I woke up extra early last Saturday, to sneak in a motorcycle ride before anyone else got up.
I hadn’t planned on a long ride, but pulling away from the house I realized that my odometer was at 99,960 kilometers, so I could roll it over a hundred thousand that morning. I formulated my plan to visit the site of Harewood Acres.
But before I got there I pulled over to record the event. When was the last time you rolled an analog odometer? Somehow the digital rollover isn’t as significant, it’s just LCD numbers changing, and cars can easily get to three or four hundred thousand.
Remember this? The long line of nines and they all lock in together to roll, then the all the zeros come up unevenly. I had to waddle along on the gravel shoulder to do this, not too dignified but at least I didn’t slip and dump the bike 🙂
I mentioned Harewood in my recent post on vintage racing, but it’s a forgotten racetrack. I myself shouldn’t even remember it, Harewood closed when I was three years old but between 1956 and 1970 it was home to some of the earliest serious racing in Canada.
I didn’t have a map, but the site was easy to find. I just needed to follow the stacks south of Jarvis Ontario. The site is now home to the Esso Nanticoke refinery. Virtually nothing remains of the old racing surface.
One thing that can still be seen is this old gunnery structure (which my phone did not take a good photo of) from a firing range.
Map and Sat view. Gunnery structure circled.
One of the turns at Harewood Acre was named Gunnery turn, and the structure appears in period photos.
As you might have guessed by now, Harewood was built on a WW2 era airfield.
This historical plaque is near the refinery gates.
While I lingered I considered the fate of my 1993 Kawasaki Concours. I have mixed feelings about this motorcycle and have been thinking about replacing it with something like a VerSys 650. When sitting in my garage it is big, heavy, old, and clunky. But once underway a lot of the weight disappears and I realized again that I still enjoy riding it. For a twenty five year old machine it has been extremely reliable. In the ten years I’ve had it only brakes, tires, batteries and steering head bearings were replaced.
On the way home I stopped at a car lot in Jarvis, to check out this 1965 Corvair. Since the CC gang went to the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum last year there seem to be more Corvairs around, or I’m noticing them more.
Just look at that big glass and slim roof pillars. This is a fairly nice example, with good chrome, shiny paint and a clean interior.
Speaking of interior, unfortunately it’s an automatic which would be a deal killer for me if I was looking for a Corvair.
Not to mention the wheel covers, but that’s an easy fix. No takers so far at $7,000 CDN, but who is shopping for a Corvair in 2018? I hope it finds a good home but it probably won’t be in my garage.
Walking back to the motorcycle I quickly snapped this shot of a 1966 Acadian at the light. It’s fitting that this car was being driven and enjoyed while the Corvair languished on the lot, the conventionally built and styled Chevy II was a lot more popular than the Corvair when new. Always in the shade, even after fifty years.
I finally returned home at 9am, about three hours after leaving the house. Coffee was on and Mrs Dougd said “What took you so long, where did you go?” and I said “It’s hard to explain, you’ll have to wait for the CC article.”
Further Reading:
Congratulations on the new, zero-mile motorcycle. Now’s the time to sell it, low miles and all.
I love the Concours, it was always on my short list of bikes to acquire. Slightly larger than regular bikes but smaller and trimmer than the average tourer, a perfect “tweener” size. And that’s a lot of miles (and even more km’s) for a motorcycle. I wonder how many bikes ever get to that level, it can’t be too many.
Would it even be worth replacing though? Seems like it’d be better to just add to the fleet and then choose your steed depending on the mood. Of course there’s registration, maintenance and insurance to consider but still, if you have the space…
Like Jim Klein, I have always figured that not many bikes accumulate miles like that. My only request is that if you replace it you *not* get one of those three wheeled things that look like half car/half bike. Every time I see one of those I resist the urge to scream “just get a Miata!”
The Corvair is indeed interesting. But where the deal breaker for you is the Powerglide, the deal breaker for me is that Resale Red paint. I am almost to the point where I would refuse on principal to consider any classic car that is painted bright red. (I know, I know – says the guy with the red Miata).
Yeah, I was a bit amused that the Acadian was exactly the same colour.
Been there, done that, and it was my 1995 Triumph Trident back in 2008. Really looked forward to doing that a second time, but that damned deer had other plans 17k later.
I know exactly of what you speak regarding your Concours, seeing the series of T3 Triumphs I’ve owned, and will continue to own, are essentially first cousins of your bike, given the assistance Kawasaki gave John Bloor in restarting the Triumph marquee back in the late 80’s. Pull off the bodywork of both our bikes, and the biggest difference you’ll see between them is one less cylinder on the Triumph.
You don’t want to sell it. You’re not going to find anything quite the same in a modern bike.
After the insurance company picked up the remains of the Trident, my mechanic got a call a few days later offering him the bike, “with only 17,235 miles on it.” Ron had to inform the breaker of what he really had, although given the cosmetic and mechanical condition, and the way T3’s are overbuilt, it wouldn’t have necessarily been fraud.
I’ve been slowly downsizing (in the 1977 Chevy sense, not corporate-speak, though I’ve done that too) my motorcycles over the years, from 1000cc four to 900 twin to 650 twin to 650 single. As I age and my strength and skills are probably declining, not to mention my interest in power and speed, I find the smaller bikes more fun. My main ride now is a 650 single, and if I were to buy a new bike I’d consider a 400 Twin (Kawasaki) or another thumper (701 Husky). I briefly test rode a Concours 1000 when it was introduced in 1986, at Malcolm Smith (of “On Any Sunday” fame) Motorcycles in Riverside. It was very nice, and I would have bought one if I hadn’t just spent a pretty penny on a new bike, the somewhat similarly spec’ed BMW K100RS.
Judging the age of motorcycles in the past few decades has gotten even harder than with cars. I used to follow bikes and pick up bike magazines back in the day, but that stopped probably in the mid-late 80s, so pretty much everything since then is a bit abstract to me.
In fact, I admit I’ve developed something of an allergy to bikes because of all the damn Harleys with no mufflers that absolutely hurt my ears in traffic with my windows down, or when walking. It seems like 80% of the bikes here are of that persuasion. Highly obnoxious. Tarred by association…not you though. 🙂
From what I can see from my vantage point in north Florida is that Harleys have replaced Corvettes as the sports car for folks (men AND women) who are experiencing their mid-life crisis.
Unfortunately, that may change with Harley moving production overseas/the bikes getting more expensive.
“Unfortunately”??
Harley is only talking about moving the production for the European market overseas, not for domestic production.
Of course, nearly half the “Harleys” you’re complaining about are Hondas, Yamahas, Kawasakis, and a few (yech!!) Suzukis. Guess it’s a good thing if I manage to make it to the meet up next Saturday, I’ll be on the Gold Wing. With stock pipes (like all my touring bikes).
I had a Suzuki Katana for a little while and liked it. Suzuki makes a good basic motorcycle. When they try to get fancy something goes off the rails somehow.
I have to agree. There’s no way I would have guessed that bike is 25 years old just by looking at it, unless perhaps I took a peak at the gauge cluster. I must say for 25 years and 100k it’s in great condition and looks sharp!
Oddly enough, last night I saw this episode of America dad.
https://www.imcdb.org/v678034.html
I love that Corvair, even with the aftermarket wheel covers. I’m not usually a fan of “Resale Red” either, but at least this color seems to lean closer to the orange side of the spectrum rather than the typical near-candy-apple color, which bores me to tears. And a white vinyl interior always works for me, regardless of the exterior. Such a pretty car.
I’m with Paul on the Harleys. Living in Daytona Beach during Bike Week or “Biketoberfest” was an absolute torture, but even in everyday traffic there are so many Harley owners (my own 72 year-old mother included) who believe in the “Loud Pipes Save Lives” philosophy, and they’re just so friggin’ annoying. What’s worse is when they’re equipped with blaring sound systems playing Lynard Skynard at volumes to be heard over the exhaust note. Excruciating.
I’ve never been a big fan of bikes, but since moving to a less biker-centric area of Florida I’m starting to see more “reasonable” bikes on the road, being used as practical A-to-B transport. I recently started toying with the idea of a little lightweight 250 or something to keep instead of a second car. Who knows? (At present I’m wrestling through the process of replacing the FIRST car, as the realities of using a 19 year old car as primary transport have finally made a new car requisite. A deposit has been made on a replacement for delivery at the end of the month, but we’re still toying with swapping out what we’ve signed a P.O. for, as we’re fickle customers with widely divergent tastes. More to follow on that whole mess.)
Made my first Bike Week in ten years this past March, and its definitely changed. I knew it would be smaller, I underestimated how much smaller. In the first place all the RUBbie lawyers and accountants are gone, as are the bright shiny Harleys and Japanese copycats wobbling down International Speedway Boulevard. Hell, the prices on the Gilroy Indians are getting down to the point that I’m going to start looking for one.
What’s left is the hardcore. I saw more Panheads, Knuckleheads and Springfield Indians flying modern license plates down there than I’ve seen in decades. Bike Week is getting back to being the hardcore festival that it used to be.
When my ’65 Mustang convertible made it to 100,000 (sometime in 1977), I had a big fat joint rolled up for the occasion.
I miss the days when having joint problems meant it kept going out.
I once had a Honda CB400 twin for about a year. Fun bike but I didn’t have a motorcycle license and had to keep it outside, so I sold it.
That Corvair looks tempting, Powerglide and all. 😉 Getting to drive a Corvair is on my bucket list.
I can relate to your morning ride. I recently picked up a 1983 Yamaha Riva 180 scooter. I had sold my old 74 Honda CJ 360 about 8 years ago and was looking for something cheap to ride to work. My commute is about 7 kms on city streets and it costs about $1.50 a day to drive. Every trip is an adventure but the days I drive the car lead me coming up with excuses to take it out. I picked up a back trunk similar to your bike which works well for grabbing some beer or a day or two worth of groceries. At 18 000 original KMS on the odo I can only dream of rolling the odo over.
I have to agree with you on the corvair being an auto that would be a deal killer for me as well. There is a 4 door one in much worse condition waiting to be restored by my work but someone must really love it if 2 doors are going for under $10k. I can’t see any upside on that project.
I sometimes dream of a parallel universe in which the ’60 Corvair had been introduced with a conventional drivetrain, say, the I-4 and I-6 from the ’62 Chevy II.
(okay, the nose would have to be different to accommodate a radiator, but bear with me.)
The ’60 was a beautiful car, as evidenced by the number of later cars that cribbed the design (Hillman Imp, et al). The ’65 redesign was even more beautiful, in a more subtle way.
If you take away all the issues caused by the unconventional mechanical parts of the ’60, it sells like hotcakes, because people aren’t scared of something new and different. No worries about the cheaped-out swing-axle design, or setting unusual tire pressures. No worries about throwing oddly-routed fan belts at high revs. No Ralph Nader.
Chevrolet has no need to rush the half-baked Chevy II onto the market. Instead, that development money is used to redesign the Corvair’s nose to accommodate a small-block V-8. The Corvair Monza Spyder 283 beats the Ford Mustang to market by 2 1/2 years, creating a pony car before the term exists.
Maybe I shouldn’t eat pepperoni pizza before bed.
And, in the end, it’s no longer a Corvair. Just another damned Chevrolet.
Last car I had whose odometer rolled over after 99999.9 was our 1994 Taurus. After that they would roll over after 999,999.9 to a million miles which doesn’t happen much.
I celebrated by zeroing the trip odometer which remained synchronized until last month when we donated the Taurus to charity after the arrival of a new member of the “fleet.” It left our driveway at over “53,000,” quite low for its 24 years.
Red numbers and letters on the Corvair’s Ontario plate. Is that a vintage early 60’s plate. Never seen that DougD.
Thanks for the history on Harewood race track. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this track.
That’s a dealer plate. It says dealer in vertical letters at the left.
They are usually seem on an erratically driven BMW 🙂
Congrats on the 100K! I have not been one to celebrate these milestones often since I often buy my cars well used and move them along at a good rate. I did buy my little Suzuki bike with a mere 1,600kms on it and while it is only up to 7,2xx it has only been a few months.
Nice job keeping the Concours up. A buddy of mine has one and he is over the 100,000 mark also.
Nice article, interesting bit of WWII history there too .
I’ve rolled many cars over 100,000 miles but never a Moto .
As long as your Concours runs well and you enjoy riding it, why sell it off ? .
-Nate
My ’85 700 Maxim would have rolled over if it was in kilometers instead of miles, still have a few more to go before she rolls over.