Vintage Morris

Tall Tales but True from a lifetime in motorcycling.

ISBN: 978-0646-962337 Australian price: $29 plus $14 postage. 192 pages soft cover. Available from the author: PO Box 392 Winston Hills NSW 2153 Email: Lm2@tpg.com.au Phone: 0410 524 882 Lester Morris has been part of the Sydney (and briefly Melbourne) motorcycling scene for nearly seventy years, having served behind the counter in such venerable (and long-gone) institutions as Hazell & Moore, Omodeis, A.P. North, and Ryde Motorcycles. He also started the Motorcycle Learner Training Scheme in 1972 and along the way has written books and many magazine articles on the subject. Lester’s other passion is acting, and you’ve probably seen his cherubic face in television commercials and films over the years. With such a varied and extensive career, it’s not surprising that Lester has gathered countless yarns and anecdotes, and many of them are in this book (the first of several planned), sprinkled with pen portraits of the larger than life characters that have traditionally populated the bike trade. It’s a big read – lots and lots of words, lots of laughs, but unfortunately very few photographs. Still, this is a rollicking tome that many or even most of us will readily identify with – a throwback to the days when motorcycle retailing was much less clinical than it is today.