Once we arrived and parked, we walked toward the showfield/swap meet. This was well before the Internet days, and other than the classified of the newspaper of club newsletters/magazines, this was how you bought and sold parts. Every show was also a swapmeet. At some distance from the show field, one of the guys declared that there was a 1600 in amongst the round light and square light BMW 2002s. This seemed incredible, since all of the cars were facing forward and you could not see the rear. I could barely see the front of the cars from this far away. Plus, at the time, the 1600 looked identical to the early 2002 to me. I was to learn later on the subtle difference between the front grilles that gave away the model. As my tutelage continued, I learned the differences in the instrument cluster, and vent windows. Fascinating stuff. I bought a tail light for my project 02 because it was in slightly better shape than mine. The guys bought an assortment of parts from brake drums to floor mats. 

After a while, they stopped for lunch. I grabbed a bag of chips and scampered off like a puppy to soak up more knowledge. I watched Yoda inspect a header pipe. when he looked up at the owner of the blanket of miscellaneous parts, he simply raised his eyebrows rather than speak. The owner said "They are the stock header, gimme 10 bucks." Yoda looked at him and then handed him a crumpled five dollar bill. He still had not spoken. The owner said "Sure, I'll take five for it." I later put this down to some kind of Jedi mind trick. I later watched Yoda inspect a headrest for 10 minutes before walking away. As I was on the verge of purchasing a shop manual for the 2002, Yoda appeared behind my right shoulder and frowned. I had never seen Yoda smile, so the only reason that I knew it was a frown was that the corners of his mouth moved even lower than normal. I backed away from the deal. Everytime I stopped after that, or had any interest in an item, I looked around nervously.

Several more hours passed, and we all headed back to the car. We loaded up the trunk with the spoils, and the guys snickered a little at the fact that Yoda only managed to bag a stock header that looked well used. As we slowly crawled out along the gravel road, a guy with a pickup towing a very tired 2002 Bauer Cabriolet honked. It was the first time I had seen one in the flesh. The guys oohed and ahhhed. The pickup driver whistled at Yoda and shouted "Now remember, delivery is free as long as you keep it under 70." Yoda nodded.  

A continuing phenomenon is that there are always many exhibits which exploit the old to sell the new. Honda and Harley Davidson in particular, seem to include some old models or racebikes to remind everyone of the rich heritage that makes them worthy of your investment. For a relatively new marque, Victory always has a model or two that directly translate old styles into new models. Their HighBall model is complete with mini Ape hangers, whitewalls, flat black paint, and a bobber style rear. Triumph unabashedly has a line called Classics which includes the Bonneville, the Thruxton, and a Steve McQueen Edition. Ducati only recently discontinued their Classic line. And then there is Royal Enfield. Nobody else on the planet is selling a 1955 motorcycle today as new. They may have recently made a concession to fuel injection rather than carbs, but they were forced into it by the emissions police in their most important markets. They may have finally lost the kickstart on some models (why ??) and gained a front disc brake, but those are minor concessions to convenience and safety. Other than that, they look and feel, reportedly run and stop, and even tap your wallet, like a proper all-purpose British bike from the late 1950s. For no good reason, I want one.

At the other end of the spectrum is Evolve motorcycles with their Tron cycle. This is a working electric bike which is a replica of the famous machine from the movie. Very cool. Very impractical. Also in the future camp was BMW. For a company with a long and rich heritage, they have not really tried to mine their past for reusable gems. In fact, their booth is firmly anchored in the future with Maxi-Scooters, world-leading Superbikes, and Hyper-Touring machines. There was no sign of the coming water-cooled R bikes, but that too will be ushering in the future to the most sacred component of the heritage. BMW also had the turbo-charged center-hub-steering masterpiece created by Sweden's Stellan Egeland. I spoke with him for a few minutes about his creation. He is mad, and we are all the better for it. As if in contrast, the BMW MOA booth featured only a well-traveled version of my R100GS PD. Back to the future, Kawasaki's new ZX-14 will run in the low 9 second range in the quarter mile out of the crate !! The only problem is that you need Ricky Gadsen aboard to make the happen.

Cafe Racers, Streetfighters, retro clothing and gear, were all mixed in liberally with the new. The good news is that very good gear can be stylish and will no longer break the bank. You can get reasonable heated gear for those that need it, or you can go on a moto-tour of Costa Rica if you prefer to wear your warm weather gear during the northern winter. As a sign of the times though, the show was definitely smaller and less well attended. I thought I would see more products and services aimed at keeping your machine on the road longer, but I did not. I thought I would see more commuter and more hybrid solutions, but actually there was more of that last year. Perhaps it is just that fewer vendors can afford to be present at the show. It did not take me a long time to get through the whole show, but it remains an essential break for us northerners during the Ice Solstice.

The Manta answered the challenge of the Capri. It was a sporty design, with an attractive silhouette, and 2 door coupe styling. It had sporty wheels, a long nose, and a short rear. It was a more roomy 2+2 than the Capri. If you think it looks a like a 2/3 size muscle car, you are more right than you think. Opel was infused at the time with US management, including general manager, design chief, and sales boss Bob Lutz !! It was also a true sporting coupe. It had handling that was widely praised by the press given the coil springs and sway bar up front. The Manta only weighed 2140 lbs on a 95.75" wheelbase. It had a 1.9 liter engine (in Europe, there was also a 1.5 and a 1.1), but it was somewhat detuned so outright speed was not it's forte. It did have a 5 bearing crank, and chain-driven overhead camshaft, so it was reliable and had the potential to be hotted up. The package overall was a good one. As this German commercial from 1970 points out, it was good looking, performed well, and was practical as well. 

The Rallye model introduced in 1971 was mostly an appearance package with its' black hood, wheels, and graphics, but it looked like a miniature muscle car, and matched the "Baby Mustang" image of the Capri. A Luxus version was introduced in 1973 which had options introduced by many German manufacturers such as corduroy upholstery (I have this in my 72 Tii) and faux wood paneling. In 1975, all Mantas gained Bosch L-Jetronic fuel injection. Europe also saw the GT/E model which was more of a true high performance variant. Tuning specials and race cars followed of course, with the Ascona sedan version doing well, and second generation of the Manta having great success.

However, the first generation Manta was not very successful in the US. It was the victim of a confusing marketing and distribution scheme for Opel that limited exposure and strangled sales. It was initially sold through Buick dealers and marketed lightly. The Capri only had modest success in the US as well. This seems particularly ironic, as the birth of both of these cars stem from the battle of two US giants in Europe. The Manta did do very well overall though with 498,553 units sold from 1970 to 1975. More importantly, it set the stage for the very successful Manta B to follow.

Their next 2 wheeled vehicle did not emerge until 1952 when they introduced the SR-1 50cc moped under the AWO label. It was followed by the much improved SR-2 model which sold well. The evolution continued into the AWO 425 model which had a single cylinder 4 stroke 250cc motor, shaft drive, and a four speed gearbox. A sidecar version of this bike was also produced. More impressive though was the competition version which began competition in 1954, and came home with the 250cc national championship in 1954, 1955, and 1956. This really bolstered Simson sales in the market, and they naturally produced a more sporting version, the AWO 425S, as a result. Then in 1958, they introduced the Renn Sport model (RS250). This bike, in the hands of racer Hans Wienert, won back to back titles once again in 1958,and 1959. In all, more than 300,000 of the 425 machines were sold.

Shortly thereafter, the eastern block industrial management restricted Simson to machines 100cc or less, while MZ was to be the home for machines greater than that (see Muzings). Along with the dominance of 2 stroke machines, this ended the 425 competition phase of Simson. However, the company continued to produce mopeds and scooters. The Schwalbe model in particular sold over a million units and remains very popular in Europe with a large cult following. Simson remains in business today producing scoters, mopeds, and bikes up to 300cc.

The motorcycle is the perfect vehicle for urban environments. it is small, nimble, relatively, efficient, and you can always find a place to park. On a recent trip into the city, I experienced all of those benefits, but I was undone by a mighty urban beast of legendary fame.

There are seven miles of roadway in the US which represent the very worst in motoring experiences. The very name of it strikes fear into the hearts of men and beast alike. 10 time Paris-Dakar winner Stephan Peterhansel said of this road "For zis road I am very afraid". The best that has ever been said about it is, "I got through with only minor issues". In 30 years of using this road, I have never made it through unscathed, and this includes all hours of the military clock.

It is a funnel point for the entire northeast. 150,000 vehicles pass through every day. It is even more of a funnel point for trucks which cannot use NY Parkways, so it is probably the busiest commercial corridor in the country. Fully laden trucks are hard on roads, so they exacerbate the problem. In 2007 and 2008, Inrix, a real-time traffic service, declared the road to have four out of five of the worst intersections (exits) in the country. Impressive, yes?

The shoulder is 6 inches wide and has a combo of broken glass, discarded hyperdermic needles, shards of tire-ripping plastic, and spilled nuclear waste. The road surface has a topographical profile unmatched by the Andes or the grand canyon. Modern SUVs have a special suspension mode named after this road. When activated, a Military transport helicopter picks up your vehicle and carries it to safety. There are websites dedicated to documenting crashes on this road, and a movie starring Robert DeNiro was filmed nearby (Fort Apache).

On two wheels this corridor is like running the gauntlet. Even the cars that try to stay in their lane are dipping, heaving, bobbing, weaving. It turns every vehicle into a mad max machine trying to kill you. Horns bleat, people abandon the road in sudden and dangerous desperation, parts fall off and become impossible to clean up due to the traffic volume, all of the overpasses look like they might drop an I-beam at any time. If this were a video game, it would be rejected as too unrealistic.

Because of all of this, the road clogs, and clogging leads to blockages, which really backs things up. Because there are no shoulders, police, fire, ambulance, and tow vehicles take forever to get to the scene. I have been stuck on this road more than once while entrepreneurial individuals walked among the cars selling water, Gatorade, cocaine, and firearms.

Then you get to the GW. It has expansion joints that are more properly called expansion jaws. Because it has two levels, it has exits right, left, up, and down. Because of the confluence of roadways coming on and off the bridge, your GPS says "Can I have some of that Cocaine?". It costs $12 one-way to get into New York and begin your seven miles of misery. It is free to get out, but chances are you left more than $12 in parts behind you. If you do the simple math, assuming only half the traffic comes into NY, the GW collects a little less than $1Million per day. You would think that by now, a few, just a few, of those dollars would have made their way to the Cross Bronx Expressway. 

The result was a handsome luxurious coupe, and a prototype cabriolet. BMW decided against producing the cabriolet, although one was built for Herbert Quandt. They did give the green light to the coupe. It was formally introduced at the 1961 Frankfurt show, along with the 1500 Neue Klasse sedan (see Birth of the Bavarian Sports Sedan). The first production models followed in early 1962. The coupe featured an all alloy 3.1 litre V8 producing 160hp and 177 ft/lbs of torque. It was a four speed manual with twin Zenith carbs which could propel the car to a top speed of 124mph. The suspension featured wishbones and torsion bars up front, with a live axle and torsion bars in the rear. Brakes were disc up front and drums out back. As mentioned, the body was steel on a tubular steel chassis weighing in at 3300 lbs. With this combination of numbers, the 3200CS, like the 503 before it, was more GT than sports car.

The coupe represented many "lasts" for BMW. The last postwar V8, the last pushrod motor, the last live axle car, etc. However, it also began a new era. More than the numbers, it is the influence of the car that makes it important. A host of styling and engineering decisions lived on in future models. The engine being placed low to allow for a low nose, the generous greenhouse, the round tail lights with turn signals in the center, the elimination of the B pillar, gearbox to engine mating, rear kink, belt line crease. The 3200CS lost the studebaker-like styling (IMHO) of the 503 and ushered in the modern BMW coupe. It only lasted 3 years, from 1962 to 1965, and only 603 were produced, but it is a very short evolutionary step from the 3200CS to the 2000CS, the 2800CS, and the iconic 3.0CS that followed within just a few years.

This, however, was not the case on my 1965 BMW R50/2. It has a magneto, headlight, tail light, horn, and two indicator lights for charge, and headlight/high beam. No turn signals, no heated seats, no beverage chiller. There is a single little circuit board in the headlight bucket to which all of the wiring runs. The wiring harness exits the headlight bucket, splits off a few wires for the horn button and high beam switch, and then runs the rest back for an aux socket, battery, brake switch, and tail light. That's about it. When my tail light began to work intermittently, it should have been a simple matter to find the problem and fix it, yes?

No. A 45 year old motorcycle with a 45 year old wiring harness is surprisingly resistant to quick fixes. This is what helps to make vintage vehicle ownership a thinking man's pursuit. first I replaced the tail light bulb. The light was brighter, but a short run that evening proved that the problem still existed. The light simply turned off about 15 minutes into the run. It then came back on a few minutes later, then off again, then on back at the garage. No obvious clues like hitting bumps, or under load, or after some consistent period of time. I got out the shop manual and looked over the wiring diagram. Yep, it was dead simple, and no obvious way that a suspect horn switch could cause the problem. I played with the switch anyway to see if I could produce the fault. All I succeeded in doing was sounding the horn 20 times, which brought the family running out to the garage with looks of concern first, and then irritation. I checked continuity and current. All was well according to the multimeter from the tail light, to the diode board. Of course, the problem only happened when running.

At this point, The smart play would have been to get a new harness, tackle the pesky horn/high beam switch, and maybe get a new diode board as well to ensure electrical system health for the next 45 years. But that would have resulted in a multiple-hundred dollar fix for a flaky tail light. I already had experience with such adventures (see The $800 CV Boot). Plus, what if this was simply a bad soldering connection? There was only one thing to do at this point; I unleashed the Classic Velocity Electrical Diagnostic Methodology (developed in conjunction with Dr Seuss):

I wiggled on switches
and jiggled on plugs
I unwrapped the harness
and gave it slight tugs
I soldered connections
and added protection
and made sure that all of
the ground points were snug

I uncovered nothing that hinted at the problem. I was hoping to uncover some aged brittle insulation or a chafed wire, but everything looked good. I went for a (hopeful) ride. The problem with an intermittent problem is that it is hard to know when you have it solved. The ride produced no sign of the fault, but it was only 30 minutes. I didn't ride this bike a lot at night with it's 1960s lighting system, so 30 minutes was about as long as I had ever gone. The other challenge is that you can't exactly monitor a tail light very well while riding. If it was flickering or going out briefly, I would not know. Despite this, I decided to declare success.

It was about 3 months later that I had a 45 minute ride home in the dark with the bike. The fault really appeared to be gone. Why? I don't know. Was it gone for good? I don't know. As an engineering type, this is not a satisfying conclusion. You want to find root cause and know that failure F1 lead to result R1 and was remedied by solution S1. Accordingly I am concluding that a faulty soldering joint and a slightly corroded ground conspired to interrupt the circuit due to harmonic vibrations when the motorcycle hit 49.6mph. Echoes of those harmonics persisted for a short period of time and then dissipated. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Although I would like to think that they arranged this just for me, at the time of my visit the Forney museum happened to be featuring an exhibit on the history of Mercedes Benz. Brilliant. About half of the automotive space was dedicated to this exhibit. Even with this much space, it made for a pretty crowded exhibit due to the number of cars. The date range covered was 1950 to 2000. Nothing very new, and nothing very old, but covering what I consider to be some of the best years for the marque.

A little more space was dedicated to some really valuable cars which were posed with mannequins (womannequins?). These rarities began with a 1950 type 300 Cabriolet in maroon with tan interior, followed by a coupe in two-tone silver and green. One forgets how beautiful the front grills were on these cars, and how they were enhanced by ornate grill badges common at the time. Further down there was a 1954 220 with the next generation of body styling. Another exquisite star was the 1959 220 SE Cabriolet in pale yellow. Not the first color I think of with Mercedes, but a stunning car in this case. There was a Gullwing of course, and a nice black 190. Perhaps over exposure of these "rockstars" has dulled my appreciation for how special they are, but I moved on quickly.

However, the exhibit did not just consist of ultra-rare examples of the marque. Moving on chronologically, we come to the first of the pagoda cars, a 230 SL. I owned one of these cars (another car I should never have sold), and have always maintained that they have one of the best engine bays in vintage cardom. Although mine was certainly not, properly done they are like jewelry. The example on display belonged in Tiffany's. As you moved on, the entire range of SLs was well represented through to the 450SL. Another superb aspect of this marque are the interiors. The earlier cars contain fine furniture more so than auto interiors. They give the British a run for their money on this front. But even the later cars have dash and trim that exude luxury, even on lower end models. The interiors deserve their own article, so we will move on....

What would a Mercedes exhibit be without their fabulous sedans? The early 190s, 220s, and 300s, gave way to successive generations with the same numbers, but with new designations like S, SE, and SEL. There was a 220 SE from the early 1970s, a nice silver 450 SEL, and a beautiful black 600. And what about the diesels you say? Well the engine that Mercedes helped to make acceptable both in luxury cars and in taxicabs alike, was well represented. The diesel cars present were drivers (kudos to Forney for including working examples). The stalwart is the 300D, and there was both a turbo diesel sedan and a diesel wagon.

Last but not least, was a sedan reminding us that Mercedes can do performance when it wants to. The 190E with the Cosworth 16V heads is near and dear to me as one with my name on the title sits apart at an undisclosed secret location. This model would have been cock of the walk in performance sedans, except for the bad timing of being introduced in the 1980s around the same time as the all-conquering BMW E30 M3. It has instead become a cult classic. On display was a euro version of the ultimate expression of that car, the 2.5 Evolution, complete with charcoal grey color and houndstooth interior. I may have left a puddle of drool nearby.

It is not until you see an exhibit like this that you can appreciate what a particular marque has accomplished over time. And in this case, it was just a fraction of the cars that Mercedes has produced. It was missing the beginnings of the automobile, the pre-war era, the trucks and G-wagens, and the most recent 15 years !!