Dear Family & Friends,
This blog is for all the Gear-heads I know, or just curious what I love about old machinery.
We are staying just east of Birmingham, AL to attend the Barber Vintage Motorcycle Festival.
The Barber Motorsport Complex is one of the most beautiful race tracks I have ever been to! Set in the rolling hills of Alabama with beautiful green grass every where, thick lush forests, grounds covered with custom artwork, water falls, and lakes. Also the world famous Barber Museum. Dale Barber is an EXTREMELY successful dairy farmer and car and motorcycle enthusiast. The museum he built if five stories of displays, work shops, conference rooms, and a great collection of mostly motorcycles, Porsches and Lotus race cars. ( He actively raced these cars) .
The only thing I find slightly disturbing is when I was younger I would go to a museum to see things that my parents or grand parents lived with or even older. At least 80% of the vehicles in this museum I remember from when I was young!! Could it be I am getting old???
For the first two days all I have done is toured the museum for hours, attended several conferences and went to the motorcycle swap meet which must cover 10 acres in two locations. Amazingly as tempted as I was I bought no motorcycles or parts. Just a small travel bag to carry the souvenirs I have been collecting.
This blog is long with almost 150 photos so I hope you enjoy it.
Jason
Parked in front of the museum to prove we made it!
Entering the Mecca of motorcycles.
As far as the eye can see there is excitement for any serious gearhead.
A very rare Lotus 30 race car. When I was young I would read about these cars racing in Europe and I built slot car models of them.
A jet powered motorcycle! You don't want to stand behind it when it is running. It can melt a car.
Rare racing motors. To me engineering the prominate art form of the 20th century.
My favorite Ducati when I was a young man. I lusted for one but they were way to expensive for me back then,
A GIANT collection of toy cars, model cars, and slot cars. Good to see I am not the only one hanging on to my youth.
A good collection of Formula 1 cars.
Notice the cow skin seats on this Harley Davidson? It was called the "Cow Gluide".
Looking out the window at part of the race track. Better trimmed than my front pasture! Of course having unlimited water helps.
This motorcycle was ridden around the world to raise money for MS research! My hero. He even had a mild case of MS!
This was a very limited production motorcycle designed by Craig Vetter. I actually built the first prototype for him...
I had one of these about 10 years ago. Bought it for $6500 and sold it for $8500 and thought I made a killing. I should have held onto it for a few more years. Now they bring $25,000+!!
This is the first year for the Triumph Bonneville. A very iconic model and quite valuable today. I am currently restoring one.
This is the famous Bentley the Beatles owned. And standing in front is world famous motorcycle tourer Brian Louw!
Hi! :)
The landscaping around the track is amazing.
A spare Ferrari 250GTO LM alloy body on the wall just incase you need one. And below a spare 427 COBRA body. Nice to have.
An immaculate and well equipped restoration shop in the lower level.
A very sophisticated machine shop including a 3D printer.
This is the room with future projects waiting to be restored. Kind of looks like my garage on steroids!!
A full size Aston Martin race car "kit" on the wall.
The designer and builder of this motorcycle gave an interesting talk. The ENTIRE motorcycle other than the tires was 3D printed!
Been adding on to my sticker collection this trip.
Out side all around the facility classics parked everywhere.
This giant statue in one of the ponds is affectionately nick named "Fluzzy in a Jacuzzi". Not very nice..
Like I have been saying, religion plays a BIG part of life in the south. Here is a free Biker Bible. I didn't take one.
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