Re: Autobike
Posted by Leeedy On 2020/5/4 9:35:26
Quote:
Hello Brian,
Thanks again for the kind words. I have been collecting old bicycles and vintage bicycle literature since the 1950s. I got really serious with it in the 1960s. Having 1,000 bicycles is nothing. THAT was what I had in the 1970s. At the height of my collecting I had well OVER 3,000 vintage bicycles and 24 automobiles (many were Packards) before I was robbed in 2001-2002. I still have over 80,000 vintage bicycle catalogues, books and photos... original stuff.
While I have had several imitators, I was the first in the world to collect and restore vintage balloon tire (what I call Classic) American-made bicycles. I was the first to write about them and to provide accurate history. I did the first TV shows (ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO, the Outdoor Channel, etc.). I did the first newsletter. I did the first appearances at industry trade shows like Interbike and its predecessors and had display exhibits there for decades. I did lectures coast to coast. I wrote the first industry history slide show... and later video (shown to over 25,000 dealers). I was in magazines and newsletters from all over USA and even Japan-I was even listed in Forbes as the top bicycle collector once. I wrote the first articles. I did the first news stand magazine series on classic American bicycles (Cyclist magazine 1980s). Bicycling magazine (where I first appeared in the early 1970s) called me "King Of The Classics" in an article they did on me (published in the April 1991 issue of the world's largest consumer bicycle magazine). I did museum exhibits all over the USA-top venues like Los Angeles County Museum Of Art and Oakland Museum. I identified the hottest collector pieces. Coined terms and copyrighted them. I took these bicycles and parts to old car swap meets and was first to advertise in old car publications. I was a consultant to several bicycle companies in the 1970s when people and companies had completely forgotten classic American bicycles. I even collected vintage bicycle movies-meaning films (I have hundreds) and founded a vintage bicycle film festival. I conceived and held the first national event on these bicycles. AND... I was first to collect Packard bicycles and identify them correctly. But people have very short memories. When I started collecting, people laughed at me.
Today? Nobody remembers and all that work over all those years and all that collecting and saving and buildings full of old bicycles was for nothing. Now the internet is overrun with people who think they are "experts" on the subject. Some of them even try to lecture me with my own information from years ago. There are all kinds of DIY "forums" and blogs. Some guys fall out of the sky decades after me and end up being stars on TV getting paid megabux to talk about the very same bicycles I was collecting, restoring and talking about 50-60 years ago (and getting laughed at back then).
Anyway, thank you.
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b.wilson wrote:
Leeedy
Is there anything you don't know about bicycles?!
Where on earth did you store 1000 bikes?
Yes, the recumbent models are usually seen out on the open road, loaded up with panniers etc. for long distance travel. Rarely in traffic. They seem to get along pretty well.
Brian
Hello Brian,
Thanks again for the kind words. I have been collecting old bicycles and vintage bicycle literature since the 1950s. I got really serious with it in the 1960s. Having 1,000 bicycles is nothing. THAT was what I had in the 1970s. At the height of my collecting I had well OVER 3,000 vintage bicycles and 24 automobiles (many were Packards) before I was robbed in 2001-2002. I still have over 80,000 vintage bicycle catalogues, books and photos... original stuff.
While I have had several imitators, I was the first in the world to collect and restore vintage balloon tire (what I call Classic) American-made bicycles. I was the first to write about them and to provide accurate history. I did the first TV shows (ABC, NBC, CBS, HBO, the Outdoor Channel, etc.). I did the first newsletter. I did the first appearances at industry trade shows like Interbike and its predecessors and had display exhibits there for decades. I did lectures coast to coast. I wrote the first industry history slide show... and later video (shown to over 25,000 dealers). I was in magazines and newsletters from all over USA and even Japan-I was even listed in Forbes as the top bicycle collector once. I wrote the first articles. I did the first news stand magazine series on classic American bicycles (Cyclist magazine 1980s). Bicycling magazine (where I first appeared in the early 1970s) called me "King Of The Classics" in an article they did on me (published in the April 1991 issue of the world's largest consumer bicycle magazine). I did museum exhibits all over the USA-top venues like Los Angeles County Museum Of Art and Oakland Museum. I identified the hottest collector pieces. Coined terms and copyrighted them. I took these bicycles and parts to old car swap meets and was first to advertise in old car publications. I was a consultant to several bicycle companies in the 1970s when people and companies had completely forgotten classic American bicycles. I even collected vintage bicycle movies-meaning films (I have hundreds) and founded a vintage bicycle film festival. I conceived and held the first national event on these bicycles. AND... I was first to collect Packard bicycles and identify them correctly. But people have very short memories. When I started collecting, people laughed at me.
Today? Nobody remembers and all that work over all those years and all that collecting and saving and buildings full of old bicycles was for nothing. Now the internet is overrun with people who think they are "experts" on the subject. Some of them even try to lecture me with my own information from years ago. There are all kinds of DIY "forums" and blogs. Some guys fall out of the sky decades after me and end up being stars on TV getting paid megabux to talk about the very same bicycles I was collecting, restoring and talking about 50-60 years ago (and getting laughed at back then).
Anyway, thank you.
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