Motorcycles of the Car Classic 2014

In Blog by AbhiLeave a Comment

On Sunday, the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena had their annual Car Classic show – this year’s theme was “Street to Screen”. Obviously, they’re big on cars there (and there were some absolutely incredible ones to enjoy), but I figured it was worth a shot to see what kinds of motorcycles might be on exhibit, as well.

First, a quick peek at motorcycles in the parking lot:

Well, let’s begin:

Right off the bat, I set out to see what motorcycles were being featured, and was immediately underwhelmed, as there was just 6 bikes:

I can’t really fault them for not having many bikes – after all, it’s called the Car Classic.

Things started off interesting with a Cezeta 501:

Then they took a turn for worse with a Ducati Monster that had some serious damage to the tank:

Thankfully, all was restored with two bikes from legendary builder Shinya Kimura, the man behind Chabott Engineering. First, there was a custom 1976 Honda CB750:

There was also a wonderful 1946 Harley-Davidson by Kimura:

There might have only been six bikes, but the proportion was wonderful. If a third of the bikes in the world were designed by Shinya, the world would be a better place.

As a bonus, there was also a heavily modified Ducati 749R:

A few weeks ago, I was a Cruise-In at the Petersen when I saw someone drawing a classic Porsche. I saw him again, drawing the 749 and I had to check it out:

A couple of progress shots:

Ta-da! The gentleman’s name is Devin, and I’m going to try to share more of his work with you in the future:

Outside of the motorcycle section, there was this fascinating quad, the Rocket 3 by Randy Grubb, known for some amazing builds including Jay Leno’s Tank Car:

Alright, that’s pretty much it for the bikes. But seeing as this was the Car Classic, let me break tradition and share a few interesting cars, as well:

Lancia Stratos:

Porsche 917K:

Jay Leno’s Chrysler Turbine Car. Hearing this thing spool up when he left the show was a thing of beauty:

This is one of the longer JLG segments, but it’s well worth it. If you don’t have 25 minutes to spare, skip to 16:30 to hear it start:

GM Futurliner:

Two legends having a chat on a stage created out of the Futurliner:

Icon Derelict, with the founder of Icon getting interviewed. Note that this ’48 Buick features modern touches everywhere including a LS9 V8, custom chassis, hidden bluetooth/wifi, etc. The founder of Icon said something like this would run you at least 6 figures – some of the Icon Derelict series cars get as pricey as $450k.

A “Packard Royal” roadster, built by Rodney Rucker with design help from Chip Foose:

It’s 31.5 feet long and weighs 13,200 pounds:

It takes 100 gallons of fuel at a time for the boat engine that utilizes two transmissions to get power to the giant rear wheels:

It’s powered by a 41 liter V-12 that puts out 1,600 horsepower and 3,000 pound-feet of torque!

As the theme of the show was “Street to Screen”, there were some videos with ties to the silver screen.

Bullitt Mustang:

Porsche Panamera that’s been modified into a camera chase car:

There were a few Batmobiles – I though this tread was particularly appropriate:

If you want to see the rest of my photos (the remainder of which are just more cars from the show), check out this gallery.