Why were the 70s and 80s so good?

[crash harry]

We keep hearing from the motorcycle press that there is a real upturn in the market - new bike regos are way up on last year, and last year was way up on the year before. Great. Good. I'm glad to hear that. So I got to looking on the LTSA statistics page, (linky) (http://www.landtransport.govt.nz/statistics/motor-vehicle-registration/2005/index.html) and I was quite surprised to find that apparently the heyday of NZ motorcycling was during the period 1971 to 1989, if new bike regos are anything to go by.

I've grabbed the data off their site and graphed it, but seeing as how I'm too young to remember, any of the older site members (or more eduacted younger ones!) have any insights into why the numbers look like they do?

I mean, the bike industry thinks it's doing pretty well right now, and 7654 new regos in 2005 ain't bad, but that number was 29957 in 1980...

It doesnt really matter I guess, I'm just interested that's all.

[Steam]

I don't know why regos shot up in about 1970, but the boom times ended because imports of cheap Japanese used cars made car prices cheap enough so normal people could afford one instead of a motorcycle.

[crash harry]

You're probably right.

Damn, I was hoping there was a more interesting reason...

[Steam]

Don't give up on an interesting answer too soon, there's still the question of why it shot up in about 1970. Hey you old fellas!

[What?]

The economy was on a real high circa 1970. Jobs were plentiful and new bikes were easily available (whereas new cars were not, and cheap imports were 20 years into the future). Bikes were also fun-filled things back then; the humble 67 horsepower developed by the CB750 engine was more than its chassis or tyres could cope with. I doubt many people bought them for the inferior handling, but 67hp was pretty heady stuff 37 years ago.

[merv]

The Japs had a lot to do with it being able to bring good machines to the shops at reasonable prices and we were living in those free easy times where fun came first. I guess there had been hard times worrying about Britain joining the EEC in the 60's but by 1970 NZ seemed to be on a bit of a boom and it stayed like that for just a few years until the first oil crisis of '74. We were so horrified when a gallon of gas hit $1 in 1975.

The second oil crisis came in '79 and things were tough but that probably helped push bike sales because they drank less gas. By '89 it all fizzled because the country seemed to have more wealthy people, sharemarket crash included, the Jap import cars came in - a bit of PC stuff hit over drivers licences/motorbike licences making it hard to ride a bike compared to the '70's, so now a young guy with money wasn't drooling over a T250 Hustler, but a Turbo Skyline babe magnet, beer transport. Is that how it works?

Let alone cost of insurance, tough policing and all that stuff huh. The other thing for me in the '70's was the boom in trail bikes - we all wanted to try it - land was open access and it was fun. So back then all the dirt bikes just about were registered too adding to the high sales figures. For year on year there for a while in the 80's the XR200R was the top selling model like the SL125 etc had been before in the 70's. Now most dirt bikes don't even hit the rego figures and also the advent of four wheelers took over many sales of dirt bikes (and tractors too) which even the farm kid might have had registered to ride to school on - not these days.

[Oakie]

The reason for the upturn in the 70s would be the arrival on the market of Japanese bikes ... not so much the big bikes but the wee commuter types ...Honda 90s, Suzuki 50s, and Yamaha 50s. Of course many of those people went on to buy bigger bikes blah blah blah.The whole image of bikes softened with the advent of these 'friendly' bikes so it wasn't an anti-social thing to do anymore ... to ride a bike.
I guess there was also the petrol shock when the price of petrol skyrocketed (to probably about a third of what it is today) but I think that was closer to the 80s than 70s.

[degrom]

It's also interesting that bikes in that time period is still lasting and highly in demand. The ancient people living then must have known something we don't... (Return on investment's... Bikes!!! L.O.L.)

I think those days was still part of the pioneering days. Where people use to make there own improvements on bikes and could actually see a deference in performance or handling.

Today things are going to easy. People get rich for nothing other starve to death. Bikes go all the way up to 300km/h and when it brakes you get a new one.

I ask you,how many people borne in the 90's will still be able to fix a car/bike compared to the "ancient people"... :)

[imdying]

Oil crisis in the seventies?

[Dai]

Oil crisis in the seventies?

Early 70's. OPEC started playing with the price of crude oil.

US brought in the 55mph limit.

Petrol queues everywhere.

[terbang]

Japanese motorcycles arrived here causing the increase..! Changes to legislation stimulating a changing public perception brought upon the decrease..

[Dai]

In those days Symonds Street in Auckland was known as "motorcycle mile"

hundreds of bike of all sizes and styles parked there by uni students.

[FilthyLuka]

I ask you,how many people borne in the 90's will still be able to fix a car/bike compared to the "ancient people"... :)

i do all the maintanance and work on my bike and a couple cars... i was born in 1991 too

[rwh]

I mean, the bike industry thinks it's doing pretty well right now, and 7654 new regos in 2005 ain't bad, but that number was 29957 in 1980...


Did carless days apply to bikes?

Richard

[Bonez]

Japanese motorcycles..! Reliable Japanese motocycles. Improvements in sales and support. And us baby boomers of obviously. Bought four spankers bikes in a five year period in the early 80s. Quite happy with other folks cast offs now.

I'd refer myself as being "post classic" than ancient btw. Has a nice ring to it........

[merv]

Yep '74 and '79 were the two oil crises - had quite a bit to do with the Yanks as usual protecting their wealth and they had been friendly with the Shah of Iran and in the end he got ousted and the non- Yank friendly Arabs seem to take some control and tightened the pricing.

Dudes have you heard about the mortgage rates back then and how high inflation was?

We suffered the igmony of speed limits being reduced from 55mph general open road and 60mph fast open roads, down to 50mph, later 80km/hr everywhere and goddamn it they are at it again with reductions by stealth.

The good times were i biking - we had the Marlboro series wehn no one worried about cigarette sponsorship - check some of this out on my exhibition thread here http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=875450#post875450

[beyond]

Main reason is that cars were very expensive, even older ones. No one could afford them unless you had rich parents or grandparents.

But, second hand bikes and new bikes were heaps cheaper in comparison. Myself and all my mates had motorbikes as that was all we could afford.

With the advent of less control on motor vehicle import licences and the beginning of cheap imported cars, it was virtually the same price to buy a resonable car as it was a motorbike.

Now all of us 'older' buggers are getting back into bikes with all the sprogs off our hands. The mortgages have been knocked back a bit, more discretionary income and the baby boomers (as we are known) are now reliving their youth :)

[Bonez]

I don't know why regos shot up in about 1970, but the boom times ended because imports of cheap Japanese used cars made car prices cheap enough so normal people could afford one instead of a motorcycle.Normal folk have alway had used cars. Ask my Dad. Valients and Holdens. No poxy Fords or Jap crap(they where too small for the fadamally to go out in) at our place. Drycleaner by trade. Use to cart us 4 kids everywhere. Back then you could live in the back of station wagon.

Edit-Dad and mum also had the nouse to purchase their new house, which they still live in, at the tender age of 22.

[Disco Dan]

. i was born in 1991 too

fark! that makes me feel old!! and im 23!!!

[degrom]

i do all the maintanance and work on my bike and a couple cars... i was born in 1991 too

Good on you mate...

(But then again GN's tend to maintain them selfs... LOL)

[scumdog]

Normal folk have alway had used cars. Ask my Dad. Valients and Holdens. No poxy Fords or Jap crap(they where too small for the fadamally to go out in) at our place.

Fords? The streets were full of 'em - Falcons, Zephyrs, Fairlanes etc - good family cars and held their value too.

Anglias etc for those too poor to buy a big car (Chrysler and Holden didn't cater for THAT segment of the market).

[Bonez]

Fords? The streets were full of 'em - Falcons, Zephyrs, Fairlanes etc - good family cars and held their value too.

Anglias etc for those too poor to buy a big car (Chrysler and Holden didn't cater for THAT segment of the market).I know Fords were everywhere. Somehow on dads and mum's meger wages, she was a seamtress, they managed to own a largish car. Dad managed to also keep some asside for his motorcycling. One thing they didn't do is piss their earnings against the wall like a few of their kin have. Other priorities-ie bringing us kids up.

Holden had a rebadged Viva called the Torana for what you refer to as the poor mans market btw-
http://www.canberratoranaclub.com/history/hb.htm

[Motu]

There were plenty of cheap cars around back then - I paid $150 for my 1938 Chev Coupe,$250 for my International truck...for $50 you could buy a car and drive it home.Same with bikes,you could ride a $50 Triumph 650 home.I helped my older brother buy his first bike - for $300 he got a 1957 T110 that had been fully rebuilt from the ground up,every single thing that could be replaced was replaced....new fork bushes and seals,brakes,swingarm bushes,full engine rebuild with 11:1 pistons,imported race cams,9 stud top end with twin brand new Amal concentrics,Dunstal exhausts.For $300 you could buy a brand new Suzuki AC50 - come on,which bike would you have as your first bike for $300? !!

The early '70's was a very special time to be on bikes - the first superbikes,The Norton Commando,the Trident/Rocket 3,and then the Honda 4 (don't let them tell you the Honda was the first 750 superbike,Norton was there first) There were the Japanese 250;s and 350's,most 2 stroke,but Honda were 4 stroke.Every pimply faced kid had one of those.There were the last of the British Twins,and the Triples,giving the handling that the Jap bikes lacked....but the kids who rode the Jap stuff never knew the difference....but we did.Trail bikes first came out in 1970 too,and I got my first one in 1971,and just rode it anywhere I liked.

Bikes were everywhere from 1970 to 1990,then they started to fade away....and rich people started to buy flash bikes and not ride them...only on weekends.

[doc]

My dad was in the car business then, to buy a new car not assembled in New Zealand you had to have overseas funds and I think if you sold it before 2 years ownership passed you had to sell it back to the dealer you purchased it from. In those days the magazines all critised jap bike for their standard of welding and handled like rubber bands. Now days jap stuff is used as the standard everything is measured by.

[stevedee]

I remember in the early 70s wanting nothing more than an RT or DT Yamaha or Suzuki TS trailbike, you could ride on any subdivision, any firebreak, and ALL my mates had trail bikes. I spent most of my teen years on the firebreaks around the Hutt, and over in Wainui. Used to knock of work and then ride on the trails until dark at least 3 or 4 times a week. Man did we have some fun.

[Ixion]

The Honda stepthrough. Electric starters. And a booming economy.

The Honda made motorcyling respectable. The electric start made it easy.

In the 50s and 60s bikes with any performance were a man's man thing. Kickstart only , you needed to be hard. And the image was bad, big hairy bikies raping your daughter. Along came the step through, and the daughter was a biker. Woo-hoo. And the big bikes had leccy legs. Now wimps could ride (still are :devil2:).

And the economy was booming . Everyone had a job. Pay was good. Bikes were cheap Petrol was dear, cars were too. No-one was on a benefit.

Add it all up, and everyone flocked to their neighbourhood bike shop. Every local shopping centre had a bike shop, they were as common (almost) as fish n chip shops. Intersections in down town Auckland were pemanently smoky - two stroke smoke from the 20 or 30 bikes waiting to drag off from the front of the queues at the lights.

And then it all collapsed. Mrs Grundy legislation. Scared mums. Cheap Jap import cars. A recession. The growth of a massive benefit dependant subclass. By the mid 90s I thought I was the last survivor of a lost species. I really thought that bikes would die out completely. They very nearly did.

Too many crashes. Those chickies on the Honda stepthroughs didn't know how to ride. Wimpy bikers - the wusses who needed electric starts weren't going to stand up and resist the Gubbernmint. Cheap cars. With back seats .

Take heed. Don't let the 90s be repeated!

[Bonez]

Thought cars were bought as mobile sterio system transporters, bit like Goldwings really, by young'ns these days?

[digsaw]

Farmers,farm bikes,sales tax refunds and bike sales boomed,then they stopped the sales tax refunds so farmers didnt reg their bikes so they didnt show up in the stats,then ACC on bike regos climbed real fast and cheap jap cars caused many a bike shop to fold.1968-69 a farm bike cost a large sum of about $450 so they were very cheap and i remember selling 96 of them in 3 weeks, it was a bit like a turkey shoot and just as much fun selling them.

[Motu]

Farmers could buy one every year...or was it 2 years tax free - so if you wanted a new bike minus tax you got a farmer to buy it for you.That's how a lot of trials bikes were bought.

[MattRSK]

Where is Indiana Jones?

[MattRSK]

<img src="http://www.80s.com/saveferris/images/ferris/twist1.jpg">

[smokeyging]

Wasn’t there a shitload of bikes pranging in the late 70’s?. From memory around then didn’t the government put a hefty tax on bikes and it was then they died off?, anybody remember this?

[MattRSK]

Wasn’t there a shitload of bikes pranging in the late 70’s?. From memory around then didn’t the government put a hefty tax on bikes and it was then they died off?, anybody remember this?

Funny I can't remember that. :p

[MattRSK]

Gosh Indy. You are letting the side down. I am leaving the Top Gun, Indiana Jones, Footloose etc.. for you. Please hurry.

<img src="http://www.thebratpacksite.com/images/ferrisbueller.gif">

[Bonez]

Wasn’t there a shitload of bikes pranging in the late 70’s?. From memory around then didn’t the government put a hefty tax on bikes and it was then they died off?, anybody remember this?Nope. Plenty of bikes about. Most of my mates had them. In fact between 78 and 83 there where a shit load of different models coming out. Then there was all the surplus new bikes from other markets coming in a few years later.

The yanks put a tarrif on jappers over 700cc. The auguably saved HD by giving them a bit of breathing room.

[Morepower]

Did carless days apply to bikes?

Richard

Nope , but the no petrol sales on weekends made life tough when you rode a large 2 stroke.

Dave

[beyond]

Nope , but the no petrol sales on weekends made life tough when you rode a large 2 stroke.

Dave


:)

Weren't renowned for their frugal petrol consumption were they? :)

[Indiana_Jones]

<img src="http://www.madmaxmovies.com/making/madmax2/images/MundiMundi/WezFaceoff.jpg">

<img src="http://usera.imagecave.com/Zapruder/rWEZ06.jpg">

80s BIKES

-Indy

[miSTa]

Another reason could be that now its so damn easy to buy a car with no money. I remember in the early 80's you needed a 33% deposit to buy from a car sales or if you went for a commercial then the deposit was 25%.

[pete376403]

Motor vehicle finance was incredibly regulated in the 70s. A car required a 50% deposit (new or second hand) whereas bikes were only 33% deposit unless is was 50cc or less, then it was (IIRC) 10%. That was the kicker for a lot of bike sales. There wasn't really that much difference in pricing. When I worked for a Hillman/ Chrysler dealer in the 70s, a new VH Valiant Ranger was a little over $3K, a Hillman Hunter was about $2K. The very first CB750 I saw at Lawton & Boyle in Adelaide Rd was $1999. My 1972 Kawasaki F9 350 was $1169 brand new.
Trail riding was HUGE. Every man and his dog had a TS250 or a DT1. I remember going on an organised ride at Karapoti which must have had 200 or more riders.
Lots or road race events (eg the Marlboro series) with the international riders attracted lots of coverage. (Yamahas TZ700 had its first outing, and win, in the Marlboro, ridden by Dale Wylie)
And I was a lot younger. THATS why the 70s were better

[Swoop]

From memory around then didn’t the government put a hefty tax on bikes and it was then they died off?, anybody remember this?
That cu*t muldoon taxed EVERYTHING, so it wouldn't be surprising.

-Indy
You took your goddamn time!
Fixing your hair or something???


The carless days thing is interesting. I never took notice of whether bikes were exempt from all that rubbish. Everyone had exemption stickers anyway...

[Ixion]

Remember also that petrol was much dearer by the values of the day - maybe three times as expensive as it is nowadays.

And bikes back then could be very economical (not the sports two strokes !). 100mpg was not at all untoward to expect from a commuter bike. Best cars were maybe 35mpg, so a bike cost only one third as much to run as a car. Apprentices didn't get paid much!

And there were still a lot of older commuter riders, because most families couldn't afford two cars. So often Dad would have a little motorbike (though often it was a 350 single they were very popular for commuting) to go to work on .Motorcycles then were regarded completely differently to what they are nowdays. Back then they were workaday transportation, nobody bought them as toys to be kept for riding at the weekend. even the enthusiasts expected to use their bikes to ride to work on during the week, it would have been very unusual indeed to find someone going to work by car during the week and riding a motorcycle at the weekend.

[Swoop]

Remember also that petrol was much dearer by the values of the day - maybe three times as expensive as it is nowadays.
I seem to remember that it was in the very early '80's that the pumps were changed to have 3 digits before the decimal place. Up until then there was no chance of being charged MORE than a dollar per litre for fuel.

[Motu]

I used to get 100mpg out of this thing...had all the fruit man.And it was used for everything - ride to work,ride to mates place,ride to parties,ride on trips,it was no toy.I rode bikes like this because you could pick them up for bloody good prices,I bought a couple of new Jap trail bikes....but much preferred to pay cash for something with more performance.

[Ixion]

Yes, but people earned less. In fact it was only 3/4d a gallon when I started, But then I only got paid (I think) ₤10/17/6 a week. Compare that to today, even on the minimum wage. I did some calculations a while back, when it was very dear, and worked out that it would need to be $2.70 a litre to be a dear as it was when I started riding, relative to wages.

[moko]

The Honda stepthrough. Electric starters. And a booming economy.

The Honda made motorcyling respectable. The electric start made it easy.

In the 50s and 60s bikes with any performance were a man's man thing. Kickstart only , you needed to be hard. And the image was bad, big hairy bikies raping your daughter. Along came the step through, and the daughter was a biker. Woo-hoo. And the big bikes had leccy legs. Now wimps could ride (still are :devil2:).

And the economy was booming . Everyone had a job. Pay was good. Bikes were cheap Petrol was dear, cars were too. No-one was on a benefit.

Add it all up, and everyone flocked to their neighbourhood bike shop. Every local shopping centre had a bike shop, they were as common (almost) as fish n chip shops. Intersections in down town Auckland were pemanently smoky - two stroke smoke from the 20 or 30 bikes waiting to drag off from the front of the queues at the lights.

And then it all collapsed. Mrs Grundy legislation. Scared mums. Cheap Jap import cars. A recession. The growth of a massive benefit dependant subclass. By the mid 90s I thought I was the last survivor of a lost species. I really thought that bikes would die out completely. They very nearly did.

Too many crashes. Those chickies on the Honda stepthroughs didn't know how to ride. Wimpy bikers - the wusses who needed electric starts weren't going to stand up and resist the Gubbernmint. Cheap cars. With back seats .

Take heed. Don't let the 90s be repeated!

Pretty much the same story here mate,in the mid-70s there were something like 2 million bikes registered in Britain and it was very rare for a young guy to go straight to a car.Honda did a great pr job here as well,"You meet the nicest people on a Honda" and they outsold everything in Britain.Cars were relatively a lot more expensive than bikes and you didn`t need to pass any kind of test to ride anything up to 250.Mainly because of this the accident rate was horrendous and the Japs shot themselves in the foot by ignoring Government requests to cool it and just bought out more and more powerful 250s.The result was a learner 125cc/15 bhp limit brought in within a few days that left a lot of people with 250`s they couldn`t ride.Great days for me,you could pick up almost new 250s for peanuts for years afterwards.A lot of people lost money,got stuck with bikes no-one wanted and they couldn`t ride,no riding schools back then so they`d have had to buy or borrow a 125 to pass the bike test to able to ride their 250,most didn`t bother and there was a lot of bad feeling,a lot of people put off bikes forever.At the time biking was very much under threat and the casualty rate so high that there was serious talk of banning bikes completey or them having all kinds of protection lumped on.O.K. it was heavy handed but the manufacturers basically gave the Govt the finger every time they tried to get them to at least stop the learner-bike power race and a lot of voter`s 17 year-old sons were getting killed or crippled.Bike sales dwindled and it became quite unusual to see another bike,loads of the dealers went to the wall and there was even talk of a couple of the Jap manufacturers winding up in Britain.That was the time when there was a lot of cameraderie,bikers were a dying breed.
Mid 90`s and things started to pick up,oddly it seemed to stem from the commuter market,guys were going up from 250s to things like the 600 Diversion as they decided to get back into using a bike for more than just riding to work,the 600 Bandit came along and suddenly there was something fairly cheap that was a lot of fun as well and things took off.The slightly worrying thing here for a few years has been that despite the current boom a massive chunk of the market is the same old guys coming back to bikes rather than new blood,average age of bikers here is 40.However now things have swung around,again it`s a lot cheaper for a young guy to buy and run a bike than a car and the learner market is really taking off,the Honda 125 Sports(it`s as fast as the average lawn-mower!!) and trailbikes are selling in numbers not seen for several years.more and people ride all year round here now as well despite our notoriously cranky weather,better gear,better tyres and brakes and better everything now mean that wet weather isn`t a big deal and heated grips here are fast becoming very common.Funny thing is that the big safety concern isnt the youngsters it`s midde-aged guys on sports-bikes chucking them into hedges,same generation that used to do it on 250s back in the 70s

[Coyote]

I ask you,how many people borne in the 90's will still be able to fix a car/bike compared to the "ancient people"... :)
I was born in November 1989 :yeah:

And I fix my bike cause I can't afford to have the shop do it :p

I got into bikes because my Dad was a trail biker at my age. Some high maintenence broad stopped him from riding in the 80s, and he got back into them during his midlife crisis. Luckily my brother and I were helped to get into bikes too :D

[Coyote]

Cheap cars. With back seats .

Cars may have back seats but bikes are kinkier

[TonyB]

I don't know why regos shot up in about 1970, but the boom times ended because imports of cheap Japanese used cars made car prices cheap enough so normal people could afford one instead of a motorcycle.
Thats it in a nut shell. I saw an aerial photo of the Chch Polytech Sulivan Ave campus taken in about 1980- the motorbike park was HUGE, and it was full. When I was there in the mid 90's it was rare for there to be more than 2 or 3 bikes and the park would have only had room for 10 bikes

[Motu]

As previously mentioned Symonds St in Auckland outside the University was just a sold row of bikes,and they lined every side street too - our Prime Minister's C90 amoungst them.I went to ATI in the early '70's for night school and day courses...we had a bike park on Institute grounds at the top of Wellersly St.If you were early you could park under the prefab buildings for cover,otherwise they parked in the open 3 deep.You had to thread your bike out past all the others...but everyone could handle a bike so there were no problems with knocked over or damaged bikes like seems to happen these days.

[Swoop]

...the motorbike park was HUGE, and it was full. When I was there in the mid 90's it was rare for there to be more than 2 or 3 bikes and the park would have only had room for 10 bikes
Yes. Our roading planners cannot see this simple fact of why we have so many cages on the roads... and on nice sunny days as well!

[Pixie]

I don't know why regos shot up in about 1970, but the boom times ended because imports of cheap Japanese used cars made car prices cheap enough so normal people could afford one instead of a motorcycle.

That was about when jap bikes came to the fore.(that is,when the bullshit spouted about them by british bike owners was proven to be bullshit)

A bike was now a viable form of transport and not an unreliable hole to throw money into,with a puddle of oil at the bottom.

[Bonez]

That was about when jap bikes came to the fore.(that is,when the bullshit spouted about them by british bike owners was proven to be bullshit)

A bike was now a viable form of transport and not an unreliable hole to throw money into,with a puddle of oil at the bottom.The old man was converted once he bought his Yammy 750 triple, weak coils aside. Not a Brit in sight after that :dodge: Now has the audacity to ride another Axis powers' m/c.

[Pixie]

Fords? The streets were full of 'em - Falcons, Zephyrs, Fairlanes etc - good family cars and held their value too.

Anglias etc for those too poor to buy a big car (Chrysler and Holden didn't cater for THAT segment of the market).

What were hillmans and vauxhalls then?

[scumdog]

What were hillmans and vauxhalls then?

At that stage Hillmans were yet to be second cousins twice removed from Chryslers and a Holden was a Holden - except for the Claytons Holden, the Vauxhall Viva aka Holden Torana.

[Bonez]

What were hillmans and vauxhalls then?Lets not forget all those humble Morris models that were floating about at the time either.

[Pixie]

The old man was converted once he bought his Yammy 750 triple, weak coils aside. Not a Brit in sight after that :dodge: Now has the audacity to ride another Axis powers' m/c.

I got one of those.My 3rd bike,bought from Whites in Newmarket for $4200 new.

[Pixie]

At that stage Hillmans were yet to be second cousins twice removed from Chryslers and a Holden was a Holden - except for the Claytons Holden, the Vauxhall Viva aka Holden Torana.

The Avenger AKA the Plymouth Cricket in the US was as much a Chrysler as the Capri AKA Mercury Capri in the US was a Ford

[scumdog]

The Avenger AKA the Plymouth Cricket in the US was as much a Chrysler as the Anglia was a Ford


Hmmm, a Cricket was just a rebadged Hillman Avenger, a second cousin twice removed so to speak.
An Anglia was always Ford - right from the 1940s at least

And Anglias had turned into Escorts by the time Avengers made the scene. :yes:

[Bonez]

I got one of those.My 3rd bike,bought from Whites in Newmarket for $4200 new.You my find this interesting then-
http://www.yamaha-triples.org/library/articles/76cycle/76cycle.asp

[Motu]

And BMC made a car for every man - well,the same car with a different name to suit your tastes.The Aussies didn't get Zephyrs and Vauxhalls,they competed directly with Falcons and Holdens....and competition with a superior product was frowned upon.BMC made a better Holden/Falcon/Valiant - and was soundly spanked and sent to bed for it.

[Hawkeye]

i do all the maintanance and work on my bike and a couple cars... i was born in 1991 too

Shit, Even my bike is older than you (as is your's)
I feel old.....

[Rhino]

Thought cars were bought as mobile sterio system transporters, bit like Goldwings really, by young'ns these days?
Oi!! I heard that, pardon!!!:gob:

Goldwings can also carry mucho vino as well.:rockon: :rockon:

[Bonez]

Oi!! I heard that, pardon!!!:gob:


Wondered how long it'd take :innocent:

[Indiana_Jones]

<img src="http://www.sandiegohistory.org/journal/2002-2/images/p127a.jpg">

Cool

-Indy

[Bonez]

So in summery:-

Poor families could have secondhand cars.
Jap bikes weren't as bad as they where made out to be.
Everybody copied everybody.
Triumphs did leak oil as does any bike that's been butchered.
Relatively speaking petrol wasn't as cheap as it is made out relative to wages.
BSA Bantam was the first real superbike.
Not all motorcyclist today are rich and rely on m/c shops to do all their maintenance.