Coop's Corner: The Unveiling

Saturday, March 21, 2015

The Unveiling

I got involved only yesterday, Mike has been involved for weeks. First it was won in an online auction, then purchased and paid for. Crating, Customs Brokers, shipping a across the sea on a very big boat, overland trucking and finally ready at a loading dock in Minneapolis, this is not a simple Craig's acquisition.

I followed Mike to the Warehouse District, a good thing too. He's (now) very comfortable with the area but it's an area relatively new to me, easy for me to get turned around down there and that normally isn't something I struggle with.

Not parking here was made very clear; I obviously wasn't qualified since I'd left my Green Caddy at home.

Yesterday afternoon, on our way to the Unveiling Location.

Today I was up to Minneapolis early, stopped in at Marty's (GoMoto) to take a couple of photos before the visitors arrived, had the tripod set up for videos, then hustled over to pick up the pizza, soda and other treats. Folks started arriving just before noon.

There was a plan......and the plan was to cover up one of Marty's SYM bikes to hide and to purposely deceive as well as tease the arriving throngs as to why they were truly invited to The Event. Mike had hinted that this might, just possibly be an unveiling of his road-ready Cushman that he'd bought last fall. The Cushman was not present and had no real role in today's gathering.

Here's the decoy......and it sort of worked, those who are in the know and who do know suspected some subterfuge. Under the translucent cover a newer bike was present and it was quite obvious to anyone paying real attention but it still prompted questions and doubt.

Right in the middle of the showroom floor.......

The real surprise was hiding over here against the wall, very incognito.

As you can see, barely visible......

Mike trying to explain what we weren't really there for, Colleen absolutely unaware though it will soon be very clear.

The cute SYM 150 decoy was unwrapped with Mike assuring us all....."well this isn't why you're here, there's a crate over there against the wall...." We moved it Center Stage and started unwrapping.

Erica grabbed a wrench and before long.....

A 1950 Terrot 100cc French motorcycle that served Constables in Paris and it RUNS!

See that white plastic knob left center between the lights?? Pull it up, all the way to the 2nd notch and both of these headlamps actually blink.

The rear light blinks too!

Of course a front brake to match the attainable speeds....

Someone said "Marty, get on and look like a French rider....." I don't know, am not sure and have no real way of knowing but have to imagine that he's very near??

It was all really fun; everyone present helped to make it so. Many thanks to Mike for the invitations, the yummies and to Marty for putting up with us all and for kindly making the warm, mid-March space available.

So Mike and Colleen have another bike from France (by way of the Netherlands). He's now got this import thing down, is on a first name basis with the importer and Customs folks so if you need a French Connection, just let him know.

16 comments:

VStar LadyMarch 21, 2015 at 7:37 PM
Looks like a fun 'coming out' party. How fun ... to spend a wintery day with friends and great finds.
ReplyDelete
Replies
SonjaMMarch 22, 2015 at 3:07 AM
To look French, Coop, your friend should add a beret, a distinct moustache and a baguette and a bottle of wine in the saddle bag.

What a beautiful find the Terrot is. I have never seen one before. But I know that there are other early motorcycle brands (today most nonexistent through mergers, bankruptcy etc.) that had built beautiful bikes.
ReplyDelete
Replies
CanajunMarch 22, 2015 at 8:24 AM
Another brand I've never heard of, but it looks like a great find. Is he going to restore it or leave it as is?
ReplyDelete
Replies
TrobairitzMarch 22, 2015 at 10:08 AM
Wow, what a cool find. I had never heard of the brand either. But it is really neat that it was a police bike and it runs.

Yes, I can see why new tires are a must.
ReplyDelete
Replies
Keith - Circle BlueMarch 22, 2015 at 7:54 PM
Very nice! And it runs. Wonderful. Yes, those tires look shot. What a really nice find.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMarch 22, 2015 at 9:25 PM
..it was used in several running gun battles and apprehending villainous charters of ill repute ..... it also lead the parade for Charles de Gaulle ... ok, I made all of that up... :)
ReplyDelete
Replies
Dar March 23, 2015 at 2:39 AM
What a cool old bike! I think one day my collection must have a very vintage bike in it, I fell in love with a few last year at a bike show. Dreaming only at this point.
ReplyDelete
Replies
AnonymousMarch 24, 2015 at 5:57 AM
ebay.... motorcycles "other makes " ..... runners... neat,, " different "... delivered to your local US Customs office... cost, shipping,...broker fees... less then $3900,oo ...:)
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

Others say....

"it was auspicious to approach any situation from a deferential, inquisitive place. Conceding that there is much to learn is the best blueprint for discovering something new." ----B. Fuller

The Man straightened stiffly above the block of salt fixed to the stake and looked at the young cattle ringed about him. The pasture was holding out well and the stock was looking good. This bunch would be ready to sell in another month, maybe sooner if the market was right.

A stir among the cattle down near the river brought him round to face the swinging bridge he'd built years before. Someone was coming toward him from the bridge. Someone in breeches, but it didn't look like a man, somehow. What was a woman doing in his pasture this time of night?

He bent over the salt again; maybe if he paid her no heed she'd go on past and let him mind his own business. He heard her footsteps come nearer and stop. "Good evening," she said.

Her voice was smooth with book learning but friendlier than most, and somehow almost shy. When he made no answer she went on, "I've been sitting on your swinging bridge....I thought I'd like to say thank-you...." Her voice stumbled a little, then she tried once more.

"You are Mr. ____". His name sounded strange in her voice, but she went on to tell her own.

"That's what they've called me the last sixty-eight years," he said, looking past her face to the hills fast darkening under a single star. "I reckon the woods are free for those that like to walk there."

The unfamiliar voice laughed a little. "That's what Emerson said: the grove belongs to the man who walks in it with an open heart....On that basis I guess I've owned part of your woods for a good many years.....". She made a final effort. "I've always wanted to thank you....."

Something deeply hidden stirred in him. "There's a stump up there, in the notch of the woods", he said slowly, "that before the timber grew so tall you could stand on it and see all over this country."

He kept still a minute, remembering, then, "I used to stand up there an' look at things, an' wonder how they come to be like they was, an' how the hills was created, an' all the things in Nature.... I told my wife I guessed all the religion I ever had I got standin' on that old stump, a-wonderin'..." He turned his face away from her.

She helped him out. "I know about that, a little. This afternoon I saw......." Her account of a thing she had really taken time to look at eased him, and he answered with telling of the badger den at the foot of the swinging bridge.

When she had gone, he turned to watch her. After a moment she stood clear and unmoving against the sky. You could hear the sounds of the river where she stood. She was one that could stand still long enough, he thought, really to hear what a body was saying, or a river.

Then she walked down the farther side of the slope and was gone. ------Margaret Snyder from A Chosen Valley

Fall was the end of harvest, end of the growing season, a burst of color and sun-warmth before killing frost turned the land gray and cold. Fall was a moody time, full of both life and death, a time when we were reminded of the power outside of us, reminded that the seasons happen to us. We do not invite the change to come.-------Ben Logan, from The Land Remembers

When you get those rare moments of clarity, those flashes when the universe makes sense, you try desperately to hold onto them. They are the lifeboats for the darker times, when the vastness of it all, the incomprehensible nature of life is completely elusive. So the question becomes or should have been all along, what would you do if you knew you only had one day, or one week, or one month to live. What lifeboat would you grab onto? What secret would you tell? What band would you see? What person would you declare your love to? What wish would you fulfill? What exotic locale would you fly to for coffee? What book would you write? ------- Ben Tyler

We were also cautioned about journeying far from home. As an example of the dangers, the town had a badly crippled lady named Lucy, who as a girl had traveled to New York City. As she traveled along a sidewalk, sightseeing, she was struck by the outstretched hand of a suicide who had leapt from high above. Her spine had been shattered and for the rest of her life, she was to walk bent forward at the waist, tapping the sidewalk with two black canes. Whenever the subject of travel to a big city was raised, someone would say, "Just remember what happened to Miss Tripp." ---- Ted Kooser, from Local Wonders

"Steamboats are like wedding cakes without the complications...." ----Mark Twain

"It's not about having lots of money, it's about having lots of options......." -----Chris Rock

As the very proud father of three former ponytail wearers, hopefully I can get away with this....."For the past few years it's been fashionable for young women to wear ball caps and to snap the strap on the back under their ponytails. I like the looks of that, their shiny ponytails jauntily swinging, but it's hard not to think of the rear ends of horses. There's a piece of harness called the crupper that goes just under a horse's tail to keep its nose down. If the horse lifts its head to look for a way out of whatever predicament it's in, the crupper tightens and hurts the horse. But it's foolish for parents to think that a ball cap might keep a young woman from running away. Anybody can see they're made for running." ------Ted Kooser, Local Wonders

"I tell the guy's girlfriend that the only difference between the book's main character Phaedrus and myself is that I am neither brilliant, tortured or insane, she looks at my bike and there is an uncomfortable silence." --------ahendepe (a.k.a. Vermin)