Mostunusual
MOSTUNUSUAL
If it can be pushed, prodded, kicked, cursed or cajoled onto two or three wheels, you'll see it at Daytona. Touring rigs encrusted with so much chrome and festooned with so many lights that the wheels and engine are barely visible through all the glitter. Every classification of chopper known to man and a few that would be at home on Mars. Trikes covered by everything from powerboat shells to Conestoga wagons to wood-plank outhouses.
But the title of Cycle Week 84’s Most Unusual, as chosen in the Rat’s Hole custom chopper show, went to Donnelly Hall’s Oldsmobile V-8-powered, er, creation.
Calling what Hall has built a motorcycle doesn’t really do it justice. First the figures. The rig is 10 ft. long. It weighs close to 900 lb. Forward motion is provided by a 1961 Olds aluminum V-8 displacing 215 cubic inches. Hall says he has about $4000 invested so far. “And about a million hours,” he adds.
Hall, a soft-spoken 41-year-old welfare worker from Manchester, Kentucky, constructed the frame out of water pipe. It bolts together in two places so the engine can be removed if needed. A transfer case pirated from a Triumph sports car is connected to the engine via a custom-built drive shaft. Final drive is chain. One speed is used, and the engine spins 3000 rpm at about 70 mph, that
figure being imprecise because no speedometer is fitted. Hall figures he’s getting about 30 mpg when cruising.
The front end is off a ’71 Honda, connected to the handlebars by long tubes that tunnel under the Hall-built 4.5 gal. gas tank. Air caps are fitted, and Hall runs 30-35 psi to keep things under control. There is no rear suspension save the radial car tire that’s mounted on a rim Hall fashioned from a Volkswagen wheel.
Hall admits that building his bike was “like stumbling around in the dark,” but that he’s pleased with the way it turned out. “This is a real motorcycle,” he says. “It’s not like a show bike that doesn’t get ridden. I’ve put about 12,000 mi. on it.
“It’s smooth as anything I’ve ridden,” says Hall, who also owns a 40,000-mi. Kawasaki 1000 and a 30,000-mi. Yamaha 650 Twin. “The handling is a little different, but it’s not hard to ride really. Once you get out of city traffic it’s reasonable.”
