Our Idaho exploration continued with a visit to the Idaho Military Museum, which near Boise’s airport. The Museum is small but intense, with a single large room containing many exhibits, and an outdoor area containing armored vehicles and aircraft. I think the best way to present this story is with captioned photos. Have fun reviewing them; I sure had fun taking them.
The view inside the Idaho Military Museum.A GAU-8/A, which is a 7-barreled, 30mm A-10 cannon. These guns fire 30mm at either 4200 or 2100 shots per minute. I used to be an engineer with Aerojet Ordnance, where we manufactured ammo for this beast.Both Honeywell and Aerojet manufactured A-10 ammunition. This round was manufactured by Aerojet. Aerojet’s cartridges featured two nylon rotating bands on the projectile.A water-cooled M1917 .30 06 machine gun. The thick jacket around the barrel contained water that kept the gun cool.One of several military rifle displays. The Idaho Military Museum has a great military surplus small arms collection. If you enjoy seeing vintage Mosins, Mausers, Springfields, and more, this is where you want to be. I sure had a good time here.A Nagant revolver. These guns featured a complex approach to sealing the barrel-to-cylinder gap. It’s a brilliant solution to a problem that doesn’t exist..More military rifles on display. See the round silver disk in the Mauser’s stock? It’s a feature for disassembling the bolt.The Idaho Military Museum has two large military ship models. This is the USS Ronald Reagan.The USS New Jersey. The actual New Jersey battleship was recently refurbished at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. If you ever get a chance to tour a US battleship, don’t pass it by. These behemoths are awesome.A Soviet machine gun. These fire the same 7.62x54R cartridges used in my Mosin-Nagant rifles.A US M-60 machine gun. These are heavy, but I used to love lugging these around when I was in the Army. Firing them is an experience.The M-72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon, or LAW. It was our version of a rocket propelled grenade. The Army had to take these out of service, When the telescopic launch tube was extended, it sometimes pulled the warhead off the rocket motor, with the result being an explosion in the tube when the thing was fired.Yours truly, reflected in one of the Idaho Military Museum exhibits. That’s the M1911 .45 ACP pistol and a Claymore mine. Front Toward Enemy says it all. The bad guys sometimes turned these around, which turned the ambushers into ambushees.An M1A Abrams Main Battle Tank outside the Idaho Military Museum. These are still in service. They are powered by a turbine engine. The prior US Army tank, the M60 that was in service when I was in the Army, had a 12-cylinder air-cooled diesel engine.Two military jets on the Idaho Military Museum tarmac: A Soviet MIG-21 and a Korean War vintage F-86. When I was based at Kunsan AFB in the mid-1970s, the ROK Air Force was still flying the F-86.
The Idaho Military Museum is located at 4692 West Harvard Street in Boise. Admission is free. Plan on spending an hour or two there; it’s a great stop on any Idaho excursion.
Mecum’s Monterey Auction to Feature Exceptional Classic Motorcycles
Estimated 100 Classic, Collector and Racing Motorcycles to be Offered August 15-17.
Walworth, Wis. – July 30, 2024 – Bikers, history buffs and lovers of two-wheeled machines will want to make the trip to Monterey, California, for Mecum’s annual auction in the famed peninsula region during this year’s celebrated Car Week. In addition to the high-end selection of 600 classic and collector vehicles set to cross the Mecum auction block at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel and Spa on Del Monte Golf Course Aug. 15-17, Mecum will also present a wide-ranging assemblage of approximately 100 historically significant motorcycles led by a very rare and unique 1957 Triumph Model Twenty-One.
As the nation’s leading seller of vintage, antique and collectible motorcycles and the host of the world’s largest vintage and antique motorcycle auction held annually in Las Vegas each January, Mecum presents motorcycle selections at every one of its many annual auctions held at locations around the country and is proud to bring the best selection of bikes to the Monterey region during Car Week year after year. Notably for motorcycle enthusiasts and collectors, the 2024 auction will boast one of the most impressive Monterey motorcycle lineups to date.
The 1957 Triumph Model Twenty-One (Lot T45), which leads this year’s motorcycle selection, boasts status as the very first unit-construction Triumph twin ever delivered and wears serial identifier H1. It was unveiled to the public in Amsterdam at the 1957 RAI exhibition—an event that dates back to 1893 when it was started as an association for the bicycle industry—as the first motorcycle to wear the “bathtub” rear body covering, meant to protect the bike/rider from the elements and modernize its appearance. Today, the historic machine features a restoration completed by marque specialist Kevin Giles of Pearland, Texas, which was completed in 2022, and it is being offered with its original Dutch registration dated April 5, 1957.
Several motorcycles will also be offered from the personal collection of Brad Lackey, winner of the 1982 500cc World Motocross Championship and American Motorcycle Association (AMA) Hall of Fame Inductee. After retirement from the race track, Lackey excelled in the collecting and restoration of historically significant and race-winning machines, and he’ll be presenting five of his finest at the Monterey auction. The selection ranges from a trio of Bultaco singles to a 1982 Kawasaki SR250 (Lot S145) that is one of only three true factory works motorcycles hand built by Kawasaki in Japan for the U.S. factory race team, and it today boasts a restoration by factory Kawasaki mechanics.
No motorcycle auction would be complete without a Harley-Davidson in the mix, and Monterey has an exceptional one in store: Jimmy “Daredevil” Washburn’s 1932 Harley-Davidson VL Stuntbike (Lot F10.) The famed performer and Evel Knievel of his day purchased this bike new and employed its use throughout his 28-year career.
Consignments are still being accepted for the Mecum Monterey 2024 auction, and bidder registration will remain open through the duration of the event. For more information on Mecum Monterey 2024 and all other scheduled Mecum auctions, visit Mecum.com or call (262) 275-5050.
# # #
Mecum Auctions
Communications Department
Breeann Poland
bpoland@mecum.com
More info on the cars and motorcycles up for auction is available here. It’s worth a click just to see the photos!
Talk about a hidden gem and a great destination: The Yanke Motor Museum in Boise, Idaho is about as good as it gets. There’s precious little information on the Internet about it, but trust me, it’s worth seeing. It’s not widely publicized and you can’t just roll up and visit its treasures; admission is by appointment only. My advice is to make the run to Boise and make the effort to get an appointment. The Yanke Motor Museum contains a world class automobile, motorcycle, tractor, and musical instrument collection.
A 1924 Packard convertible is one of the first vintage cars you encounter upon entering the Yanke Motor Museum.
As you know from reading this blog, I’m a big fan of car and motorcycle museums, and I never heard of the Yanke Motor Museum. It’s the only automotive museum in Idaho, and it never appeared on my radar before. I only came across it because I Googled “motorcycle museums in Boise.” Some of the Internet services won’t tell you that it’s by appointment only, but that’s the deal. Further complicating things, some of the GPS programs get the directions wrong. We used Waze to find the address and it worked.
There is a lot to see at the Yanke Motor Museum. We were lucky: Sue and I had the place to ourselves. We made an appointment and new good buddy Tyler (one of the curators) pulled up just as we entered the parking lot. Tyler was in a silver Subaru WRX, so I liked him right away. He opened the place just for us, and then he had to walk around turning all the lights on (and he flipped a lot of switches to do that). The place is huge.
A 1957 Cadillac. This is a beautiful car. I was 6 years old when it rolled off the assembly line.
I didn’t quite know what to expect because when we entered the main display area (after walking through a collection of musical instruments), I at first saw mostly automobiles. They were impressive and they were plentiful (see the Packard and drop-dead-gorgeous pink Cadillac above), with the odd motorcycle parked here and there. There was a Ural and a couple of Harley dressers, so I asked Tyler if there were more motorcycles. He smiled and pointed me toward another hall. Wow, were there ever! In fact, my back started bothering me lugging my boat-anchor Nikon D810 and 24-120 lens around to get the photos you see here, but it was worth it.
A Ural with a sidecar. Good buddy Dan owns one of these.
Before we got to the main motorcycle hall, we saw several more interesting motorcycles and the odd trike or two. There was a ’37 SS Jag replicar. It was flanked by a stunning cherry red Harley Servi-Car and a custom flathead Ford trike with Offenhauser heads.
Sweet!A fire engine red Harley Servi-Car.A flathead Ford trike. Check out the front brake.A custom in every sense of the word. The workmanship is stunning.Offenhauser heads. Offy also made complete 4-cylinder engines. Think decades of Indy 500 dominance.One last view of the flattie trike. Even the tires are beautiful.
Susie and I were blown away by the classic cars and the multiple motorcycles we encountered at the Yanke Motor Museum, and we hadn’t even made it to the motorcycle room yet. In the main hall, classic motocross and other bikes were scattered among the cars and other vehicles.
I once had a friend who thought a Bultaco was a Mexican food item. No kidding.
There was a flatbed truck with a Harley XLCR Cafe Racer, a vintage Indian Chief, and a vintage Harley.
I could have bought a new ’77 XLCR just like this one for $3,000, but I couldn’t justify spending $3,000 for a motorcycle back then. I don’t know who I thought I had to justify it to.A 1941 Indian Chief. Those fenders!
When we entered the motorcycle room, it was like being a kid in a candy shop. No, wait, I take that back. I used to be a kid in a candy shop six or seven decades ago. This was better. Just about everything imaginable was there if you are looking for cool motorcycles. Desert racers, WW II military Harley 45s, modern bikes, custom bikes, vintage Harleys, vintage Indians, scooters, Whizzers, vintage flat track and flathead Harley race bikes, and more. The Nikon was giving me fits weighing heavily on my lower back, and leaning over to get macro engine shots was getting downright painful, but I didn’t care. Susie had an Advil, I swallowed it, and the photo safari continued. I was on a mission. Anything and everything for our ExNotes readers…that’s our mantra.
In the motorcycle room…check out the Army 45s.A 1934 74-cubic-inch Harley VLD flathead, another stunning motorcycle.A Lambretta!Whizzers! Carlos, take note!Harley-Davidson flathead flat track racing motorcycles.Ah, the patina! Check out the steel shoe!Flathead porn.An Army 45 in decidedly non-Army colors.
The Yanke Motor Museum also contained some cool military stuff, including Jeeps and a few cannons. Cannons!
A 1948 US Army Jeep.A 25mm Hotchkiss cannon.The same action as a Ruger No. 1. A classic falling block concept.Another falling block artillery action.A custom scope mount for direct fire. This thing must be a hoot to shoot. Folks at the Museum reload for it.
I thought it couldn’t possibly get any better, but when I peeked into an adjoining room I spotted several 37mm and 25mm projectiles in various stages of the reloading process. Imagine that: Reloading for your own cannons! There’s no doubt about it: The folks who own and run the Yanke Motor Museum are our kind people.
Ron and Linda Yanke started the Museum. An extremely successful entrepreneur, Ron is unfortunately no longer with us. The Yanke family started the business empire with a machine shop. Ron Yanke expanded the business holdings to sawmills, an air charter service, a firefighting equipment manufacturer, extensive timberland holdings, several real estate companies, a mechanical contracting firm, a manufactured housing company, and a couple of banks. He was one of three original investors in Micron Technology, the world’s second-largest memory chip manufacturer.
I don’t know what it is about prisons that fascinates us. Susie and I have been on three prison tours (the Old Idaho State Penitentiary, the topic of this blog, is our third; the earlier two were Alcatraz and the West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville). It’s not just us; abandoned prison tours are a hot ticket and Hollywood loves to do prison movies. The Shawshank Redemption was a hugely successful film (I watch it every time it’s on the tube), and Netflix is currently running Orange is the New Black (don’t waste your time on that one). Google the topic “Why we love prison shows” and the Internet will light up with underlying psychological reasons: The ultimate loss of control, the inherent brutality of man, surviving after losing everything, etc. But that’s enough armchair psychology…let’s get on to the topic of this blog: The Old Idaho State Penitentiary.
The entrance to the Old Idaho State Prison. The warden’s office was immediately on the left as you entered.
Idaho (actually, Idaho convicts) built the Old Idaho State Penitentiary in 1870. The construction was sandstone mined from the hills surrounding Boise. It held prisoners for 101 years, and during that time, this old prison had its share of escapes, executions, and experiences that make for an interesting tour. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Old Idaho State Penitentiary is that the grounds are so beautiful. It’s more like a botanical garden than a prison.
The landscaping is magnificent. Wandering the grounds, it almost feels like a college campus (with, of course, solitary confinement and Death Row).Another scene from inside the prison grounds.
One of our fellow tourists asked our guide, Eric Overzet, if the grounds were as nice when prisoners were housed there as they are today. Eric told us they were.
The first structure we entered was the prison’s multi-purpose building. It served a number of functions, including being a shirt factory, a shoe shop and then a shoe factory, a bakery, a license plate shop, the laundry, a hobby room, and a loafing room. It also housed the prison showers.
Inside the prison’s multi-purpose building. The prison showed movies here, too.
The prison’s shoe and bakery outputs were particularly successful after they started selling to the public, and to hear Eric tell it, they made a hell of a product for a very low price. The Idaho State Penitentiary manufactured shoes that cost a fraction of what store-bought shoes cost, and they lasted much longer. The shoes were so good the prison worked itself out of the market. They saturated the Boise shoe market and the business folded. Other ventures were more successful. When the prison bakery started selling donuts to the public, word quickly spread that they were the best donuts in town. The prison produced 4,000 donuts a day. People lined up outside the prison to buy them. A lot of donut sales were to police officers (some of whom probably put the guys who made the donuts in prison).
Next we toured the cell blocks. Things looked bleak. You wouldn’t want to live in a place like this.
Eric Overzet sharing stories of prison operation and famous prisoners.The different halls had different kinds of cells. This cell housed four people.
We saw the levers that opened and closed the cell doors. Seeing them was like seeing a scene out of a movie. As a retired mechanical engineer and all-around gearhead, I enjoyed seeing the mechanism. Everything operated mechanically; there was no software or any of the other intangible things we would use today.
The locking devices were patented in 1897. The Pauly Jail Building Company is still in business today.Levers for opening selected cell doors or all cell doors at the same time.
There are five prison halls in the Idaho State Penitentiary, and several different forms of “special housing” (i.e., solitary confinement). I couldn’t remember all the ones Eric described, but one stuck in my mind: A set of underground 4 ft by 4 ft by 4 ft cubes for solitary confinement. There were hatches at ground level through which a prisoner entered. It was hot when we were there. I can’t imagine what it must have been like in those little boxes in Idaho in the summer, nor can I imagine what it must have been like in the freezing winter months. In 1909, inspectors from the State of Idaho decided these 4 ft cubes were too cruel for human confinement and directed the prison to stop using them. The prison told the inspectors they agreed, and then they continued to use the little punishment boxes until well into the 1950s.
One of the “dark cells.”Another set of solitary confinement cells were known as “Siberia.”One of the “Siberia” cells.Another set of punishment cells.No shoes, no shirt, no service, and most definitely, no loafing.
As one might expect, the execution chamber and Death Row are areas that get the most attention. When the Old Idaho State Prison was in operation, hanging was the only execution method. Idaho uses lethal injection today, but when good old-fashioned hanging was in vogue the execution chamber was designed around it. The noose hung from a mount in the ceiling, with the trap directly below it. I shot these photos from the witness gallery window.
Death Row, coming up.Idaho uses lethal injection today; there are currently 8 men and 1 woman on Idaho’s Death Row. The modern Idaho State Penitentiary is just south of Boise; the women’s prison is in Pocatello, Idaho. When the Old Idaho State Penitentiary was in business, both men and women were imprisoned there (separately, of course).The noose hung from this fixture.The trap that dropped the condemned to their death.
You may want to go back up to the featured photo at the top of this blog. Old Tony Grooms (featured in that picture) was a real bad boy. There were several placards explaining the crimes of occupants in different cells and what they did while in prison. Old Tony had acid splashed in his eyes and convinced the prison guards he was blind. The guards figured it out when nurses were in the prison for a medical emergency and they saw Tony following them with his eyes. I can’t tell that story as well as our guide Eric can; that’s a good reason for you to visit the Old Idaho State Penitentiary.
We enjoyed the Old Idaho State Prison tour. You can also do a self-guided tour, but we were lucky. We arrived just as Eric’s tour was about to start. My advice is to go for the guided tour. Eric was a magnificent guide and entertaining storyteller, and he knows a lot about the place. We would not have gotten as much out of the tour just wandering around by ourselves.
The Old Idaho State Penitentiary is in Boise’s Historical District at 2445 Old Penitentiary Road. Admission is only $8. The guided tour is another $2, and that’s a hell of a deal.
Foggy and cold in the morning. I broke down and bought a burrito from the Flag and Wicket down in the paddock. Everything was soaking wet and I didn’t feel like making food. The Rag and Basket has good burritos and they are nearly the same price as a Quart-o-Grease from McDingies.
The Rag and Moose down in the paddock has good eats for not too much money.
I don’t think they can run in the wet fog but the rider’s meeting is on. We will see if they wait a bit.
The trials sections were mostly tight corners in uneven terrainThis never happened historically but I’m letting it go.
When you’re at the track you’ll need to be somewhat self sufficient as the only place nearby is the Toro restaurant and they close early. There a little food store towards Salinas but before the Toro where you can get stuff. Forget going west to Monterey, it’s sort of touristy and unless you’re going to the Aquarium or cannery row it’s a food desert. It could be that I don’t know where to look.
I think it will be a short day today. The fog is still thick, if a bike went off the course you’d never know it.
Foggy conditions delayed the racing for a bit. AHRMA still managed to run a full slate
I wandered over to the trials sections and they were ok, the fog doesn’t bother trials riders as they only need to see a few feet ahead. There was a triple log obstacle that I saw only one guy on a TY175 clear. Everyone else dabbed. The trials was held down in a little valley and the sections led a short way up the sides. Very tight turns and soft sand caught out many competitors.
Two old codgers on two old bikes. Still flogging. Fulton and Roper.
Back on the track the fog cleared and AHRMA ran 14 more multi-class races. You get your money’s worth for sure.
I’ve decided to let the whole historic thing go. What AHRMA really does is provide sanctioned races for orphan motorcycles, both new and old. Even 160-175 Honda twins.
Sunday the campground empties out and the squirrels take over. You’ll need to keep that tent closed or they’ll rob you blind. I like the Sunday night, it’s quiet and you get to be alone for a few hours.
The wind never let up the entire day and I got sort of tired watching so many races. It was dry and around race 12 I decided to load Godzilla in the truck before the plastic bed liner got slippery with dew.
All in, I’ve been here four days and it’s time to break camp and get back home. I highly recommend attending the AHRMA either as a spectator or a competitor. Just bring plenty of water and any food you might like to eat.
I’ll be back next year. Maybe bring the RD350 to see how it runs at sea level.
I’m in no rush to leave the tent this morning. The wind blew all night long and is still blowing hard. It’s cold and damp. Canvas pops and snaps, the tent inflates and deflates as if it is a breathing thing. I’ll have a second cup of coffee.
Having coffee in a hurricane.
The vintage motocross races at Laguna Seca are situated over the hill, towards the north. It’s a natural terrain course just like the tracks these vintage motorcycles ran on way back when. No manufactured hazards like triples or whoops. Any whoops on this track are made by churning knobbies. So of course I love it.
Laguna has more CZs in one place than I’ve ever seen. A bunch of Honda Elsinores and BSA 4-strokes populate the area. Less popular are Yamahas, Kawasakis and Suzukis.
The BSAs were out in force. One of the few 4-strokes that could compete with the 2-strokers…if you had Banks riding it.
Four Elsinore 125s put on a hell of a show. They were swapping the lead back and forth, passing three bikes in a corner only to be re-passed the next corner. It was good, handlebar banging action. I’m going back for more today.
The motocross crowd is a bit looser than the road racers. There is a yellow rope denoting the track that you are not supposed to cross. Nobody pays attention and spectators walk rigs up to the edge of the course to yell encouragement at their buddies.
Just a few of the motocross classes. Something for experts to beginners.
One guy had a train horn attached to a battery powered compressor and when the bikes were stuffed into the corner he would blast the horn inches from the rider’s ears. You don’t get that sort of fun on the pavement over the hill.
Unlike some of the road race bikes, the motocross bikes are historically accurate. These are the bikes that actually raced back then and except for razor sharp fresh knobbies they are in a slightly beat condition.
There are a few 100-point restorations racing but those guys take it easy around the track. The Sunday riders got the same encouragement and horn as the top racers.
Tidy Penton, these were the original KTMs and beautiful bikes. The cylinders were huge square things.
In the evening I hear live music drifting in on the soaking wind, a two stroke bike circles camp and people chatter, sounding like they are right next door. I have to remind myself not to be old. Sure, I want to got to bed at 8:00 p.m. but nobody else does.
Back to the road race side of things. AHRMA is always expanding the definition of historic and they even have classes for modern motorcycles. These classes are well stocked because the bikes are easy to get and keep running. I’d say more than half the field were riding new-ish motorcycles. Our old buddies Walt Fulton and Dave Roper put in another fine showing but I kind of lost them in the multi-class race they were in. So maybe they didn’t do fine.
I’m really enjoying how well Godzilla is running down at sea level. The bike has tons of grunt and runs so smooth with the oxygen levels. Probably the humidity helps also.
I’m off to watch some racing. It’s still windy but I can’t sit in the tent all day. The neighbors will start talking about the weird old man next door.
Man I slept good last night. The combination of the new cot, air mattress and mummy bag worked to perfection. Add in the cool moist Monterey weather and the loudspeaker’s 8:15 call for a rider’s meeting was the first thing I heard. I’ve really got this camping thing down. With the added capacity of the Toyota truck I was able to bring along a few luxury items. Like a chair and an ice chest.
These Can Ams had huge cylinder fins.Can Ams also had a somewhat unusual disc valve with a long intake runner leading to a carb in the back of the engine next to your left foot.A bike I never knew about, the AMMEX motocross bike.A 1930s Husqvarna. Not much different than my 2008 version.
Unlike last year, there are no food trucks in the paddock, only the Bear and Shank which has some pretty good food at reasonable (for California) prices. The ice chest frees me of food anxiety, I’ve got plenty for the weekend.
My enduro riding buddy, Gilroy Larry, stopped by with his clean TY250 Yamaha trials bike. We rode over to the trials area but it was more secure than last year. There’s also a sweet, old-style motocross track where a guy can race his old bike without spending 95% of his time in the air. (Note to Supercross: less hang time and more racing!)
I still have one of these in boxes. It’s a C110 Honda 50. 4-speed with hand clutch and a pushrod engine. When mine ran it did around 45 miles per hour.Unusual rear wheel on a Mule flat track style bike.I had one of these also. This is a one-owner, dad’s old bike.Since we are apolitical here on ExNotes I know Berk will love this Suzuki 100.A beautiful 500 Tiger for not much money.It’s a good thing I don’t have $4500 laying around or i’d buy the Triumph.
There are entirely too damn many four-strokes out here. My era of motorcycle racing was dominated by two strokes both on the pavement and in the dirt. Flat track was the only place four-strokes were competitive and that was by favorable rules. To me, a buzzing stroker is the sound of speed.
Bikes are warming up on Laguna’s interior roads. You’ll see a full on road racer cruise by the camp if you wake up early.
The same dense air that’s makes it so easy to sleep has Godzilla running fabulously. The grunt is amazing and the smooth, steady beat makes me want to move here rather than tune for my 6000-foot elevation.
Yesterday we had no fog and the picnic table was soaking wet in the morning. This morning diaphanous clots of fog are blowing past like smoke from a fire and the picnic table is bone dry. Listen, I don’t like using diaphanous any more than you like reading it. I guess should have paid more attention in meteorology class.
There was a vintage bike show at the track. The show had a pretty decent turnout. Maybe 50 bikes showed up. I owned several of the models represented.
Nice old flathead Beemer.The evolution of Maico crankcases Part 1: 1970s.The evolution of Maico crankcases Part 2: The 1980s.
It’s hard to beat looking at old CanAm motorcycles while out on the track vintage bikes are racing by at full song.
Rookie mistake: leaving your chair outside at night. The dew is heavy at Laguna Seca and my campsite is shaded from the early morning sun.
I love the pipes on this Turnip. Not likely to drag in corners!
I’ll walk around the pits instead. No food trucks yet and the Bear + Flag doesn’t open very early. Luckily I brought along some Cafe Bustello instant.
Tech inspection. The lines were long which is a good thing for AHRMA (America Historic Racing Motorcycle Association).Triple tracker wandered into pavement world.175 Bridgestone twin. The terror of the track back in the day. Hondas didn’t even try.VP race fuel on site. Only a few bucks more that the 86/corn squeezed crap you buy on the street.Mono framed side car. Very thin aluminum. I’m shocked it doesn’t crack.Heavy side car contingent at this year’s races.
The crowd in the pit area seems to be as large as it was last year with even more Honda 160-175 twins. These things are like cockroaches while the actual bikes that raced in the 1960’s/1970’s are thin on the ground. I guess those Hondas survived because no one raced them.
Luxury accommodations at Site 110.
Even if you don’t care for motorcycles Laguna Seca is a great place to camp. I have Site 110. The trees have grown a bit and I’m worried about ground squirrels breaking into my tent and stealing my food.
There are lots on fairly modern bikes, too. At least they are modern to me; they are probably 25 years old.
I made the mistake riding into Monterey. Lots of traffic. The only restaurant open was a McDonald’s. An older lady was buying a single cigarette from a guy who was out by the parking lot. I could see the bay from McDonald’s. Inside, there was no one to take your order. Electronic kiosks were set up and you entered your order then paid at the kiosk. There were about 5 people waiting, glancing down at the bits of paper the kiosk spit out. No one was getting food. McDonald’s food is not good enough to go through the hassle, so I left.
Heading back towards the track on Highway 68 the traffic came to a halt. It took me about an hour to go 4 miles. My old Yamaha 360 did not care for this kind of treatment. Forget going anywhere from 3:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. In the evening I sat and watched the long line of motor homes making their way to the paddock. It was fun…to me.
Today is race school and practice. Tomorrow (Saturday) the racing starts in earnest.
Sent from my iPhone
That BSA at the top of this blog was not racing. I included it for Hack.
Monsoon season has streamed into New Mexico’s upper atmosphere, hampering my concrete construction projects so I took the opportunity to settle some old scores with Godzilla, my 1971 Yamaha RT1-B Enduro. I’m getting the bike ready for a west coast trip and there were some annoying little faults I wanted to do up right before riding the California coast.
Godzilla has grown over the years. I’ve put a taller 21” front wheel on the bike and longer rear shocks. As a result the bike leans way over on the original-length kickstand. Parked in the shed I use a chunk of 2×4 to make the Yamaha sit more vertical but I’m not about to carry lumber all the way to California.
I measured the length needed, about 1-1/2-inch, and cut some tube off an old handlebar I keep around for just this purpose. I’ve been altering a lot of kickstands lately. I don’t know why I have to keep messing with kickstands but there it is. I used a piece of tube from an old floodlight frame to make a centering piece so that the three sections stay straight.
The tube from the floodlight was slotted and press fit into the extension piece.
Then all the pieces were assembled and welded together. After welding I touched up the stand with a bit of spot putty and gloss black paint.
The angle worked out great. Unfortunately the longer stand now hit the lower chain guard bolt when in the up position.
To solve this problem I added a blob of weld to the kickstand stop; this increased the clearance between the longer stand and the chain guard.
The next problem was the rear wheel sprocket carrier. This part has heavy wear as Godzilla spends most of its time in the dirt. The sprocket was alarmingly loose, not enough to throw the chain but not far from it.
There are two distinct areas of wear. The first is the hub boss that the sprocket carrier rides on. The second problem is the distance between the sprocket carrier retaining circlip and the carrier had become quite wide, meaning the clip didn’t hold the carrier tight to the hub. This allowed the carrier to wander in and out, causing even more wear on the hub boss.
To fill the gap between the hub boss and carrier I used a section of well-greased, steel measuring tape as a shim. I wound the tape around the boss and held it into position with a bit of string. To determine the thickness needed I started long and trial fit the carrier. I kept decreasing the tape length until the carrier would just slip over the shim.
For the circlip gap I was lucky and found a piece of aluminum pipe that fit nearly perfectly and trimmed off a baloney slice to use as a shim.
By trial and error I fit and re-fit the shim. I used the South Bend lathe to reduce the thickness of the shim bit by bit until the clip would fit without any back and forth play. Now the sprocket carrier is snug to the hub but still has a bit of rotational movement between the hub’s rubber cushions.
Godzilla seems to be in pretty good shape right now. It’s running a bit rough but that’s probably due to the old gas in the tank. I’ll dilute the crap gas with fresh and take the bike out for a nice long ride. See you in California!
I was downright giddy this past weekend, as I was about to do something I had never done before. When you’re my age and that happens, it’s something special. I was enjoying the feeling. I don’t get to experience new things too much anymore.
Right side view of my Uberti Colt Walker. It sure is pretty, but can it shoot?
The something I was about to do? I was going to shoot my 1847 Colt Walker replica revolver, a gun that is a cap and ball, black powder six shooter manufactured by Uberti in Italy. It would be the first time I had ever fired a black powder revolver, and it would be the first time I ever went through the drill of loading it myself.
There’s a bit of a story behind the Colt Walker. It’s than just a story. it’s part of our history, and it goes back to near the beginnings of the United States. Samuel Colt had invented his revolver with the 1836 Paterson model, manufactured by Colt in Paterson, New Jersey (hence the name). It was a brilliant design, but it was probably ahead of its time in an era of single shot weapons. That’s what most people thought, but Texas Ranger Captain Samuel Walker wasn’t what anyone might regard as “most people.” Walker was a Texas Ranger, and he and his men actually used the Paterson revolver in combat along the Mexican border. Colt Firearms had already failed as a business, but the Paterson revolvers did their job. Captain Walker and his Texas Rangers prevailed against their enemy.
Captain Walker wrote to Samuel Colt. Colt Firearms had folded, but Walker explained to Colt how effective his Patersons had been and he offered to help Colt design an even better handgun. This meeting of the minds led directly to the 1847 Colt Walker. As I mentioned above, mine is a reproduction of the original. I paid $343 for it about 5 years ago. Original Colt Walkers bring more than million dollars when they trade hands today (only a few exist of the 1000 Colts produced for the US Army and 100 Sam Colt made for marketing purposes).
Gus McCrae and his Colt Walker. I’ll bet he was sporting a Uberti when they filmed Lonesome Dove.
Modern firearms use cartridges that already have the primer, propellant, and bullet contained in the cartridge case. All we have to do is load the cartridge(s) and fire the gun. Cap and ball revolvers are different. Loading and firing them requires a series of steps far more complicated than firing a modern cartridge gun. Loading and firing a cap and ball revolver requires the following:
Inserting a measured amount of black powder (gunpowder, so to speak) into each of the revolver’s chambers.
Inserting a greased wad over the gunpowder.
Lubricating the bullet (typically referred to as the “ball” because the bullet is a cast round ball).
Positioning the ball over the chamber mouth.
Rotating the cylinder to position the ball under the revolver’s ram.
Using the ram to seat the ball in the chamber.
Filling the space above the ball with “grease” (a mixture of lard and other things).
Placing a percussion cap on each of the cylinder’s six nipples (the cap is the primer that ignites when the hammer hits it to initiate the gunpowder’s controlled rapid burn).
After doing all the above, I would then be able to fire six shots from my Walker.
Yours truly and good buddy Paul. We’ve known each other for more than 70 years.
My lifelong friend and good buddy Paul has been shooting black powder firearms for most of his life. Me? I’m a newby. I’d never through the cap and ball loading sequence outlined above and I was plenty nervous about attempting to do so. Basically, I’d be playing with guns and explosives. I asked Paul about a thousand questions about how to do this, culminating in a visit to his rancho in northern California. Paul was informed and patient, and he had a bunch of good things to give to me when I arrived, including:
Black powder.
Caps.
Balls.
Grease.
A loading stand.
Loading tools.
I was blown away by Paul’s knowledge, generosity, and willingness to teach me how to go about loading and shooting a black powder revolver. I don’t mind telling you I was a little nervous, too.
The loading stand Paul made for me with the Uberti in place. The long rod beneath the barrel is the loading ram. It pivots to force a ball into the chamber.
Paul told me that while you can load a black powder revolver without any tools, doing so is a lot easier if you have a stand. He had made a stand for me, and it fit the Walker perfectly.
A closer view of the loading stand with its tools mounted on the base. This is a cool setup.The tool on top is used for seating the caps (as in cap and ball) on the nipples. The lower tool is the butterknife, used for spreading grease on top of a seated ball.
Paul also made up three tools to help the loading process. Two of these (the butterknife and the cap seating tool) were integrated into the loading stand. The butterknife is used to fill the cavity above the loaded chamber with grease. The cap seating tool is used to push the percussion caps onto the nipples.
Paul fabricated this gunpowder measuring and dispensing device from a .30 06 cartridge. Note the powder charge markings on the shaft. I loaded 40 grains of FFF black powder in each chamber. This is a really cool bit of workmanship.
The third tool was the loading measure. Loading a black powder revolver involves inserting a measured amount of black powder into each chamber. Paul fabricated a precision measure from a .30 06 cartridge. It was quite clever, and it demonstrated Paul’s considerable design skills. I’ve known the guy literally all my life and he’s always surprising me with things like this.
FFF black powder. It’s a lot more sensitive than the powders we use today in cartridge guns.Percussion caps. They are, in effect, primers. One goes on the nipple of each chamber. It’s the last step in the loading process. When the hammer strikes these, they ignite and light off the black powder.Greased wads. These go over the black powder in each chamber, between the black powder and the ball.Yep. I’ve got balls. Lots of them, in fact.The grease that goes on each ball before it is loaded into the chamber, and then on top of the ball to seal the loaded chamber and prevent a chain fire event.
We had a very hot weekend and to further complicate things, the road to the gun club in the San Gabriel Mountains had been closed for the last several days (we were experiencing one of our many forest fires). On Sunday afternoon, though, the heavy smoke emanating from the forest fire (I could see it from my home) had lifted. I loaded the Subaru and headed for the range. When I arrived, other than the rangemasters I was the only guy out there. I had the range to myself. It was 97 degrees, but I could take my time, focus on everything Paul taught me, and make myself a black powder shooter.
A lubed ball ready to be rammed into the chamber. Notice the cutout in the frame that allows the cylinder to rotate into position such that the ball is directly beneath the ram.
The revolver stand Paul made was awesome. It held the revolver perfectly and greatly facilitated the loading process. I set the powder measure at 40 grains (the Walker can go up to 60 grains), filled it, and poured the powder in the first chamber. That was followed by a pre-lubricated wad on top of the powder. I dipped one of the balls in the grease and seated it on top of the chamber I had just charged with powder and a wad. Then I rotated the cylinder a few degrees and forced the ball into the chamber with the revolver’s ram. Damn, that loading stand was a cool fixture. I couldn’t imagine trying to do this without it. I repeated the process five more times, and I had all six chambers charged.
After that, I buttered the tops of each chamber. The purpose of doing so is to prevent one chamber’s ignition from lighting off the other chambers (such an event is called a “chain fire”). That sometimes happened on the original Colt revolvers, it was viewed as a design flaw, and Colt’s early investors threatened to pull their funding when it first appeared. I don’t know if that’s what led to using grease on top of the seated ball. Whatever Colt did to allay their concerns, Colt’s investors hung in there with him.
The next step was to install the caps on top of the nipples. I was a little more nervous during this step. The percussion cap is what starts the ignition sequence. If one lit off during installation…well, let’s just say I probably wouldn’t be typing this story. But everything went as planned.
I was ready to go, but my hands were slippery. You know, they say you can tell how good a housepainter is by how much paint he gets on himself. By that measure, I was not a very good cap and ball revolver loader. I had grease on my hands and it made holding the heavy Walker difficult. I wiped off my hands as best I could, picked up the Walker, and drew down on the target 50 feet down range.
To say I was nervous would be an understatement. Here I was, greasy paws and all, holding this monster 5-pound revolver, trying to focus on a tiny and distant front sight while trying to keep it centered in the hammer notch that serves as the Walker’s rear sight. I felt like a little kid playing with Dad’s gun when he wasn’t home. Calm down, I thought to myself. Focus on the front sight. As I increased pressure on the trigger and tried to hold the Walker steady, I could feel Sergeant Major Emory Hickman, my Dad, and Paul watching me (even though I was the only guy out there on that very, very hot afternoon).
KA-BOOM!!!!
The big Walker barked, I saw the flash, the muzzle flipped up, I felt the recoil, and smoke filled the air. I realized again: This is a BIG gun. Hell, Walker and Colt designed it so that if you missed the bad guy, you’d kill the horse he rode in on (the literal embodiment of what you say in a verbal altercation). It was .44 Magnum of its day, the Dirty Harry handgun of 1847. Do you feel lucky, punk?
Damn right I did.
I looked downrange, and I could see the first hole I had cut through the target. It was high, but Paul told me these things all shoot way high. My bad guy was toast. Nailed him right in the neck, I did. I was in the scoring rings! Whoooowee, this was awesome!
Six holes from six balls. Not a bad group for the first time I ever fired a black powder revolver. But that hole on the left? Where did that come from?
I fired five more rounds, gaining confidence with each shot. I became Captain Augustus McCrae. I wanted to throw a shot glass in the air and nail it in flight, right there in the saloon, just like Gus did in Lonesome Dove. I set the big Walker down on the bench and I called a line break (I was the only guy out there, but Captain McCrae wanted to do things right). As I approached the target, I saw a decent group for a guy with slippery hands shooting a cap and ball revolver for the first time on a blazingly hot afternoon. Then it was: Uh oh. I had put a shot off to the left in Mr. Bad Guy’s shoulder. I counted the holes in my nice-sized neck group, and there were six. Where did that seventh shot come from?
There’s a wad behind that tear in my target. It probably wouldn’t stop a bad guy, but I’ll bet it would get his attention.
Ha! That hole in the shoulder was made by the wad from one of the shots! It was still stuck in the paper, and when I lifted my iPhone to get a picture, it fell behind the target.
I was hot, sweaty, greasy, and still giddy. Time for another six rounds. Paul told me when you shoot these things, you’re lucky to get through two full cylinders. The guns get so dirty they get difficult to cock and fire after the first cylinder. A big part of the problem, Paul said, are the cap remnants. They break up and fall into the mechanism. He was right.
Fired percussion caps. Paul was right; they do come apart and fall into the mechanism. In the old days when you saw the hero of a Western movie point his gun toward the sky before cocking it for the next shot, it was to allow the spent cap to fall free of the six gun.
I got all the cap debris out of the Walker, loaded the gun again, and lit off six more. I’d already been on the range an hour and half. It’s like the amphibians say: Time’s fun when you’re having flies. A couple of shots from the next cylinder went a little high, but they were all in about the same area.
12 shots on target. My first 12 ever, and they were close enough for government work.
As I mentioned above, Paul told me all his cap and ball revolvers shot high, and that was what I found with mine. That said, I was enormously pleased with the results. The group was about the size of the orange bullseye. My aim point had been the center of the bullseye. If I held low and to the right, I’m confident I could put six rounds in the orange bullseye. Move over, Gus!
You know, on the way home, I was thinking about what our early Americans had to contend with when armed with cap and ball revolvers. It’s astonishing to think about winning gunfights, battles, and wars with weapons that are so heavy and take so long to load. My admiration for what they accomplished had been high; it was now even higher.
That ride home was quite a ride. I was going to call Paul to tell him about my success with the Walker and thank him again, but the radio was carrying President Trump’s speech live from Pennsylvania. He was only minutes into it and I was only half listening when I heard things crashing and then I heard several pops. And then a blood curdling scream. What I was hearing didn’t compute at first, and then I realized: Someone was shooting and I was hearing it live.
I arrived home a few minutes later and turned on the TV. What I saw hit me hard. The President escaped death by millimeters, and that only occurred because he happened to turn his head at precisely the right instant. I feel terrible for the retired firefighter who died and the others who were injured. It was a massive failure on all but the final Secret Service action (when they killed the sniper who fired the shots). I’m sure we’ll be hearing much more about this as the weeks and months go by. The Secret Service is a troubled agency. If it’s not botched protection efforts it’s cocaine in the White House or hookers in Colombia. It’s almost as if they need to shut that agency down and start over. I hope they get it right soon. I would have written and posted this blog sooner, but like most Americans, I’ve been glued to the television as updated info on the assassination attempt rolled in.
So to get back to this blog, I am very pleased with my Walker’s performance, and I am more than a little pleased with my performance, too. I’m hooked on the cap and ball revolver experience. For most of us in most of the United States, we can still purchase black powder guns through the mail and have them delivered to our home. Just this morning I received a cap and ball revolver sale notification from Midsouth Shooting Supplies. Don’t overlook these windows into our past. Take it from me: They are fun.
