OT: Speedster in a barn, Holy Moley... Options

[tygaboy]

Thought you'd enjoy this. Martin, my fabrication buddy, says to me "hey, this guy who lives near you has a cool motorcycle in his barn. You want to see it?"
I say "sure".
We head over and get taken out to an old barn... Wait for it...

Turns out the bike is one of three ex-factory Kawasaki 750 triple 2-stroke flat trackers. Ridden by Don Castro. (I posted pics of it in the "motorcycle" thread in the Sandbox. Take a look, it's pretty darn cool!)

Wait for it...

As I walk into the other part of the barn, I see the Speedster.

The owner, who shall remain nameless, is an 80 year old ex-racer with stories you can't believe!

He built and campaigned his own CanAm car, raced any number of other cars, including Porsches. He's from that era where racers were building and maintaining their own cars, inventing stuff as they went along. No computers, just a "let's try this and see if it works better..." approach. Get him talking about anything - suspension, aero, chassis design/stiffening - and he can site chapter and verse from the experience handbook. Super interesting and tons of real world info.

Anyway, back to the Speedster.
He casually mentions that this car used to have a 4-cam engine in it. Not original to the car (obviously) but still... He sold it long ago and even then, it was silly expensive.

He has all sorts of hen's teeth parts for it, NOS stuff, factory race stuff, etc. And he's a meticulous mechanic. Every little part is just so and he explained all the crazy little things he's done so that, for instance, the rubber trim curves here or there, like the original, given the aftermarket stuff doesn't, and on, and on.

What I kinda like is it's part hot rod. It's got late 356 disc brakes and he's running the American Racing mags. Mags as in "magnesium". It can be put back to stock but he's a racer at heart and likes the go-fast goodies. I say more power to him.

I've gotten to know him a bit and he stops in every couple weeks to check out my LS build, offering advice and constructive criticism. It's pretty gratifying when he notices something I've done and compliments me. Also when he says "I wouldn't do that, if I were you...". (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

So... I hope you enjoy the story and some pics. It's just another reason I love this hobby:

You never know who you'll meet or what they'll have in that old barn...