Antique Motorcycle Club of America - Europe Chapter Meet

So after attending several Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA) meets in America, where I had the 1968 Triumph Bonneville that I restored Judged, I decided to attend my first European AMCA Meet. 




The meet was in Geldrop, the Netherlands, which is just across the border from Germany - about 550 kilometers from Nürnberg.

I took my two Triumphs (’68 Bonneville and ’68 TR6C). These were the first British bikes ever entered in the AMCA Europe meet.  The Bonneville was judged and received 99-3/4 points out of 100 possible (it was judged at 99 points at Jefferson, PA AMCA meet last Oct.), which is pretty fabulous (thanks to a lot of help from David Schostkewitz of Classic Cycles Ltd.). 

Classic Cycles Ltd.

The TR6C was not judged, but did take home a 1st place trophy for Period Modified, which is a local Chapter award. So at the end of the day I was a happy guy.

A total of 24 bikes were judged. The age range was 1912 to 1968. The European Chapter is very heavily into American bikes, mostly Harley-Davidson. There were a couple of Excelsior's as well. The quality of the bikes was just excellent. Not a dog in the bunch, plus several original and unmolested bikes that were super. Amazing to see so many fabulous vintage Harley-Davidson's in Europe.

The vendor scene was pretty small unfortunately, but this is really a very small meet with a narrow focus, so I guess this is to be expected. I think England, Germany and Holland were the countries with biggest representation, along with 2 or 3 folks from France and Italy.

There was a modest spectator turnout, and several of the spectators rode in on some great bikes. The venue itself was a real nice park - outside of Geldrop in some farm & horse country. Very pretty in deed. 

The Attic Find Trio

The highlight for me was a trio of "Attic Find" bikes brought in by a gentleman from the Netherlands. If I understood the story correctly, he was given a hint that there were some old motorcycles in the attic of a Dutch farmhouse. He went to the farmhouse to find out what was going on and what he found was pretty amazing - four motorcycles had been hidden in 1939 behind a brick wall to keep the Nazi's from confiscating them. They had been behind the brick wall up until just a few months ago when Garret (do not recall his last name) retrieved them. There were two Harley-Davidsons (a circa 1920 V-Twin 20 J (?) and a circa 1919 Model W Sport 584 cc Flat Twin Engine), a 1926 MB1 Motobecane and a very rare Eysink (manufactured in the Netherlands). The Eysink went to a museum, but the other three were at the meet.

I have attached a link to photos of an overview of the meet. Double click the thumbnails and you’ll get a larger picture with captions.
AMCA Europe 2013 Pictures

Hope you enjoy...