The scooter whisperer
I noticed on page 82 of OBA 87 the pictures of Goulburn St, Sydney. The emporia of Amalgamated Scooters, mostly second hand bikes and new Bridgestone motorcycles, owned and operated by
Phil Scharer and Len Hanson, then Stan Ellis one-time OK Supreme agent and canary breeder extraordinaire and his long time employee and Vintage Motorcycle Club founding member and stalwart, Jack Borradale. Stan Ellis won Best in Show 17 times straight with his Canaries, the same number of times BMW won the Sidecar World Championship; then the Wally Underwood business, operated at this time by
Vic Poole, known by the trade as Mr. Victor. Wally Underwood had long departed this world and Mr. Victor was working for Mrs. Underwood. Vic was a scooter whisperer! He would buy scooters that did not go and under the light of 15 or 20 watt globe, the only lighting in the premises, sit on a box and talk to them until they healed up. Seldom more than a spark plug was required to fix the problem!
The Green c1950 MG YA in all three photos was owned by Vic and on some Saturdays after the shops had shut and Goulburn St was all but empty he would drop the oil out in the gutter and give it an oil change. He sold it to Jack Borradale and Jack discovered that Vic had replaced the brake fluid with 90w diff oil as it was thicker and did not leak out as quickly.
I have enclosed some photos taken about the same time. The first was taken outside Stan Ellis’s shop Allparts, Munro Machinery, Auto Magneto Engineering, and the Vanity Fair Hotel on the other side of Goulburn St. and the Macquarie Hotel in Wentworth Avenue. The next photo is of Jack Gilmore with one of the new Bridgestones and the McCulloch VW van. McCulloch was the importer of Bridgestones at that time and later became the Yamaha distributors. Scott’s motorcycles can be seen behind the van, run at that time by a likeable rogue, Laurie Steel.
Bill Moline Townsville, Qld