Sad End to an Ariel & a Fun Photo

[chris.shearwood]

With the hope that it may interest or amuse some Forum members, I'll paste below (with his permission) some recent correspondence I have received from a fellow member of the Canadian Vintage Motorcycle Group:

"I was given a 1937 Ariel 350 when I was a young teenager back in the 1960s in London, England. It was brought around to my house in pieces and reassembled in the back yard only accessible by going through the house. I rebuilt it over a period of a few years and I can still remember the joy of finally starting it and that steady thump thump thump from the open silencer. Problem was I couldn't get it out through the house in it's rebuilt condition, and inevitably girls and cars came along and I lost interest in the Ariel, which stood in the back yard for a good eight years. When my mother finally told me to get rid of it, my brother and I took a hacksaw to it and cut it into small moveable pieces that fitted in the boot of his car and it was then taken to the dump. God I feel dreadful about that now. I have a photo somewhere I'll send which shows a 14 or 15 year old me sitting on it in in back yard with my best Marlon Brando pose. I'll send it to you for your amusement.

PS: when I said the Ariel was brought to my house in bits, I actually made several trips to collect it using my nephew's baby pram. When my sister found out she was absolutely furious. To make the story even sadder a complete all alloy 500 motor came with the pieces as a spare. It suffered the same fate.

I know that in England elderly British bikes were practically worthless and almost impossible to give away in the 60s and 70s. but I still feel pained by the memory."

[Steven.Carter]

Poor bike

[SimonFletcher]

I can see a possible way forward here. Perhaps we should have a thread on the forum entitled ‘Confessional’ which such unshriven miscreants can visit to unburden themselves. A nominated club member, possibly on some kind of rota system, would dispense ‘penances’ for the guilty to carry out and purge their ‘sins’? Just an idea…

[nevhunter]

50 quid on the Poor box and I'll get my name changed to Poor. Then some good will come of it. Nev

[Ian.Taylor]

Geeez Chris, you had me worried at first, I thought something happened to one of your Ariels.