Other Cars & Motorcycles

My dad in 1944 in the Panama Canal Zone in his first car - a Ford V-8 powered quarter midget. He used to zoom around the Canal Zone in this thing until he put it through the side of a barn and the base commander made my grandad take it away from him.

Dad's quarter midget "street" car in the Panama Canal Zone in 1944. He used to give girls rides with them sitting on the boat tail with their legs in the cockpit and their arms wrapped around his shoulders.

My dad's 1960 Alfa Romeo Guilietta Spider - first car I ever drove (age 14) - started the lifelong obsession with interesting cars.

My first car - a 1960 Renault Dauphine - dad paid $50 for it and gave it to me for my 16th birthday. A real POS - it never ran for more than 1/2 hour and I learned to never leave the driveway without a tow rope to get it home.

I finally own a Porsche! Dad wouldn't LOAN me the extra $200 I needed to buy a $600 Speedster two years before so I had wound up with a Turbocharged Corvair Corsa with a bad cylinder head and turbo for $275. After spending a lot of time and money fixing the Corvair (and pushing the engine to over 250 HP) I was able to get the car I really wanted all along.

My 1965 Corvair Corsa Turbo convertible and 1961 Land Rover with a Ford V-8 stuffed in it.

1965 Corvair Corsa Turbo - the Z-28 front spoiler made a world of difference in the stability of the car at highway speeds.

Honda CL77 305 Scrambler - not mine but I had one just like this one as my first bike. It was a real pig in the woods.

My first Motorcycle - Honda 305 Scrambler - I used to ride to school on this. I bought it from a friend of mine when he upgraded to a new Yamaha DT-1 in 1969. One of my fondest memories is roaring up the north beach on Jekyll Island at close to 100 miles an hour in the firm sand just below the tide line - and no we weren't supposed to be on the beach.

1972 OSSA Pioneer 250 - 5-speed - my first new motorcycle.

1972 - Porsche 356 - Ossa Pioneer 250 - Turbocharged Corvair Corsa convertible - Austin America (note evidence of carb fire)

The 1966 Buick Electra 225 that my Dad bought for us to drive to his 30 year High School reunion - he graduated from Balboa High in the Panama Canal Zone in 1944. We bought the Buick. outfitted it with two spare tires and a roof rack to carry extra gas and water and headed west to take the Pan-American Highway all the way through Central America to Panama. After more than a few breakdowns we finally arrived and wound up "donating" the car to the Panamanian government to get it off Dad's passport. The government official who handled the paperwork and wound up with the car was a Major Noriega. This picture was taken in Nicarauga.

1966 Corvair Corsa coupe originally a 140 hp car I put the turbo motor in it after the convertible got T-boned by a driver who ran a stop sign.

The coupe handled much better than the convertible due to the stiffer body. It would light up the E60-14 tires because the motor made over 250 HP due to many modifications to the turbocharged engine.

Arthur Kowitz from Ormond Beach, Florida won the inaugural motorcycle road race at Road Atlanta on this Ossa 250 Wildfire in 1973

OSSA 230cc Wildfire street bike with the roadracing conversion. Weighed about 185 pounds and was capable of speeds of 112 MPH (according to the Chambers County police force who clocked me doing that on State Line Road a few miles north of Lanett, Alabama in 1974).

Ossa Wildfire - this bike was raced at Daytona by the previous owner - I added lights and a (small) muffler and used it as a street bike.

1968 BMW 1600 with front end sheet metal damage - still ran pretty well - paid around $200 for it sometime around 1975.

1967 Series IIA Land Rover

1967 International Travelall - this beast had an insatiable appetite for gasoline - probably the worst fuel mileage of anything I've ever owned - 8 MPG was not unusual. The A/C system would almost make ice cubes however.

It's not as rough as it looks - actually fairly rust free (for an Alfa)

1958 Alfa Romeo Guilietta Spider - 1300cc DOHC all alloy engine

A view of the 1300 cc twin cam Alfa engine

The red Alfa a couple of years after I sold it - next owner did a nice restoration.

The red Alfa a couple of years after I sold it - next owner did a nice restoration.

The red Alfa a couple of years after I sold it - next owner did a nice restoration.

My 1957 Coupe De Ville and 1974 VW Thing - Cadillac had just over 63,000 miles on it - I bought it from the second owner. I kind of wish I'd kept it.

My last American car - turquoise/white 1957 Cadillac Coupe De Ville - great fun! That's my BMW 1600 in the background.

1957 Coupe De Ville - bought it for around $350 in 1978.

NSU 1200C - rear engine air-cooled - paid about $150 for it in 1976 - bought another one for $50.

The two outboard (L&R) NSU's were mine - I knew three other guys who owned one

1970? NSU 1200 - rear engine OHC air cooled 4 cylinder motor - about a 3/4 scale Corvair clone

The red NSU 1200 - paid $50 for it