When Ike was only 10 years old,
he was told by Max Horowitz that the best British motorcycle
was the Sunbeam.
Ike is from Haifa, Palestine (yeah, this was a few years ago) . He went to school across from Max's shop. "I had to venture in, it smelled so good."
So in he went, and back out he was chased.
So he snuck around back.
He would sweep up around the shop, and sometimes get his hands dirty cleaning parts. By the end of 8th grade, his enthusiasm earned him an apprenticeship.
Ike worked with Max until he 'volunteered' to join the Israeli Navy.
On leaves he would always visit Max.
On one of Ike's visits, Max showed him his prized Model 9 Sunbeam, which was put in a Matchless 'jampot' frame.
"A sprung Sunbeam!"
"wow!"
The ride that followed left quite the impression.
The next year, when Ike got discharged, he received the news
that Max had passed away.
And, the Sunbeam was nowhere to be found.
I had the pleasure of helping Ike start the 1936 Sunbeam Model 9, that he built, for the first time.
Earlier that morning, I heard this joke:
A priest and a cabbie both went up to heaven. The priest ended up in a little shack, and being quite upset, approached God with his greivance. "My Lord, I have devoted my whole life worshipping you and preaching your glory to the people. How is it that all I get is a little shack, and the cabbie has a beautifull mansion?"
God answered him, "Yes, you have been faithfull. But, when you were preaching, you put many people to sleep. Now, when they were with the cabbie, all those people were praying."
See ya
-Josh
*The information for this Blog came from an article that Ike wrote for 'Beaming - Journal Of The Marston Sunbeam Club and Register.
Issue #8 December 2011
They specialize in Triumph, BSA, Norton, and all the other British bikes, but also work on Japanese and European makes. The shop is also involved in Ask Henry Racing, running a Kawasaki Z1R in AHRMA,s Vintage Superbike Roadracing events.
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