Event Recap – 2017 AMCA Sunshine Chapter National Meet

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David N attended last weekend’s AMCA National in New Smyrna Beach, and he was kind enough to share his thoughts for those of you that couldn’t make it out!

Greetings from the AMCA Sunshine Chapter National Meet at the Silver Sands Bridle Club next to the Cabbage Patch.

Having reported about this show in previous years, I know the best day to come is Thursday. While the show officially starts Friday (Thursday is a set up day) and runs through Saturday, roughly half the vendors move out Saturday afternoon even before the judging has ended.

On Thursday, arriving vendors swap stuff among themselves, converging on newcomers even while the newcomers have not finished unloading. So, it’s best to come Thursday for any bargains or hidden treasures.

This year, I paid $40 to hawk my excess parts, but tables are only open to members. So, you’ll have to join the AMCA to get a stand, but It’s worth joining if just for the magazine.

The VJMC show will be the topic of another post, but some vendors switch locations. They might be at one show this year and the other show next year. So, plan on hitting both shows. They are about 1 hour apart and they always run the same weekend. It’s always the first weekend of Daytona bike week.

Because I have no problem wholesaling my junk to the professional vendors, my stuff was gone on day one, which gave me time to see both shows. I’ll report on them both.

This year’s AMCA show was seemingly more modern than prior years. I saw no bikes from the early century whereas in prior years we’ve seen anything from Reading Standards to an Indian Model O. I’m not sure why that was (or wasn’t). Perhaps those older bikes don’t sell at a meet like this. Who walks around with $50-100K? Or maybe it’s the competition from Mecum and Bonhams. I don’t know but I missed seeing them.

These photos are from the AMCA meet.

Exemplar of the variety of models which might be seen at an AMCA National meet, this is a Yamaha RD80LC, a gray market model made only two years and not sold in the US. This one was titled in Florida and needed some TLC but the seller was asking only $1200. It’s a water cooled two-stroke.

More typical of an AMCA meet was this Indian four – but with no price. They say if you have to ask, you probably can’t afford it. Even still, I have to get me one of these someday!

A wonderfully restored early DT1 had me asking if I was not at the VJMC meet, but this was the AMCA meet.

I’m guessing this Greeves is from about the same era, but I’m not certain.

This was probably the nicest Jawa Californian I have ever seen. Not $4500 nice, but the nicest still.

Next to the Californian was the Jawa Cezeta. Some of these had electric start but I don’t know about this one.

This vintage set of leathers was $100 at the beginning of the show, and $75 by the end of the show yet the Seller was still taking offers. While nice in any man-cave, I’d look for a set with the sponsor and riders’ names.

This 57 Maico 250cc Blizzard was also offered on craigslist and probably still is. The seller was asking $2995. It looked nicer in person. I’d be tempted to make an offer if my garage was not already embarrassingly full.

This one-owner VF1000F exchanged hands at the end of the show. It was a little rough but all there. Offered with a Lockhart full lower fairing and showed only 6K miles.

I’m generally not a chopper guy, but this one was very cool period!

Different than other shows, AMCA judged bikes must actually run. Here entrants are asked to start their bikes. Photographs of the judging exhibit follow.

Special thanks to David for taking us along!