You should have great luck with the California Sidecar, and Yes what's the chance. Although remember there where 450 units built, and over four hundred where sold within thirty miles of Boston. At one time in the late 70's the greater Boston area was the sidecar meca of the world. On any given weekend from May till October you couldn't make a trip up or down the main roads without seeing a sidecar. I have been told stories that people would make the pilgrimage to Hampton Beach and there would be as many as twenty five sidecars. Others would make the trip up to Mount Washington to drive to the top on the toll road and the gate keeper would comment about " Didn't you come threw here yesterday". In the early years most would wave when seeing another sidecar, but I noticed as they became more and more noticeable on the road the waves slowly stopped. It was a grand time, but like all things in life, times change.
I could have been still building my Sweet Sidecars without a let up, but I wanted to design and develop other products. Sidecars are unique to any other kind of transportation. It was fun building them and making friendships that have lasted for decades. I have many friends that where in business for years. They always complained about the bad customers. Ill be honest with you. I didn't have any. Many of my customers became my good friends. I watched young kids become adults and they then drove there children around in the sidecars. As far as bad customers. If a guy was an out and out jerk. I just gave him back his deposit and threw him out of the shop. Did it happen? You bet your life it did. Not very often, but it did happen. My buddies and myself where all combat veterans, and we where only out of the jungles about ten years back them. If a guy came into our world and didn't know how to act he was straightened out in quick order. We where never bully's, but took no crap from trouble makers. In fact the customers, and those that became friends always felt safe at our place. We had biker types that came in for a sidecar. We would take them around back and educate them to our world and how we expected them to behave. It was funny seeing different types all getting along like they new each other for years.
How about accidents. My sidecars where involved in eight that I know of. It was always driver error. They would bring them back and I would mount them on another bike. I forgot to mention that there would be minimal damage to the sidecar, and in most cases the bike was totaled. No deaths where ever attributed to my sidecars. Just thought I would throw that in there.
Thanks for the post.
Later, Johnny Sweet
very interesting,are these the Windhan, NH cars ? What can you tell me about this one, did you install it / would sure like to hear more of your thoughts.... 🙂
ok AFTER READING A bit OF THIS FORUM i AM
A. Unsure why a few took your comments personal
B. ain't sure if you still have posting "privledges"
C. my e=mail address is scootaro@yahoo.com
D.still interested in your knowledge.
E if i don't hear from you I'll be sending a mail your way
F.sign me thickskinedandeasygoin
Yes my shop was in Windham. New Hampshire. The sidecar that was in the attachment before it was removed was what I called an SL-440 model. It was the third model in a line of five. It took the 220 model and stretched it 4". Not that the 220 needed any more length. With the longer length in the passenger compartment I installed a dash. That way if the customer wanted to install a radio they could. At that time in history not many bikes had fairings. The other thing about the 440 version was that the color came out in the fiberglass finish. I built the 440 in black, or white. I would say that 95% where black. The one in the picture was black. That's not my trim paint job. Someone would have added that extra color. All SL-110, and SL-220's where custom painted by me.
If a few took my comments personal don't give it a second thought. There where three I think. I've received over twenty personal emails from others that have a different view. In the process I've made new friends with like minded people.
I've been asked by many to write about my experiences building my little sidecars. At this time I've been doing that more on a personal bases. and haven't open up everything to the public. There again I only confide in like minded people.
My email address is jsweet450@yahoo.com.
Later, Johnny Sweet
Got your e-mail i'll forward a pic soon 🙂 Still have more ???'s and will back channel them too 🙂 🙁 😉 😉
i think i deleted the pic on edit ill try to redo it soon.
Johnny,
Glad to see you pop up on the forum. We just picked up a sidecar rig for my wife yesterday. A 79 GL1000 with one of your sidecars on it. i did some searching to find out info about your products and that helped up decide to purchase the car.
I would have built that one in 1979, or 80. It looks to be in good shape. Remember that rigs over thirty years old. As I mentioned before I built the SL-440 in black, or white. It did come with the side trim, but not that striping. It looks to me like the windshield has been replaced, or that it was cut down for some reason. Early on I found an easy way to attach the windshields by using the same snaps as I used on the upholstery. The upholstery is in good condition, and I can see the cover it still there. That sidecar back in the day was priced at $750.00 The cockpit cover was an additional $35.00. In todays world it would come out to about $5,500. The SL-220 sidecars built from 1974-1977, or 78 where priced at $600. and the cover was an extra $35. I built 4 units a week. In today's world that would be about $25,000 a week in sales. I had $118. in materials per sidecar. I would walk around the shop with a stop watch hanging around my neck timing every step. I was always trying to improve productivity. I find it interesting that many of my sidecars lasted all these years. They where built with the simplest of design, and I guess when I was manufacturing them I never thought about thirty years into the future. There was one thing that I've always known, and that was my sidecar shapes are whats called timeless designs. In later years I've reproduced the 55 T Bird, 51 Merk lead sled, and the Shelby Cobra's. All are timeless designs.
I've been asked about the mounting brackets and rods, and will they fit this, and that. Every Sweet sidecar was custom mounted to the customers motorcycle. I looked at adjustable mounts and decided against them. The biggest reason at the time was that I made money building sidecars. Not just a little money, but a lot. It afforded me the funding to race my World Class hydroplane racing boats. I would be building sidecars during the week, and on the weekends I would be racing hydroplanes at over 150 MPH. I later moved to Super Modified race cars. Very similar to World of Outlaws sprint cars. All this was posable because of the sidecars. If I took the time to do the R&D work it would have eaten up most of the money. Anyways that's how I looked at it. Every customer to me was important provided he wasn't a smart ass. I gave those guys the buisness almost immediately. My customers made me. Without them I wouldn't have a buisness, so I took the time to custom mount every unit. I started production in late March, and built sidecars until October. I would advertise in the Boston papers, and the smaller local rags. The adds where to the point, and didn't cost but a few $. " Motorcycle Sidecars manufactured, and installed $600.00 and a phone number" . The customers would start coming into the shop in March and I worked on a first come first served basses. I had a billboard on the shop wall. When a customer ordered a sidecar they got placed up on the wall in the order of sales. They had a number, and all the details of what was going to be done to there sidecar was written out. This way when they came in to see where they stood on the list, and how long it would be till it was there turn they could read over the details. If the details where incorrect they could be rectified. It worked great. You will always get a potential customer who wants to pay extra to be put at the head of the line. I always loved those guys. I'm an old Special Forces soldier, and we didn't have guys cutting line, or we would teach him a lesson. I guess I carried that thinking right on into my sidecar buisness. No line cutting. As each unit was delivered they got crossed of and the next numbers moved up. As I write this I can't explain how much fun we had, and how many great people we had a chance to meet.
Well I guess I got a little long winded, but hay, it was sure one good time. Later, Johnny Sweet jsweet450@yahoo.com
Johnny,
your words sound very much like Hr. Döring back in Germany many years ago. Since the 50tees he was making fabulous row boats and his grand kids for sure continue near Lübeck.
God bless you.
Sven
Hi:
I would like to thank the countless numbers of you that have taken the time to send me personal emails. I never thought there where as many of you reading this website. It's almost overwhelming.
Many of you have asked different questions about the processes I used when designing my original Sweet SL-110 sidecars, and how I over came them.
Early on I hit a wall when it came to the wives of some potential customers being concerned about the sidecar coming off while driving along. If you go back in history almost every time an old sidecar was in a movie, or on a TV show they always had a skit showing the sidecar going down the road on it's own. The wives would inspect the mounting bolts, and comment about there small size.
One day my dad came back to the shop with a 5 gallon plastic bucket full of 3'4" diameter Aluminum bolts, and nuts. These bolts, and nuts where huge, but didn't weight anything. He picked them up at a surplus yard somewhere. So I designed my mounting brackets, and rods to accept the larger light weight bolts, and nuts. I built around fifty units with this combination. It's funny, but the question about the sidecar detaching from the bike didn't come up as often once they saw the size of the bolts that I was using. The aluminum bolt, nut combination didn't have a lot strength, but they where sufficient. I later reduced the size of the bolts to 1/2".
Around this time I built another sidecar for myself. It always seemed that a customer would show up at the shop and whatever sidecar I was driving that's the one they want. The price was always 30% more and they didn't care. They could say it was my personal sidecar, and they where happy to pay the difference. While building this latest sidecar for myself I reduced the mounting bolts to 3/8". I also left the nuts off the bolts. On my design there are four 1" solid rods having adjusting fixtures on the two top rods and just a holes drilled in the two bottom rods. You can remove the sidecar from the bike in two to five minutes, and reinstall it in five to ten. You don't have to readjust the sidecar trim every time it's removed. I removed the nuts from the bolts and drove the unit all season long just to show that it was almost imposable for the sidecar to fall off the bike. Every so often I would have to tap a bolt back in place, but I never lost one. I finally ended up building all my sidecars with the 3/8" bolts, and nuts.
Years later I almost built a sidecar using 1/4" aircraft bolts just to screw with people. I built Pitts aerobatic airplanes in the 90's. Many of the wing components are held on using just a 1/4" aircraft bolts. Some of these bolts cost $5.00 a piece, and have strength values in the 250,000 range.
When I designed my original Sweet SL-110 sidecar I soon realized the mounting brackets would be the most complex part of the build. Every model, and brand is different. If I wanted to build sidecars for just the Honda for instance It would limit my market. I bit the bullet early on and decided to mount my sidecars to any motorcycle. This could only be done by having me mount every unit.
One of my first customers was a local dealer in town that sold Banelli motorcycles, boats, and in the winter snowmobiles. He wanted a sidecar on one of his bikes. I installed one of the early SL-110's on a 650 cc painted in silver, and black. He wouldn't sell the original sidecar, but would have me build a new one every time he made a sale. I had built around five of six units for these Banelli's and one day a guy pulls up to the shop, and introduces himself. He was the US representative for Banelli Motorcycles of America. Banelli wanted to buy the rights for my sidecar. They where building a 6 cylinder, and they wanted to mount my sidecars on some of the road bikes, and at the same time have an exclusive. I must say I was offered at that time a substantial amount of money, and it was tempting. I spent some time thinking about it, but in the end I turned them down. I new that I could be building sidecars right on into the future, and I did.
You never know where life's going to take you. In 2008 I was asked to develop the body styling for the Victory Crossbow Trike. We all love sidecars, but lets face it there dead. Trikes are in. If that wasn't the case one of the most successful sidecar company's on the West coast wouldn't have started building trikes. I was asked about trikes for over thirty years, and wouldn't even respond. Who would ever think that I would end up designing, and sculpturing one of the most prestige's trikes on the market today. You just never know where life will take you. I guess timing, and opportunity are everything.
Thanks for reading. Johnny Sweet jsweet450.yahoo.com
Johnny Sweet - 5/25/2011 4:21 PM
...I'm an old Special Forces soldier...
I'm just an old Grunt; good to 'meet ya.
Where are you located? I'm in the Fort Campbell area; I decided to keep near to my old 'home' ground, if you know what I mean.
Ya I know. At one time 1st 327. was 5th group 66-67 before that.
Let them try and figure that one out.
Later, Johnny Sweet
2/327 Here!
Salute!
My hat's off to you buddy. Airborne!
I wish I could figure out how to post pictures. I have many sidecar pictures from the old days.
Later, Johnny Sweet
Johnny Sweet - 5/27/2011 7:47 PM
I wish I could figure out how to post pictures. I have many sidecar pictures from the old days.
Later, Johnny Sweet
PM sent
hat well, what are the chances for me to run across one of your sidecar, soon after you send me pictures of your work. I have many photos that I want to send. I bought it myself if I had not already found the side-car in California.
In the last few months more and more of my Sweet SL-110 sidecars are showing up in varies places. Some with the original paint jobs, and not looking to bad after thirty to thirty five years.
When I built my sidecars I never thought about the future and what would become of them. I've been told by by many that if I was still in New England that I could still be building them. The biggest problem with my old sidecars is the mounting. I custom mounted every unit to the customers motorcycle. I didn't and still do not think that universal mounts are the way to go. When I custom mounted a unit to a particular motorcycle it was set up to be driven for 100 thousand miles if the customer chose to do so. We did have one guy that drove his over 250 thousand pulling it with a BMW. The customer could remove the sidecar in three to five minutes, and install it in five to ten. At one time the guys in the shop decided to see how quickly one of the sidecars could be taken of the bike. They new tire removal because we raced what's called Super Modified Race cars. There like the World of Outlaws except we ran on asphalt. So they set a stand under the sidecar and one guy ran the stop watch while three others ran the air gun, wrench, and a drift to remove the bolts. They removed the sidecar in fourteen seconds. They then did the revers and installed the unit in forty five second. It wasn't a Nascar record but it proved that they could be removed in quick order. When the sidecars are reinstalled there is no readjusting the sidecar set up. That's what I always liked about my way of doing it. If more people new how to weld and us a torch they could mount my sidecars on almost any motorcycle. My feeling has always been that my loyalty was to my first customer, not the guy that purchases the sidecar years later. I set every sidecar up for the first customer. When a customer would sell a unit to another person they then became the new customer, and I would set the unit up to there bike just like it was a brand new unit. I'm not sure if this makes any sense, but that's how I did it and it worked.
I have noticed that my approach was totally different than what the guys are doing today. Some of today's units look pretty cool. The bike today are so large that I'm not sure if my sidecars would be to light. As far as design and the strength. There more than strong enough to be placed on any motorcycle, and the design is a subjective thing. Everyone has an opinion. That's what make this world a great place. Some have said that my SL-110 design is considered a timeless design. I'm a Master Modeler, and hang out with like minded people. I come from an automotive, and airplane background. The sidecars where something to design back in the early 70's. It was more of an exercise at first. I was surrounded by some very interesting people. Dick Lion, and Dean Webster where my good friends and had a tremendous amount of input when designing the first prototypes. Dick went on and designed some interesting projects over the next forty years. Dean today runs a development think tank that have developed some very secretive items that the troops use on the battle field. He has 1200 people that he's responsible for. It's a big high end Government secret thing.
Well I guess I've been babbling long enough. I would like to thank all the emails that different ones have sent over the last few months.
Later, Johnny Sweet jsweet450@yahoo.com
