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Where have all the sidecars gone

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Wolfhound - 8/16/2013 6:12 PM

Mr. Sweet, as usual another excellent article. Metropolitan Atlanta covers 15 counties and has 5.5 million population. Looking forward to see how your business plan unfolds.

Ralph your correct about the Atlanta area and I have found that people will travel up to three hours away to purchase something if they really want it. Around twenty years ago I helped design boat lifts and we traveled the South East. We had to travel further than people had to in New England but we did generate the same numbers. I beleave that many parts of the country with a population could generate sales with the right product. I think finding the right product is the trick. A good example is my SL model sidecars and the acceptance in New England and other Norther areas but when you look at the Southeast I can't give them away. So the right design to fit the temperament of the populace would be in order otherwise the entire exercise could be folly.
I still believe in this country a young Entrepreneur starting out can do well if he first makes the effort, and second finds the right widget and then the customers will beat a path to his door. It's crazy but in this world today the young "Millenium's" have been taught that Entrepreneurship and making money is being greedy. Boy are they in for a rude awakening in the future when life passes so many of them by and they wonder what the hell happened.
Johnny

Mr. Sweet, that body or the complete hack should be in the Smithsonian. It is a work of art design wise and finish wise. Your last paragraph above is
totally correct. Like you I was taught that you worked to to pay your own way because no one was going to give it to you. People who went on wellfare
in the WNC mountains when I was a kid were shunned.A different day, a different world.

Wolfhound - 8/16/2013 9:23 PM

Mr. Sweet, that body or the complete hack should be in the Smithsonian. It is a work of art design wise and finish wise. Your last paragraph above is
totally correct. Like you I was taught that you worked to to pay your own way because no one was going to give it to you. People who went on wellfare
in the WNC mountains when I was a kid were shunned.A different day, a different world.

Thanks for the kind words. The last of the SL models was a culmination of all the designs and in the end was well received. It would be interesting if one of my designs made it to the Smithsonian but in the end it will most likely never happen. I've been through the museum thing with my Miss Bardahl hydroplane in 1983. It was donated to the Unlimited Gold Cup Hall of Fame and Museum in good faith and within fifteen years was sold and the moneys went for other projects that the directors had a personal connection with. Just a little side note but the Atlas Van Lines Hydroplane called the "Blue Blaster" was donated to the Smithsonian and later given to this same group because it was found that it took up to much room at the Smithsonian. So I submit from first hand experience be very careful as to what anyone donates to any museum. If I had to do it over again I would have lent my Miss Bardahl hydroplane to the museum that way I would have still owned it and my kids could fought over it after I was gone.

As for sidecar designs my next design will have to go some to be more successful than all of the SL models. I've gone in a totally different direction but I believe in the design and like anything in life a man has to go with his gut feeling. I was headed in a different direction as early as eight months ago with a three wheel tilting vehicle and changed directions so this new venture should be an interesting one. The best part of it is that I have a library of information to draw from that I didn't have when I was in my mid twenty's and first starting out on this grand sidecar adventure.

Johnny Sweet - 8/16/2013 8:19 PM

Marcus - 8/16/2013 5:32 PM

Hey, Johnny, looks like one of yours.....
http://nh.craigslist.org/mcy/3988534172.html

Ran across it looking for a car for my Norton......

Yes it's what we called the SL-220 model but someone had cut the back of the midget back off to make room for two small kids. I remember this sidecar back in the 1970 after I built it for a fellow. He sold it and someone chopped it up. I received an email this week and a guy is looking to pick it up and restore it. I have some back ends left over from when I install my whale tail and offered the missing piece as a gift if he picks it up.Marcus if you pick it up the missing piece is yours if you need it and I can help with mounting it on a Norton provided that you or a friend can weld and fabricate, Ill walk you through it like I did for Roman and a few others.

Well,thats a generous offer. I thought I had a line on an American but it fell through so maybe I'll see about the sl 220
Initially looked like more than I wanted to tackle but hey, winter's coming, right? I need something to do.....thanks...

Mr. Sweet, in the future it would be wise to have a legal stipulation that the item donated to a museum could not be sold. The SL is so aerodynamic in design that I think it would
be widely accepted today. You have found the best way to stay young and that is to keep working. It worked for my dad and he passed the philosophy on to me. He was still mentally
active when he passed at age 86. He once noted that a lot of his friends retired and did not live very long after totally retiring. As a result he never completely retired.

Wolfhound - 8/17/2013 1:20 PM

Mr. Sweet, in the future it would be wise to have a legal stipulation that the item donated to a museum could not be sold. The SL is so aerodynamic in design that I think it would
be widely accepted today. You have found the best way to stay young and that is to keep working. It worked for my dad and he passed the philosophy on to me. He was still mentally
active when he passed at age 86. He once noted that a lot of his friends retired and did not live very long after totally retiring. As a result he never completely retired.

At the time no one figured that the Unlimited Gold Cup Hall of Fame and Museum would have joined or be taken up by the Hydroplane Raceboat Museum when Bob Williams got sick but I did have a "First Right of Refusal" in place. They did sell the boat to one of the original crew members form the 1960's and when they called me asking about the rudder and steering from the boat I told them that I had a document with the first right of refusal and for them make out a bill for any work that was done to the boat and I would come out and pick up my boat. They didn't know that I didn't want the boat I had already donated it for one dollar and took a great tax right off. I made em stew for a few day's and then called and told them to go on and restore the boat with my best wishes. It's funny but they never even made an offered for the rudder and steering that they first got in touch with me about. So I had the original rudder and steering from the Miss Bardahl for almost thirty five years and then the new owner of the Famed Miss Madison called me and asked if I would sell it to him. He didn't want me to give it to him and was willing to pay for it. Right away I liked this gentleman because he was like all my friends and wasn't looking for something for nothing. Most museum's and anything to do with the arts are because of the people that are willing to give; benevolence. I always find it funny when the progressives complain about those with the money and assets not giving their fair share but how often will a progressives give anything but expect for the rest of us to give everything. Anyways in the end the original Miss Bardahl rudder and steering will be installed on the Miss Madison. These old boats today run what's called "Vintage" and they even produced a movie in 2005 about the Miss Madison hydroplane and the community in Madison Indiana. I've been friends with many of these people for years and in the end when history is written years form now I would think that the Miss Madison will be the only hydroplane written about. I feel comfortable being best friends with the owner even if back in the day I did my time owning the Miss Bardahl. As I walked away from my experiences dealing with museums I still beleave in benevolence and have donated a lost and forgotten trophy to the Madison museum; so I guess I'm not done yet.

It's interesting in that if I never got into manufacturing motorcycle sidecars and went the corporate route and spent all my time in an office I would have never had the opertunity to get involved with all these other things that have made life so interesting. I find it interesting that I always seem to come back to my passion of motorcycle sidecars.

Mr. Sweet, I do hope that you are keeping all these forum postings of yours for future publication. The book would be a hit with the sidecar crowd.
By the way one of the insurance companies is running an ad on TV featuring a side car in it. I should have written down the name of the Ins. Co.. Will do the
next time I see it.If sidecars are seen in ads more often it might create a resurgence of interest in them.

Wolfhound - 8/17/2013 4:55 PM

Mr. Sweet, I do hope that you are keeping all these forum postings of yours for future publication. The book would be a hit with the sidecar crowd.
By the way one of the insurance companies is running an ad on TV featuring a side car in it. I should have written down the name of the Ins. Co.. Will do the
next time I see it.If sidecars are seen in ads more often it might create a resurgence of interest in them.

Ralph that makes a lot of sense because when we started out building sidecars in the 1970's they didn't exists in our area but as more units were on the street and people saw more and more of them they stuck in peoples minds. It only took a few years and they were out there and people did start to notice. As I have written before many areas of the country could go through the same thing that happened in the greater Boston area back in the 70's. Even in the 1990's when I was building sidecars for the good old boy's around the Charlotte area they started to catch on and if I had never stopped building them I bet that the area could have grown sidecar wise just like the Boston area had. I enjoyed building my sidecars for the "Boy's" in and around the Charlotte area; "Good People".

As far as saving the posts my sons been saving them for his son and their cousins: my other grandchildren. He's saving them more for posterity than anything else. Will I ever write a book about my adventure? Possibly but I would first have to write one about my late uncle Ollie Silva and my time with him. I'm being asked daily from the New England racing fraternity to write one about Ollie and our times together. Something I am working on is a manual on building my newest sidecar frame and how simple it is to build. Also how to mount it onto a motorcycle and how I takes the complexity out of building and setting up a sidecar frame to a motorcycle. The new design is fully adjustable and easy to build but the best part about the new design is the sidecar frame can be removed from the bike in three to five minutes and re installed in five to ten without having to readjust anything. Plus it can be built from simple hand tools and welding equipment. More on it in the future.

Wolfhound - 8/17/2013 4:55 PM

Mr. Sweet, I do hope that you are keeping all these forum postings of yours for future publication. The book would be a hit with the sidecar crowd.
By the way one of the insurance companies is running an ad on TV featuring a side car in it. I should have written down the name of the Ins. Co.. Will do the
next time I see it.If sidecars are seen in ads more often it might create a resurgence of interest in them.

Actually, I've seen two insurance company commercials with sidecars recently. One features an older woman complaining about her son's bike as being not fun. Shows here screaming from a sidecar. The second is a Farmer's comercial with the bald professor riding in a sidecar attached to a.... ahem... Riding lawn mower

EDIT:
The comercial with the older lady was just on. Safeco is the company. Here is the YouTube link to it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZuyQ10Ga9I&feature=youtube_gdata_player

And here's the one from Farmers...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aJqNHk_rDE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Actually, I've seen two insurance company commercials with sidecars recently. One features an older woman complaining about her son's bike as being not fun. Shows here screaming from a sidecar. The second is a Farmer's comercial with the bald professor riding in a sidecar attached to a.... ahem... Riding lawn mower

Isn't that typical! Back in the day I had a problem with woman over forty scared to death that the sidecar would fall off when they were going down the street. You must realize that at the time I was only in my late twenty's and didn't understand about woman over forty knowing everything and having an opinion about everything; that would come later in life. So to quite them down I started using these three quarter inch bolts that were huge on the rod ends where they bolt to the brackets on the bike. This stopped the complaining and after a while when I had sidecars running all over the place I went to a smaller bolt. A movie with a sidecar wouldn't be complete unless the sidecar fell off or it crashed.

I must make an addendum to my comment.

A movie with a sidecar wouldn't be complete unless the sidecar fell off or it crashed.

I saw a movie called Orlando filmed in 1992 that had a sidecar in it at the last part of the film and it "did not crash and no was was fearing for their life". The sidecar police must have been out of the cutting room when they were editing the film.

Glad to see some of you saw hacks at Sturgis.I was there with mine but only saw a couple others.Of course to avoid the crowds we come 3 weeks early and leave on the Sat before it actually starts.Had toget up to look at Hanigans booth Sat before leaving but missed the unveiling of the new Indian,would like tohave seen them as I also have a 48/a car but didn't bring it out this year. If you saw a blue GW1500 with a Daytona 2+2 that was me/We stay down by Rapid so spend most of our time around Keystone and hillcity,Lot of nice riding there.Incidentaly if you plan on hitting any deer I would recommend using a SC.Took one across the fairing and the car.Only damage a chipped fron fender and lot of stress cracks in the front of the car .did knock the winshield out of the car but was easily replaced by local window outfit in Rapid!.Put us up on 2 wheels but afraid is had been without the car would have gone down.The deer wasn't so lucky he died for his lack of attention to where he was going!Now only problem trying toget it repaired! Lot of bueatiful riding out there!!!Safe riding

Sorry I missed you, I got there Saturday for the "reveal' of the new Indian. Quite a production. I saw a couple of neat rigs on the freeway, one out of the Badlands and one near Rapid City. Others scattered throughout the hills. I did go to Spearfish and test drove the new Ural. They have come a long way. Cheers.

DId try the Ural few years ago up there liked the simplicity of it but at least then it wasn't meant for people over 6'.It felt just to small or my feet were to big for the cramped pedals then the stories about the mech problems of it kind of scared me.I suppose someone riding an old Indian/SC shouldn't complain about mech problems!Looked for one of the cars when had my ol Guzzi thought it would look nice on there but it has gone onto new owner.Now only GW-Champion and old Indian/car.Just getting the Indian back on the road after restoration and electric starter install much to be said for that little button.Only have 6 miles on it so guess will have tomake more effort!Ride Safe

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