Wednesday 28 October 2009

Barn Job



One of the first crappy jobs I had after I left school was working in a factory making commercial catering equipment . Like most manufacturing jobs , it was tedious to the extreme . The only plus point was , I had a nice sideline getting mine and my mates bike parts polished and chromed , the plating was much better quality than the stuff you got on off the shelf parts . They also had a huge machine shop , with a lot of engineers who would do `homers `.
This was around the time when the craze for buying Oast Houses was in full swing . Builders would buy up farm buildings cheaply , do them up a little and sell at a massive profit . One of the draughtsmen from the factory drawing office bought such a property and I can remember him coming into work saying he had found an old bike in one of the untouched outhouses on the property.
Sure enough , a few months later , he rode into the factory car park on a freshly restored Panther sloper . I can still remember the lazy beat of the engine , the smell of the thing and just how fucking cool it was .
Anyway , here`s some more from my mate Rowan . In the pictures , we see a nice little plunger BSA , which Rowan acquired from a farmer for a very modest sum . The farmer even lent him a lawnmower fuel tank and temporary seat padding . After a little tinkering with the carb , he was able to ride the thing home !

4 comments:

  1. You guys and your English.
    If we 'merkins find anything in an outhouse, it's usually good policy to leave it where it lies.
    That is a great find though!

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  2. yes richie... we park vehicles in an outhouse and its not illegal to pay a solicitor to do legal work for you, we wear pants under our trousers, pack spare bed linen in our trunks and walk on the pavement....... it makes going on holiday in the states interesting for us and amusing for you guys... oh and i paid about 15 bucks for that Beezer, back when i was slim.... ha ha

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  3. Well....as long as you don't smoke cigarettes I suppose.

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