1963 T120
Owner: Dave Hallam
IF DAVE HALLAM looks familiar, that’s probably because for years he was the face – and owner – of classic parts supplier Supreme Motorcycles in Earl Shilton. Dave, a sidecar winner at the 1985 TT, with John Gibbard in the chair (his son Craig also won a sidecar TT as passenger to Dave Molyneux in 1999), sold up to Draganfly in December 2016. That gave him more time to enjoy his own collection of bikes, which includes this 1963 model – the first year of the unit-construction engine.
“The unit-construction bikes are my favourites,” Dave admits. “This one is a bike that I had in stock at the shop – I’ve had it for about 12 years. It had been crashed and had lots of incorrect parts, so I completely restored it. I’ve completely rebuilt the engine and sourced all the right parts for the year. The only thing I didn’t handle myself was the paintwork. In fairness, I had most of the parts I needed in stock and I’d been putting them to one side for years. The few bits I hadn’t got when I came to make a start on the bike, I got from TMS – my brotherin-law runs the firm.
“I only finished the bike the day before yesterday and I’ve only done about 10 miles on it, so I brought it in my motorhome rather than riding it. I plan on riding and enjoying it for a while, but I might be tempted to move it on to make room for something else.”
It’s a good job Dave did get it finished, because the bike ended up scooping the concours award for the 1963-1970 class.