Harry Buck's R5

[R68]

Whatever happened to Harry's R5? It was originally owned by "Sabu", a character actor from Hollywood who played the role of Rudyard Kipling type Indians. It was a fine and complete 1936 R5 that was left outside to weather for 30-40 years! I wonder if it was ever parted out or maybe even restored? The rain water wicked down the manual advance cable into the timing chest: everything was rusted solid...

[johnlacko]

Harry’s R5 is still around and in the same shape as it was (photo attached is from the late 1990s). It’s not the Sabu R5 though. I owned that one back in the later 1980s, and it eventually went out to a fellow in the Midwest when I started collecting military sidecar BMWs from WWII. I still have photos of it somewhere, which would confirm the vin.

[R68]

Fascinating! Looks pretty good on the photo...as for the Sabu recollection, my mind is going to seed? I think he may also have had an R66 and some sort of DKW kompressor?...wonder where these all are now.

[johnlacko]

Before Harry passed he had moved a lot of his collection over to others. They worked on some of the bikes for Harry as he no longer could. In exchange they seem to have “inherited” the bikes they were holding after Harry died. There were two Crockers twins in the collection (and a single?), and upwards of 20 or more American 4 cylinder bikes. There was also a 4 cylinder Puch, which I saw in person during my one and only visit to his house in 1993. There was a very rare prototype German bike that was brought to Aberdeen Proving grounds at wars end that Harry had acquired in the 1950s, when the proving grounds started selling off surplus items. One of one. It was sold after Harry died. I don’t recall if that one went to Canada? I have not heard much about it in the last 10 years, only that the owner was trying to get more info about it from Germany, but the folks there were not helping because they wanted the bike to come back to Germany. I was hearing all this from folks who were involved, or knew the people involved. At one point I was offered an introduction to one fellow to talk about buying something, but this was at the worst financial point in my life, at the height of the great recession, so sadly I had to pass. But I have been chasing one of Harry’s old bikes myself for the decade since, but the new owner is not interested in selling, which I can understand.

[olebmw]

Is the "one of a kind bike'' you mentioned, the one that had a radial engine in the front wheel?

[johnlacko]

Yes it is. I could not remember the name of it to save my life. I only saw it once back in the 1990s. When I asked Harry what it was, he told me. He also explained why it was unique and 1 of 1. I had never heard of it before - or since really. It was only when I overheard the news about a bike being sold that was one-of-a-kind that the news jogged that memory.

[Darryl.Richman]

if you're talking about the Megola, a bike with a 5 cylinder motor in the front wheel, it actually had a production run in the early 1920s. While rare and very unusual, it's not a 1 of 1 bike.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megola

[olebmw]

It wasn't a Megola. It had a 3 cylinder engine, the fenders were beautiful, sleek, art deco style, solo seat. I think handle bars
were a stamped sheet metal. the whole bike was a piece of art. I think I have some pictures of it and may have written the name on the back, I'll check.
Maybe the current owner will see this and respond with some photos.

[Fred Heiler]

Is this the same Harry Buck who lived near Coatesville and Downingtown, PA? If it is, I recall he had a big barn full of antique motorcycles. About 1970, he did some great machining work for me, and I used to love wandering through what seemed like hundreds of bikes.

I left the area in '72 and returned in '06. When did he pass?

Thanks, Fred Heiler

1967 R75/2
1967 R1500/2
1971 R75/5

[Luddite]

Would Harry's bike have been a (the?) Killinger & Freund?