THUNDERBIRD RESTORATION
The 2015 Ace Classics calendar was the inspiration for this 1952 Thunderbird restoration
Beautiful Triumph inspired by a picture spotted in a calendar
“I never realised you could enjoy riding a bike so much without having to ride it flat out everywhere. It’s just so relaxing building and riding them,” says Ian Williets. The ex-road racer is now hooked on classic Triumphs and he’s restored a few in recent years, including this 1952 Thunderbird 650, with more to come.
Having given up racing two-stroke solos, sidecars and enduros, he’d kept a Honda sports bike for hooning around on the road but soon realised, “I was going to hurt myself if I kept riding around on that.”
That reality check coincided with a local friend asking him to restore a Suzuki GT750 engine. “I knew my way around a two-stroke engine from my racing days and enjoyed doing the work. Once we’d got that finished, he asked me to do a unit Triumph motor – and that was a whole new world to me. I really enjoyed working on it and suddenly developed an interest in old British bikes. So I bought a TR6 to restore and loved riding it.”
He didn’t have to wait long for another project. “I was looking through the 2015 Ace Classics calendar and saw a 1951 model Thunderbird – it instantly became my dream bike. I wanted to build one. I’d built unit-construction Triumphs, but I loved the lines of the older Triumphs and Cliff at Ace Classics said he’d find me one.
“What he found was a rolling chassis,” he says, although it didn’t roll because it had no bearings in the wheels. The engine had no internals, either. “But it was matching numbers and, as I wanted to do a full-on restoration, it was a perfect stating point,” explains Ian.
The frame had been butchered, too. The headstock had been cut off and chopped, the sidecar mounts had been cut off and the seat mounts had suffered the same fate.
“My first job was to rectify all that damage,” says Ian. “I had to lengthen the headstock, then reweld it. I rebuilt the gearbox. The gears were OK; they’re pretty bulletproof anyway, but I sorted new bushes and bearings throughout.
“I also set about collecting parts from jumbles; it’s part of the pleasure for me in a project like this – the thrill of the chase!”
Ian already had a crank he’d bought at a jumble, but needed conrods – and found a new-old stock pair. New pistons, rings, guides and valve gear came from Ace.
Earlier Triumphs can be great to work on, but Ian also discovered the hassles too. “I love the pre-units, but it can be a pain with different sized nuts and bolts where you would have thought they would have used one size. And it’s amazing how much they changed year on year with Triumphs – just little things like the length of bolts, the shape of fork nuts, stuff like that.”
The clutch is all new replacement parts, but the SU carb is original. “1952 was the first year of Triumph using the SU; there’s a hole in the frame where the carb rubber goes through. The ’51 model had an Amal carb – and that’s the picture of the bike I saw on the calendar, but I wanted the ’52.
“It’s an original SU, refurbished by Alan at Ace Classics. I’ve no idea how to set one up, but Alan did it without having the bike. I bolted it on and the engine ticks over, sweet as you like.”
The electrics were less straightforward. “I bought a BTH magneto at a jumble – it produces a spark, but it seems intermittent so it needs looking at. I bought a new one in the end, which I bolted straight on. The other one, once it’s been refurbished, can go on the next pre-unit I build.”
The sprung hub has been refurbished and the wheels rebuilt with new rims. The silencers are from Ace, and new mudguards were necessary, as the originals were too rusty and badly dented. Ian retained the original fork legs but rebuilt the front end using new stanchions, internals and fork seal holders. The oil tank and toolbox cleaned up well, but the seat is new.
“Ace did the paint – it’s in glass black. It’s not an official colour, it’s the name we’ve given it, because all Cliff kept saying was: ‘The paint’s going to look like glass’.
“Cliff also found me a horn button, dip switch and rear brake light switch – all very rare, all genuine Triumph parts. I love to build bikes, but I love to build them right, so getting genuine parts is satisfying. I’m a novice on pre-units so if I can do a restoration on one of these, anyone can. “This is actually a home market model – it’s never been outside the UK, but it’s got American-style high handlebars because I like my comfort. The older I get the more I appreciate older bikes. I find a lot of pleasure in riding them,” Ian adds.
And he’s about to add a new restoration to his tally – a decaying 1958 TR6 Trophy he spotted at Stafford last April is lined up as his next resto project...