Restoring #163
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2021 6:20 pm
I decided to start another thread and share my part in the restoration of the 1976 AMA Superbike championship bike #163.
The story of the restoration of the #83 bike is well documented with many photos available on the internet. Last I knew, it resides in the BMW factory in Germany for all to see. What I have not seen much of is the story of the #163 bike, so I decided I would document what I know and was involved with.
Little did I know that #163 had been sitting in an airplane hanger for many years only 200 miles from my home in the Houston area where I have been living since 1994. My first contact with the BMW factory in Germany was in the spring of 2015. Here is sorta how the story goes as it was told to me. If others know more, they are welcome to correct me or fill in more details. I'm leaving names out as I haven't gotten their consent to include them here.
The owner of the bike at the time apparently bought it for not too much money many years ago, but it was completely in pieces. I think he at one point was going to restore it himself, but he never got around to start it. At some point in either late 2014 or early 2015 he reached out to BMW in Germany indicating his desire to sell the bike and asked if they were interested. This information was passed to persons in the factory museum. It turned out BMW was interested in buying the bike, but needed to authenticate the parts before they bought it. When the museum folks contacted my dad, he mentioned that I lived in Houston area and was very familiar with the bike so they reached out to me.
In early May I made arrangements to drive out to San Antonio Airport to pick up the museum representative who flew in from Germany. Together we drove east for about 30 minutes to Marion Texas to meet the then owner and to have a look. It didn't take me long to recognize many of the parts that were unique to these bikes. We had a pleasant visit, took many pictures and talked for a long while. After that I dropped the museum rep off and I drove home to Houston. It was now up to BMW to decide if they wanted to buy the bike or maybe better to say, the pile of parts.
Below are a few of the pics from that day. As you can see the bike had a long way to go to full restoration.
The story of the restoration of the #83 bike is well documented with many photos available on the internet. Last I knew, it resides in the BMW factory in Germany for all to see. What I have not seen much of is the story of the #163 bike, so I decided I would document what I know and was involved with.
Little did I know that #163 had been sitting in an airplane hanger for many years only 200 miles from my home in the Houston area where I have been living since 1994. My first contact with the BMW factory in Germany was in the spring of 2015. Here is sorta how the story goes as it was told to me. If others know more, they are welcome to correct me or fill in more details. I'm leaving names out as I haven't gotten their consent to include them here.
The owner of the bike at the time apparently bought it for not too much money many years ago, but it was completely in pieces. I think he at one point was going to restore it himself, but he never got around to start it. At some point in either late 2014 or early 2015 he reached out to BMW in Germany indicating his desire to sell the bike and asked if they were interested. This information was passed to persons in the factory museum. It turned out BMW was interested in buying the bike, but needed to authenticate the parts before they bought it. When the museum folks contacted my dad, he mentioned that I lived in Houston area and was very familiar with the bike so they reached out to me.
In early May I made arrangements to drive out to San Antonio Airport to pick up the museum representative who flew in from Germany. Together we drove east for about 30 minutes to Marion Texas to meet the then owner and to have a look. It didn't take me long to recognize many of the parts that were unique to these bikes. We had a pleasant visit, took many pictures and talked for a long while. After that I dropped the museum rep off and I drove home to Houston. It was now up to BMW to decide if they wanted to buy the bike or maybe better to say, the pile of parts.
Below are a few of the pics from that day. As you can see the bike had a long way to go to full restoration.