The Canadian Motorcycle Heritage Museums latest Traveling Roadshow display was at the Toronto International Spring Motorcycle Show, April 5 & 6, 2003 at the Toronto International Centre on Airport Rd.
The booth was generally considered to be the best one ever at the Spring Show. Covering 900 square feet of floor space right in the middle of Hall one, the display was a 'walk along' style, running down the big center aisle.
As in the January SUPERSHOW, we had as a guest noted Motorcycle Journalist Max Burns, inside the booth selling autographed copies of his newest book, 'On any Wednesday'.
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For this Show we had three distinct themed features in the display:
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1. A Museum Tribute to the late great Road Racer Barry Sheene, including the Museums RG500 that is almost identical to the bikes Barry rode near the end of his career. In his honour we put his famous racing number 7 on the front. In addition to his photo, we had old racing magazine articles, posters, and even an un-opened Barry Sheene RG500 model kit nearby as support material.
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2. Next we presented a 'before and after' display of the Museums newly acquired 'as found' Suzuki GS 1000 Superbike that was owned by Steve Lang, sponsored by McBride Cycle and ridden by Rob Bartlett. Right next to it was the Museums restored GS1000 that was campaigned by the Legendary Art 'The Dart' Robbins. Both bikes were raced in the Expert Superbike class in the early 1980's, and it was fascinating to see the restored Robbins bike beside the 'as found' and pretty rough looking Bartlett bike. (If you think you have any old photos, news articles, programs etc. that show the old # 132 GS1000 in 1982 or 1983, we'd love to see them and if possible get copies or such.)
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3. The final 'theme' was the pairing of the newly acquired 1989 Honda GB500 'Thumper' single, and the Museums beautiful 1967 Velocette Thruxton. The 'classic styling' cues on the 'modern' Honda were very obvious to all when compared to the Velo. Honda did a great job at replicating the look of the old British single, but they added nice touches like a front disc brake and a starter motor to civilize it.
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Other bikes in the booth for this show were: The 1934 Scott 'TT Replica', 1951 NSU/Lambretta Scooter, 1974 Ducati GT750 'Café Racer', 1959 triumph Bonneville, 1993 Honda NS50, 1971 Kawasaki Mach III, 1952 NSU Fox, 1953 Adler M200, and the Museums ultra rare 1920 Indian Boardtrack Racer.
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I'd like to thank our wonderful volunteers who help make all this happen: Dave Hall -our on- site Museum display manager and volunteer recruiter, Steve Palmer - who worked every day including loading and unloading the bikes, set up and tear down, Robert Caldwell, Oliver Bertin, Ray Boileau, Roger Burtnik, Colin Langueduc, Paul McInnis, Greg Robb, Mark Rawlings, Steve Sozonchuk and Paul Taylor. They were a great bunch of volunteers, we thank them very much.
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We'd also like to thank our Museum Sponsors who also help make this possible: Lange Transportation & Storage for picking up and returning the bikes in a safe, professional manner, GES Exposition Services for the materials and manpower to build the great booth every time, AVW TELAV Audio Visual Solutions for the TV/VCR systems on which we run the vintage motorcycle videos, and Showtech Power & Lighting for supplying the hydro and the Spot lights that make the display shine. The sponsorship of all these companies is invaluable and greatly appreciated.
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The next step for the Museum is to update the permanent display we have at the Canadian Motorsports Hall of Fame down at the CNE grounds, and prepare for our 'summer tour' at various events such as the Ride to Remember, the Vintage Road Racing Association Mosport Festival and more.
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Remember our motorcycling Heritage, and help support your Museum.
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