Classic Cob
From the shed
At the completion of World War 11 there was a surplus of retired military motorcycles and not much money. So it was that Jack Johnson purchased all he could acquire of the disposed of former military Harley-Davidson machines. His company Redfern Motor Parts traded in Redfern, Sydney. He was later joined by his son John. However not too long after Jack passed away his son sold the stock to well known Harley-Davidson guru Tony Blain. Blain is a native of New Zealand who came here in 1978. In his early motorcycling days he owned a 1954 Norton, a Tiger Cub, Norton Atlas and a couple of Commandos. He then went on to purchase a 1989 FXSTS Springer as an entry to vintage and classic H-Ds therafter. Tony has a love of music and in the 1970s established a business looking after entertainers and trademarks, manufacturing their apparel and collectables for close to 30 years. In 1987 he signed up with Harley-Davidson to have the rights to manufacture their apparel in Australia, NZ and the East. In 1997 with others they travelled to USA with their early Harley-Davidson and Indian hand-shift machines to compete in two Class C Classic Racing events at Roebling Road, Georgia and Daytona.
For Redfern, initially the entire stock was moved to Unanderra where it was sorted by early Harley enthusiast, Peter Green over a two year period. Then in 2004 it was moved to the present site at Corrimal. One long-time employee is Shaun Wilson and he too moved to the present location and has been a dedicated manager since inception. However all good things must come to an end, and Tony has called it a day. The building has been sold and he gave the task of conducting an auction to Manshed Auctions. The proprietor of this company is Keith Levy, nephew of the late Bob Levy and son of speedway solo rider, Lionel Levy, nicknamed The Mighty Atom, who passed away in 1968. Keith and his daughter have both raced speedway sprint cars and his son Mitch until recently rode a R1 Yamaha in the Superbike series. The auction was conducted over a 3-day period from the 3rd, 4th and 5th May during which 1,350 items were sold. There were about 30 people present each day. However there were also 30 phone bidders Australia-registered as well as a total of 450 on-line bidders worldwide from 17 different countries. This included USA, UK, Germany, Portugal, Indonesia and probably the most active being The Netherlands. The caller Tony Gahan was kept busy as prices just kept going up and up from those on the floor as well as phone and computer-listed bidders. This auction was conducted in a very professional manner and Tony could not have asked for a better run organization to undertake this mammoth task. Some of the usual classic motorcycle parts have experienced a slight decline in sales during the past year or so, however this was not the case with these early Harley items. Some of these parts included a reconditioned JD engine sold for $17,000, Pea Shooter rear wheel $900, two JD fuel tanks, one of which was in good condition $2,700, two JD rear fenders $1,800, a batch of used 45 cams $6,250, early kill switch $300, early cast iron OHV cylinder head $1500. Complete machines included a 1973 street legal Harley-Davidson mini bike $7,200, 1938 W750 Flathead $30,000, 1929 Pea Shooter 350 OHV $30,000, 1926 SMA Factory Racer – believed to be the only one in existence – $29,500, 1938 U model 1200 $62,500. Added to this in each instance was the 9.9% premium. Tony informed me that none of the complete machines are leaving the country.
And so it is that yet another business providing parts and complete machines for enthusiasts has faded away. The good thing is that many buyers have been able to purchase hard to get parts to complete their projects around Australia and the world. Tony looks forward to maintaining his love of old motorcycles and to seeing everyone at the AMCA National at Bulli in August. See you next issue, Pete