Burt Munro/Duncan Meikle Special - Velocette Drag Bike, 1936.… - Vintage & Classic Motorcycles - Webb's

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Burt Munro/Duncan Meikle Special - Velocette Drag Bike, 1936. Metal Incarnations. The story of Burt Munro's metal-urging genius is long and in many ways, complicated. For a start, the legend of Munro was, and remains, fuelled by anecdote, fact and fiction which have become one; the blockbuster movie 'The World's Fastest Indian' is a wonderful testament to this. What is also true is that Munro worked and toiled with likeminded dedication and from this gained complex and lifelong friendships. One of Munro's best mates was Duncan Meikle, who worked closely alongside Burt for over 45 years., As much as the public seeks a hero, the reality is always more complex. Munro may have lived alone but he never built alone. The machine offered here evolved through the hands of both men and is a great insight into the alien nature of the handmade. Totally unique, it is impossible to identify in any standard manner. You have to look at the style of the blow torching, the weight of the hammer's touch across the tank and the smashed line of the fairing wired together. It is a glorious mongrel, built and raced by two men who knew themselves and their machines better than most., Duncan Meikle was Munro's lifelong friend and companion in many adventures in racing and record attempts. They both owned and developed the most drag-competitive Velos in the world incorporating the same modifications they discovered over the years. Together they shaved, sharpened and scraped the optimum power and weight from each component of their Velocettes. It was the development of the Velocettes that bonded Meikle and Munro., Like any modern development team, Meikle and Munro would tune and develop the two Velocette machines in tandem and would often race and beat one another. The machine offered here is the result of those years of mutual development, reflecting a crafted methodology of risk-controlled advancement in a very rudimentary way. They were mates, they built together and raced together; they created together. They were, in fact, inseparable, living within walking distance of each other. Munro the extrovert racer and Meikle the quiet spanner man, the tuner - together they would blueprint each incarnation of success and failure that was held within the metal of the machine., One of the greatest testaments to this friendship is captured by the events of 1959. The Velos were becoming potent machines and Meikle and Munro were at the local Teretonga race circuit near Invercargill practicing standing quarter mile starts. Munro decided to give a couple of young fellows a good head start and an even better beating, screaming past the surprised young men and giving them a wave bye-bye to boot. Unfortunately this sent the Velo into nasty tank slap and within a fraction, Munro had bailed and the Velo was twisted metal, 30 feet in the air and rising. As the machine churned down the beach, so did Munro., Cut to:Meikle visiting Munro's mother and informing her of the unfortunate accident. Meikle's words, as captured by an interview, were: 'I have come to report on Burt; he had a bit of an accident yesterday'. 'Oh,' she said, 'Serious?' 'Well no,' said Duncan, 'a few pounds of meat were ground off and a broken arm.' The next query from Mrs Munro was: 'I suppose it was on that motorcycle'. 'Yes,' said Duncan. 'That foolish Herbert; when will he ever give up those motorcycles?!' Mrs Munro was 84 years old, Bert was 60! The extent of his injuries had him laid up in hospital for two months. Provenance:Munro and Meikle each bought Velos in 1956. Meikle owned his until the early '60s when he sold it to Barry Island - Barry Island supplied the machine to Neil Neilson who raced the bike competitively - setting a 1964 quarter mile record at Teretonga. Island later sold it to Tiger Lyons in the early '70s who owned it until early 2000 and then sold it to John Sheehan who sold it to the current owner, Mike Thorpe., What is being offered here today is a remarkable piece of history t

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Motor Vehicles: Motor Cycles