EJ Potter – the Santa Pod jack-in-the-box!
Old Bike Mart usually brings back memories but the June edition was special for me.
I remember being at Santa Pod when the Michigan Madman was there. He came to the line, bike on a stand and already powered up with the rear wheel spinning. He kicked the bike off the stand and set off down the strip, before losing control, hitting the barrier on the left and sending the machine across the strip to the right before disappearing into a cornfield on the right, only for him and the bike to appear from time to time as he made his way into the field. It was like a jack-in-the-box – now you see me, now you don’t! I don’t think he was hurt.
One of the first vehicles I owned was a Reliant three-wheel van, AVV 40. I rebuilt the engine and gearbox, generally spruced it up and painted it in large red and yellow squares. Next, it needed a road fund licence. In order to tax it as a motor cycle it had to weigh under 8cwt, so this involved removing everything non-essential from the van, such as passenger seat and fittings, the spare wheel and its carrier, swapping the car battery for a cycle one, draining as many fluids as I dared. Then I took it to a government-approved weighbridge and convinced the weighbridge operator that the Reliant was in running order, full of fuel and coolant, so that he would give me every weight allowance going. He then very decently gave me a ticket for a couple of pounds under 8cwt.
The van ended up in the local brook (the River Nene) when my brother decided that he would get some off-road driving experience around a field and there it stayed in the mud for many years.
A mate and I did some work on his dad’s Bond and afterwards we decided to give it a test run around some of the local villages, one of which had a stream running through its centre. The road was taken through the stream by a ford which followed the stream’s course. We entered the water at some speed, the water was deeper than we expected, the bow wave came over the bonnet and us, the car stopped mid-stream and slowly filled. We just sat there, laughing and laughing. We pushed the Bond out of the water and, after we dried the electrics out, it ran as good as gold.
After the Bond my mate’s dad decided to go upmarket and bought a Berkeley, a non-runner, and we had to tow it back home. It was a foggy evening and starting to get dark so, to be on the safe side, it was decided to rig up some lights to the three-wheeler by running a cable from the back door of the Bedford van that was to do the towing, and through the nearside window of the Berkeley, picking up the lighting circuits. Everything went well for the first 15 or so miles until we came to an incline. The tow rope got snatched, causing it to part, but the lighting cable, being of tougher stuff, took up the tow, swinging the Berkeley violently round, turning it first on to its side then the roof – all this while still being pulled along. A quick-thinking lorry driver, seeing what was happening, pulled across the carriageway to stop the traffic and to protect us as we and the Berkeley were spread across the road. The Berkeley finished up much lightened, lowered and topless. My mate’s dad, who was the passenger, had broken ribs and I came away with a few cuts and bruises. I think a new body was found for the Berkeley and it was put back on the road.
Eventful but very happy days. Many thanks to the Old Bike Mart team for the very informative editions each month.
Bob Vale