative vehicles all the more when they were assembled by millions of American youngsters in the 1950s, '60s and '70s. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
Thanks. Didn't know that.
"The "TV car" (aka car # 1) followed the Monkees on tour only to be left in Australia in 1968. It later resurfaced in Puerto Rico as a hotel courtesy car. To this day, there is still no hard information on how the car made its way to Puerto Rico, and it was sold at government auction in 1992 for $5,000 when the hotel went out of business. Though basically as it was built, the car did get some restoration work done when bought, and it was used as the example for the Ertl Company 1:18 scale die-cast toy, The Monkees 1997 TV reunion show, "Hey, Hey, It's the Monkees" and the 2001 "Cars & Guitars Of Rock N Roll" display at the Petersen Automotive Museum . It is now in the hands of a private collector in Northern New Jersey.[3]
The "show car" (aka car #2) was purchased by custom car designer, George Barris. This car would be the most visible during the years. Barris later went on to use and display the car for promotions at many large and small events.
In 2006 the car went through a major restoration. Even though it became a 100 point show car, many changes and upgrades were made. In January 2008, Barris, through Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale, Arizona, auctioned the car for $360,000. It now resides in the hands of a private collector in southeastern Michigan.[4][5]
Barris also had Dick Dean, who had helped Jeffries build the two originals, make a copy, identified by yellow trim on the headlight bezels, tan seats (instead of the original white upholstery), and other variations.
A second copy or tribute car was recently built by a longtime associate of Dean Jeffries this car contains many parts removed from the #2 car during its restoration and belongs to a private collector in Florida.
Another replica was built for the Monkees 45th Anniversary Tour.[6] The tour, which took place from May 12, 2011 to July 23, 2011, was the fourth and final reunion tour to feature band members Davy Jones, Micky Dolenz and Peter Tork together, before Jones's death from a heart attack on February 29, 2012.[7] There are numerous replicas created over the years with distinctive visual differences unique to each car. None of these copies were made by the original cars' creator, Dean Jeffries."
Anyone know what kind of bike this is? The rider was a member of my Father's combat engineer battalion in WWII. The photo was from 1943 or 44. The rider is Ho Yee.
It was right along side the Holywood Freeway on a side parrellel street
“The museum in Anamosa? Some of the vintage bikes there are unreal.”
Yes. I used to do R&D and manufacturing process for a company that supplied J&P Cycle. Got to know John Parham. Unfortunately our company sent production to China and I was out of a job. John told me that they were moving the museum and I offered to help. He put me up at a hotel for a week with some other volunteers and we got it all moved. Great experience. Got to handle Steve McQueen’s, Evel Knievel’s, Indian Larry’s and a lot of other special bikes. You’re right, they have some incredible vintage bikes. At one point I trailored a load of Broughs and Vincents to the new location. I don’t want to think what my blood pressure was while I was responsible for those!
The Red Baron
I remember Graduating from Jr High in that neighborhood,
geez , a long time ago.
Thanks.
I think that is a German DKW of some sort.
My HS shop teacher was a crewman on B-25s in the Mediterranean theatre, and he survived all his missions just fine, but a joyride on a motorcycle left behind by the Germans ended up causing his only serious war injury. You might say he was "down" on motorcycles.
Mr. niteowl77
Thanks that is interesting. The more I think about it, I think the photo was from 1944 or 45 as it was in Europe.
Many of them were virtually undrivable. Lots of fake stuff slapped on, like fake pipes and headers. They were nice in terms of style, but not in terms of substance.
Thank you. Very cool photos.
You’re welcome.
If you’ve never seen any of the rod & custom car threads I’ve posted, check these 2 out:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3103734/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3103441/posts
Nananananananana...
Here’s a 3rd rod & custom thread that I’ve posted:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3101350/posts
Thank you kindly, Sir. Very cool.
He also appeared in a Columbo episode.
Ping
Tom Daniels was another one. He designed the Red Barron, Paddy Wagon, and many others!
RIP George Barris, they do not make cars like that anymore!
What was George like??
Last time I saw him was last year at the CRUISE FOR THE CURE at the Orange County Fair Grounds.
For a guy of 88 he was in pretty good shape, sorry to hear he died.
All the old hot rodders and racers I grew up with are dying off like crazy.
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