The VJMC at the 2003 Scottish Motorcycle Show

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8th & 9th March 2003

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After a very successful display in 2002, we had a lot to try and live up to on the VJMC stand. Organisation started at the end of last year when we decided to use lighting as our main theme. The list of members ( and new members ) wishing to display their pride and joy, grew and grew and grew, until we had over 40 + potential machines. The problem was the space we had been allocated over the years could only cope with about 28 max. After a meeting with the organisers, we were swapped with the Sunbeam owners Club, and promised we could have the extra bikes on our stand. Everybody was told and arrangements made. BUT 2 days before the show we received a call from the organisers who told us that it was not possible to have the extra bikes . So I then had the task of telephoning some members and passing on the bad news. Most of whom had spent many hours polishing them. Again I can only apologise and say "there is always next year".

As a result of last years show, we have had new members coming along to the meetings and they were keen to show their bikes too. Pete Stamper had dug his wife's KE 175 out the hut after many years hibernation, and made a splendid job of it. Consequently he got a "Highly Commended" Rosette from the classic show and 3rd place in the club competition. Dave Martin entered both his Z1000 LTD's and has spent many hours preparing them and even working til 2am some mornings. Despite this he could only finish one in time. Ian Crawford was another new member who wished to show 2 bikes. A CX 500 and a CD125 Benly. The CD never made it either as his front wheel did not arrive back in time from being sorted. The CX did and made a big impression with everyone, so much so that it won the club Best in Show Competition. Much to Ian's delight. 2nd place in our competition was Martin Euler's baby, a 1979 Yamaha XS 650.

The following bikes also won "Highly Commended Rosette's" from the classic show

Allen Wright Suzuki GT 500

Brian George Honda 400/4

Dave Cullen Kawasaki Z1B

Steve Traynor Suzuki GT750

Another member, Mike Harper, won the competition for Best Post Classic for his Honda CBX, which was not on our stand this year, but was with the CBX owners Club Stand.

The show could not have gone on without the usual problems. Poor Allen Wright being the biggest recipient. His problems started when he decided to add to his collection of nice 380 and 550 Suzuki's. Another club member had had a GT500 for a couple of years and had problems getting it to run properly. He put in another electronic ignition and the bike went great. As he was so fed up with it he decided to sell it. Along comes Allen. Buys the bike and takes it home to show the wife. Brenda notices the reg number and said it looked familiar. At this time Allen realised It was a bike that he had owned many years previously and he too had sold it because of the problems it caused him.

Undeterred, he set about restoring it fully. His next problem came about when he took off the side panel and laid it down. He then moved his van and reversed over the top of the side panel. OOPS!

In his usual dedicated way he then set about rubbing down the tank and panels for repainting. The undercoat was applied and left to dry. Allen later found that it had reacted so it was rubbed down again. The undercoat went on okay so the top coat was put on and left. He later found that this had also reacted and it had to be rubbed down to bare metal again. The base coat and top coat were reapplied and when they were done to his high standards, he put on the decals. Job done it was left safe on the garage floor. He later returned to inspect his finished work only to discover his dog cocking his leg over his tank. moral of story - paint and dog pee don't mix !!!!!. Apparently his dog has not yet re emerged down from the atmosphere (if there are any animal liberation types reading this - no animal was hurt or injured in the making of this bike, honest )

Despite these MINOR set backs, Allen's now much loved GT500 also picked up a "Highly Commended Rosette" Well done Allen and to all our winners, a credit to the club.

Back to the stand. We also had the Club Honda 750 raffle bike, on display. This was brought up by Don Leeson, who had the task of flogging the tickets. Throughout the show, his distinctive voice could be heard saying " This very bike could be yours for only a pound, only a pound " I'm sure he must have had his own barrow on a market stall in a previous life. The only thing we never heard him say was " 2 for a pound, 2 for a pound " He made sure he was making as much money for the club as he could.

Nice one Don. Also on the club desk was Brian George taking new memberships and selling regalia. Between Don with his southern/ Welsh accent and Brian with his Midlands accent, Mike Easton had to reassure potential new members that we did have some Scottish speaking club members. On the Sunday, Brian's wife Maureen took over the desk, which he had kept to his usual tidy organised manner. The first thing she did was change everything around on the desk. (I would love to be a fly on the wall in their house.)

Our " Pist de Resistance ! " was our club Presentation of Prizes. The shield and crystal glasses had been arranged, the judging had been done by one of the classic show organisers, Doug Young. All we needed was someone to present the prizes. As everyone began to gather, Ian Cameron spotted a wee guy in the crowd looking at our bikes. He said "That's Chris Walker, the WSB rider. Lets get him". Before he got time to refuse, he was surrounded by a crowd of grinning admirers, wearing their fancy new VJMC Scottish Show 2003 T shirts. He was hustled onto the main stage and he very graciously presented the awards. He then stood patiently for photos. (It must have been a big honour for him to get his photo taken with us, should have asked him if he wanted to join our club !) After lots of handshakes and best wishes for the season ahead he managed to escape. A huge Thank You to Chris for turning so many grown men into grinning idiots., except Martin Euler who didn't realise who he was until he had left.

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Finally, the classic cavalcade. At 4 pm most of the bikes were taken off the stand for a ride around the showground with the other clubs. They all set off, including Mike Easton on his newly rebuilt Z1R. In the past, Mike's bike has not managed to complete the route due to small niggly problems but he was in confident mood this time. So off they all went into the distance, George Beer was the first casualty as he had forgot to put petrol in his CB95E, (was it Hollie, Clara or Rosie - yes he does have names for his bikes.) Petrol starvation was also Mike's down fall a short time later.

...Cool Duncan!

An excellent VJMC Stand, made possible by a lot of hard work and effort by all the team, a big thank you and again very well done.

Jim Readman

List of bikes in the show

Honda C200 1963 Chris McDonald CB95E (X 3) 1965 -68 George Beer 250 Superdream 1979 Gilbert Cairns CL360 1975 Alistair Hall CB360G 1974 Craig Beer CB400/4 1976 Brian George CX500E 1983 Ian Crawford CB750/4 1970 Richard MacKay

Suzuki GT250M 1976 Ema Beer GT250 1976 Ian Harper GT380 1976 Allen Wright RG500 1986 Alan Bett GT500 1976 Allen Wright GT550 1976 Allen Wright GT750 1977 Steve Traynor

Kawasaki KE175 1978 Pete Stamper Z250 1980 Bill Bruce Z650 1977 Steve Traynor Z1 1973 Gordon Stark Z1B 1976 Dave Cullen Z1R 1980 Mike Easton Z1000LtdK1 1980 Dave Martin

Yamaha YB100 1977 Brian George XS650 1979 Martin Euler XS850 1979 Stan Smith

See us in the parade by clicking on a link below. Don't expect a high quality production as the cameraman was using the camera for the first time and of course was bias to my RG500!

56K stream (low quality) 256K stream (good quality)