Informal Survey
I enjoy another hobby that utilizes vintage gas motors .... large scale radio control models. Our classic model engine group, the "Society of Antique Modelers", has found the ranks of its membership dwindling each and every year, due to the fact that time passes and modelers are becoming older and retiring from the hobby.
Also, our "younger" modelers have historically shown little interest in engines that were bought and flown 3 or 4 decades before they were even born. Modelers in their 40's & 50's today can relate much better to the model engines that they learned to fly with in school yards around the country during their youth.
Bikers seem to be the same. The bikes I grew up with, in the 60's, are vastly different than the bikes from th 20's & 30's. I can remember seeing a handful of Indians, on the roads growing up in Detroit, but none of the others I enjoy viewing in museums now.
I am always impressed when I meet a veteran AMCA member who describes owning and operating a fleet of 1930's - 1940's bikes, that are valued at over $150,000 - $400,000+ all together, sitting in their garage.
When soldiers came home from serving in Viet Nam, we bought Honda 750's, Kawasaki triples, Triumphs, or maybe a Sportster.
On a servicemans pay in 1969, that's all we could afford, and those were the bikes we made OUR memories on. Today, those are the 35 year+ old bikes many of us can now afford again in 2005 ... this time for AMCA restoration projects.
I agree with the previous comments and the thoughts expressed here and at the discussions at Mid-Ohio this year. The imports ARE coming to the AMCA. In a couple of months another page on the calendar will turn and it will be January, 2006. That date will allow yet another "crop" of imports to participate ... the 1971's. Those motorcycles are what flooded bike showrooms back then and they were owned/ridden by the majority of "new" riders in those years. Thirty five years later ... the 17 year olds of the 60's are now in their 50's and they want to enjoy the A.M.C.A. too, but they bring with them their own set of motorcycle memories from a different era.
Many of us enjoy going to "Vintage" bike auctions, presented by J. Wood, or Mid-American auctions. Just take a look at the next Mid-American Vintage Motorcycle Auction, scheduled for September 17, 2005, in Arlington, Texas - http://www.midamericaauctions.com/sh...ion.asp?ID=62.
Of the 91 bikes listed last week for that auction, 85% are Japanese and other imports.
The veterans of the AMCA have told me about the beginning years and how our rules were created to allow all motorcycles of the appropriate vintage. As the lucky owner of a Harley, a Bill Hoard restored 1968 Bonneville and a 1966 Suzuki X-6 Hustler, I hope we continue to grow and enjoy all bikes.
I enjoy another hobby that utilizes vintage gas motors .... large scale radio control models. Our classic model engine group, the "Society of Antique Modelers", has found the ranks of its membership dwindling each and every year, due to the fact that time passes and modelers are becoming older and retiring from the hobby.
Also, our "younger" modelers have historically shown little interest in engines that were bought and flown 3 or 4 decades before they were even born. Modelers in their 40's & 50's today can relate much better to the model engines that they learned to fly with in school yards around the country during their youth.
Bikers seem to be the same. The bikes I grew up with, in the 60's, are vastly different than the bikes from th 20's & 30's. I can remember seeing a handful of Indians, on the roads growing up in Detroit, but none of the others I enjoy viewing in museums now.
I am always impressed when I meet a veteran AMCA member who describes owning and operating a fleet of 1930's - 1940's bikes, that are valued at over $150,000 - $400,000+ all together, sitting in their garage.
When soldiers came home from serving in Viet Nam, we bought Honda 750's, Kawasaki triples, Triumphs, or maybe a Sportster.
On a servicemans pay in 1969, that's all we could afford, and those were the bikes we made OUR memories on. Today, those are the 35 year+ old bikes many of us can now afford again in 2005 ... this time for AMCA restoration projects.
I agree with the previous comments and the thoughts expressed here and at the discussions at Mid-Ohio this year. The imports ARE coming to the AMCA. In a couple of months another page on the calendar will turn and it will be January, 2006. That date will allow yet another "crop" of imports to participate ... the 1971's. Those motorcycles are what flooded bike showrooms back then and they were owned/ridden by the majority of "new" riders in those years. Thirty five years later ... the 17 year olds of the 60's are now in their 50's and they want to enjoy the A.M.C.A. too, but they bring with them their own set of motorcycle memories from a different era.
Many of us enjoy going to "Vintage" bike auctions, presented by J. Wood, or Mid-American auctions. Just take a look at the next Mid-American Vintage Motorcycle Auction, scheduled for September 17, 2005, in Arlington, Texas - http://www.midamericaauctions.com/sh...ion.asp?ID=62.
Of the 91 bikes listed last week for that auction, 85% are Japanese and other imports.
The veterans of the AMCA have told me about the beginning years and how our rules were created to allow all motorcycles of the appropriate vintage. As the lucky owner of a Harley, a Bill Hoard restored 1968 Bonneville and a 1966 Suzuki X-6 Hustler, I hope we continue to grow and enjoy all bikes.
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