BSA B34 BY BRITISH AMERICAN MOTORS

There aren’t many bikes from the 1950s still being used as daily riders. But this BSA B34, some 62 years old, stretches its legs several times a week with owner Nate Hudson on board. “My father rode the same model back in the 50s,” he says, “and I’ve always been on the hunt for one. I found this bike in Eureka a few years ago and we did a ground up restoration on it here.”

Nate runs British American Motors in Long Beach, a custom shop right next door to Lossa Engineering. He usually works on more modern machinery, but has resisted the temptation to chop the 1951 BSA up. Instead, he’s given it a sympathetic restoration that retains the charm of the original.

The bike is a 500cc thumper with a factory rigid frame. “I found this bike on eBay in Northern Cal a few years ago,” says Nate. “It was pretty rough, but it ran. It was only used for off-roading, so it had no lights and was fitted with knobblies.”

Over the past year Nate has completely overhauled the engine, fitting a new piston, rings, valves and bearings. He cleaned up the cases and the gearbox, and got everything else powdercoated, painted, and pinstriped. “We also got Cycle Art in San Pedro to help make the fender stay, so we could mount the license plate and tail light, and give it a period-correct feel,” says Nate. “Earl is an expert with over 40 years in the industry, and a pal of ours.”

The biggest problem during the restoration was the charging system, which Nate describes as ‘a real bitch.’ It uses a Lucas dynamo, and information is now hard to come by. “It was trial-and-error testing that. We found that at idle the dynamo only cranks out 0.5 volts, which isn’t even enough to flicker a lightbulb.” So Nate ended up tucking a small dry-sealed 6-volt battery between the engine and transmission, basically to power the electrics when stopped at traffic lights.

Nate wryly describes the build as ‘an education,’ but his perseverance has paid off. He now rides the BSA to his shop, and it’s his favorite bike for bar-hopping too.

Not bad for a 62-year-old, huh?

from BIKEEXIF

Faster, Pussycat: The sharpest gangster gals

Beware: they eat men for breakfast. They steal, beat, and murder without scruples. Today we have strapped on our holsters and arrested the sharpest gangsteresses of the silver screen. 

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Michelle Pfeiffer gets catty in Batman Returns 

Skin-tight latex with coarse stitching and cute cat ears. So Michelle Pfeiffer appeared as Catwoman in the film adaptation of the comic-strip classic, ‘Batman Returns’ – surely among the sexiest goddesses of wrongdoing the cinema has ever tempted us with. 

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Miss Evil: Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde 

The real Bonnie Elizabeth Parker was the female half of a duo who spread fear across the Midwestern United States in the 1930s. Period photographs do not depict a particularly attractive woman, but Faye Dunaway is an entirely different matter. 

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Too hot to handle: Tura Satana, Haji and Lori Williams in Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! 

Russ Meyer knew what makes men tick and the name of the film says it all. What you need, it seems, are three violent go-go dancers, fast cars and a highly sexed plot, all of which are provided in the unambiguously titled ‘Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!’. Surprisingly, however, there’s (almost) no nudity. 

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Man-eating vamp: Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct 

One of the hottest murderesses in film history, Sharon Stone – as Catherine Tramell – is in some ways reminiscent of an icy cool Hitchcock blonde, although the gradual emergence of her personality as a bisexual, murderous sex-addict is far more 1990s than 1950s. 

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Text: J. Philip Rathgen (Classic Driver)
Photos: The Movie Companies

Citroën Méhari: Reporting for duty… at the beach?

It might look like a beach buggy, but the Citroën Méhari’s low weight and robust mechanicals made it an ideal vehicle for the police, who adopted it (as did the fire service and army) for duties on rough terrain. 

Unveiled in Deauville in May 1968, the Méhari was a bit of a change from Citroën’s usual product range, although the chassis and twin-cylinder 602cc engine came straight from the Dyane 6. Its body was made from lightweight ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, if you’re interested – or plastic, if you’re not) which doesn’t corrode. 




The car pictured is for sale at Artcurial’s ‘Automobiles Sur Les Champs 5’ auction, in Paris on 10th June. It was first registered in 1977, roughly the middle of the Méhari’s 21-year production life, and it was used for ‘liaison duties’ – hence the radio antenna. The odometer reads 5,526km but this is no low-mileage gem: the odometer has been round the clock, so make that 105,526km. But we’re told it’s running and ready for duty. At the beach, maybe? With an auction estimate of EUR 5,000 – 10,000, why not?

Louis de Funès in charming company in a Méhari (from the 'Le Gendarme' films).

Related Links Both the auction listing for this car and the full full auction lotlist can be found in the Classic Driver Marketplace

Text: Charis Whitcombe (Classic Driver)
Photos: Artcurial

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