Tweet
Bonnie Cooper, Neil Cooper's widow, informed me today when I wrote them that Neil had died in May. His passing leaves me with great sadness. He was 87, a real gentleman with a great sense of humor. He retired after a long career with fire suppression in Idaho's forests.
I knew Neil through the AMCA since the early '70s, and I suspect he was a member for long before that. He may indeed have been one of the oldest surviving members, although others, such as Bob McLeod, might have been equally long term. Like Bob, Neil had an encyclopedic knowledge of old bikes. Bonnie and Neil were a fixture at AMCA rallies for many decades.
Neil was 87 and died of bladder and kidney cancer, after a colon cancer operation failed to stop its spread. He had collected and often meticulously restored scores of exotic cycles, including an Indian Powerplus with just a few hundred miles on it and the only surviving, as best I know, Cleveland Four T-head. Steve McQueen bought that from him at a meet in the southern San Joachim Valley in the late '70s, if memory serves. He did not want to sell it, and it was the first time he showed it after completing its restoration.
When Steve asked him if he would sell, he asked for what he thought was an absurd price: $20,000. I think that Bud Ekins may have wound up with it after Steve's death.
I'm copying Bonnie on this note so that you can get hold of her directly if you want to write a memorial piece about him.
Frank Smith
I knew Neil through the AMCA since the early '70s, and I suspect he was a member for long before that. He may indeed have been one of the oldest surviving members, although others, such as Bob McLeod, might have been equally long term. Like Bob, Neil had an encyclopedic knowledge of old bikes. Bonnie and Neil were a fixture at AMCA rallies for many decades.
Neil was 87 and died of bladder and kidney cancer, after a colon cancer operation failed to stop its spread. He had collected and often meticulously restored scores of exotic cycles, including an Indian Powerplus with just a few hundred miles on it and the only surviving, as best I know, Cleveland Four T-head. Steve McQueen bought that from him at a meet in the southern San Joachim Valley in the late '70s, if memory serves. He did not want to sell it, and it was the first time he showed it after completing its restoration.
When Steve asked him if he would sell, he asked for what he thought was an absurd price: $20,000. I think that Bud Ekins may have wound up with it after Steve's death.
I'm copying Bonnie on this note so that you can get hold of her directly if you want to write a memorial piece about him.
Frank Smith