Spotted: Motorcycling in the age of Depends

There is a cycle to our lives. We start out with training wheels, find our balance, and move on to two wheels. Then we get old, and it’s back to three wheels again. But this time they’re on a Harley Davidson. I spotted this custom trike in Niagara Falls. The downside: you can’t lean through corners. The upside: it’s a lot harder to tip over. And you’re still riding, incontinence problems be damned! As the great William Wordsworth wrote in his poem Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey: “I have learned to look on nature not as in the thoughtless hour of youth….”

No training wheels on this one. I spotted this Confederate Fighter in Toronto. The Fighter is a rare machine, produced in Alabama by Confederate Motorcycles. Crafted from billet aluminum, the Fighter was inspired by post-WW2 outlaw motorcycle culture, when returning GI’s built custom bikes and sought adventure on the roads of America. The cost of being an outlaw has gone up considerably since the 1950’s: the Fighter’s starting price is about $70,000 U.S.

The shop at Gentry Lane in Toronto is always stocked with automotive treasures. When I took my Lotus in for service a few weeks ago, I was greeted by this 1957 Chevy Nomad wagon, which was getting a once-over before being put up for sale.

The interior of the Nomad conjures up an age before digital technology. What a classic.

If you read Hot Rod magazine in the 60’s and 70’s, you’ll understand the nostalgic pull of these classic decals.

Reader John Martins spotted another Chevy Nomad on the road in Ontario. That two-tone paint looks great.

Stephen Van Esch spotted this hotrod-in-progress in Arthur, Ontario. It looks like the fundamentals are there: a body, four wheels and a motor. But wait, what’s that giant turbocharger doing sitting in front of the firewall?

A look inside the hotrod project reveals that a little work may be required to get it on the road.

John Martins spotted this 1972 Volvo P1800 in Oakville. It looks like it could have rolled out of the factory last week.

My friend Katherine Scarrow spotted this Sunbeam roadster in Toronto. The Sunbeam was built in England through the 1960’s, and epitomized the golden age of the roadster, when two-seater convertibles fired the imaginations of countless enthusiasts. Although it was originally produced with a four-cylinder engine under the hood, Sunbeam also created a variant called the Tiger, which used an American-built V-8.