I’M CHARGED UP ABOUT MY THUNDERBOLT
I bought my 1966 BSA Thunderbolt in 1969 – I lived in Long Beach, California and was working at Hughes Aircraft, east of there in Fullerton. I drove by on my way to work one morning, stopped and told the guy I’d buy it – then forgot which street he lived on during my drive home! I found it a few days later, paid the guy $600 (almost a month’s take-home pay) and rode it for the next 12 years. I did over 70,000 miles on it, with no problems other than things breaking or falling off due to vibration.
From 1971-75, I’d regularly do a 52-mile round-trip most days on the BSA – and it never once missed a beat or let me down. I parked it a year later when I bought a 1965 BMW R50, which I rode for the next ten years. The BSA is pretty much apart now and I’m going to take it to a shop and get it restored.
Just after I stopped riding it, I found a later model four-gallon fuel tank which I wished I’d had years earlier – I would have needed less fill-ups! The original fuel tank and seat are somewhere around. At some point I added 1972 front forks, but I’ll be putting the originals back on. BURL ESTES, MISSION VIEJO, CALIFORNIA