Historical Motorcycle Disaster

On the 7th of June Fires started raging around Knysna and the Plettenburg Bay Area.

A Good friend of mine Stan H , moved down there several years ago , had a large plot in the Muldersdrift area , just outside Krugersdorp ,when I first Met him.

Simon F the Editor of Bike SA kept his collection of Bikes at Stan's Place in Muldersdrift as well.

Simon had 500 Bikes there!

Stan also had an enormous amount of Bikes and Old American Cars .

What made Stan's unique was ( From his Dad ,) and his own collecting , he had more Vincent's and spares than any one man alive to the best of my Knowledge!

All you so called Bikers who do not know what A Vincent HRD is , go stand in the corner and repeat, " I am not a real Biker" till you do know what it is.

In the early 1950's Vincent built a Bike called a Black Lightning, it did 150mph , My Laverda Jota 1981 Model was the fastest Production Bike in the World at the Time!, The 27 year old Vincent was Faster!

Stan also had one of every model Honda made up to the time we first met , so when I tell you that in my life I have had 67 Road Bikes , I am an amateur, in comparison.

When the fire broke out in Plett , Stan was busy rebuilding a Vincent Rapide to order for an American Client, for the sum of $1,000,000.00.

Do you now understand what a Vincent is?, an extremely valuable , collectable Motorcycle!

When I heard about the Fires raging down there I tried calling Stan , unsuccessfully , and tried FB to send him a message.

BTW It was Stan who recommended this make of Vehicle to me:-https://steemit.com/cars/@awgbibb/you-can-t-always-get-what-you-want

Stan lost his in the fire ,as well.

Stan managed to call me and said when the Fires broke out on the Wednesday, he had taken all his Vincent's and BMW's out of the Shed and put them in a place where they would be easier to evacuate.

They were outside for several Days and when the situation seemed to be over , put them all back in the Shed.

Next thing Security was there " You have 3 minutes to get out! " Stan's Family got out with 30secs to spare . The house was not much damaged , but the Shed was Gone, all his bikes , gone.

There were only 32 Black Lightnings ever Built , with mods they managed to do just under 200mph.

In that shed was Number 33 Specially built for Stan's Dad , when the Factory closed in 1955 they took the best spares , lighter conrods, etc and Built one last bike , when I last saw it , it had less than 10 miles on the clock.

These Bikes were Stan's retirement Plan , he had , all the different Models, but at least the family were not harmed .

I believe the winds were gusting up to 120kph , and suddenly changing direction, just nothing you can do!

No matter how clever we think we are , when Nature goes Berserk , we are pretty helpless.

My condolences to all those who lost Loved Ones, Pets, and Goods in this inferno