Save Our Mangham-Wilson-Allen Streamliner!

Last updated 11/23/08.
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From the December issue of Classic Bike Magazine

Uncrating the Streamliner at the National Motorcycle Museum

Hi Everyone,

Our SOS project is now complete. The Streamliner has arrived safely at the museum in Birmingham. Thank you all for your support over the past year. It's been a very gratifying project.We've created quite a stir in the motorcycling community. Speed Channel aired a very nice segment on our Bonneville trip and the restoration last week on 2 Wheel Tuesday. Articles are in the works from Cycle World, Classic Bike, and Antique Motorcycle Club of America. There were several freelance journalists at Bonneville from Europe so I expect some articles from them too but I don't know which magazines we'll be in.

The very last task is a fun one. The National Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham will be conducting their Grand Re-Opening January 15, 2005 and everyone is invited! So far we have about 30 people attending. Most are bring significant others. My wife and I are staying over in London for the week after to do the tourist thing. I've requested discount rates from the museum hotels for any SOS volunteers or supporters. I can't play travel agent for everyone but if you are interested in attending please let me know and I will put you in contact with the museum/hotel staff to work out your travel plans. Flights are cheap since January is the off season. It'll be cold and wet to say the least but at least they have warm beer!

Here are the museum and hotel websites. Click on "articles" on the museum website and you'll see the Streamliner and other restored bikes.

Interesting side note: The Manor Hotel is only a few blocks from the site of the old Triumph factory in Meriden. I drove through it last year and it's a housing development now but all the streets are named for famous Triumph bikes and personalities.

http://www.nationalmotorcyclemuseum.co.uk
http://www.windmillvillagehotel.co.uk/
http://www.manorhotelmeriden.co.uk/

Dennis Tackett
Project Manager

Movie of the First Engine Run  (3 megabytes - broadband connection recommended)

<[Latest News>] - 09/23/04                        <[Supporters and Sponsors]>

 <[Site Map]>            <[Public Appearances]>            <[The National Motorcycle Museum]>

Restoration Progress

Photos & Magazine Articles

Key Players:    <[Dennis Tackett]>     <[Ed Mabry]>     <[Keith Martin]>     <[Dave Howe]>     <[The Crew]>     <[George Tuttle]>

The Texas Ceegar is back on the Salt exactly 48 years to the day of its record run.

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank everyone directly involved in the project. Keith Martin, Paul Laubach, Steve Adkins, and Cory Korn at RPM Cycle. Ed Mabry, Dean Baker, George Tuttle, Dave Howe, Bob Kizer, Dan Dzivi, and all the NTNOA volunteers. Jason Small and the staff at Herb's Pint and Body in Plano. John O'Donnell with Avteq for the use of his trailer. Stewart Garrison for supplying the SPSD truck, gas tank, and sand blasting. Denis Manning at BUB Enterprises for the tyres and Speed Week. Associated Fiberglass for casting the two sets of bodywork. Charles Mangham and his friends and family. I hope I mentioned everyone. If I did not, please drop me a note and I'll be sure you do. It has taken literally a cast of hundreds to complete this project.

Last but not least I'd like to take a moment to remember the original dreamers, builders, and riders. Stormy Mangham, Jack Wilson, Johnny Allen, Pete Dalio, Jess Thomas, and Rusty Bradley. These guys are my heroes. It has been an honor and privilege to restore their fantastic machine. This has been one of the most memorable events in my life.

Dennis Tackett
Project Manager

***  A note from Roy Richards, owner, National Motorcycle Museum, Birmingham England.  ***

Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 9:22 AM
Subject: Streamliner Project Complete

Dear Dennis

Thank you for your email and the pictures of the Streamliner.

I am just thrilled.

Without fail please pass on my heartfelt thanks to all those who have achieved this wonderful conclusion in resurrecting the burnt-out wreck.

I look forward to hearing from you on your return from Bonneville.

Again thank you all

With very best regards

Roy

The S.O.S. Project - The Beginning

The British National Motorcycle Museum located in Birmingham, England experienced a severe fire on the afternoon of 16 September, 2003. Tragically three of the Museum's five exhibit halls were destroyed along with around 650 machines. Many irreplaceable machines were damaged in the fire, but, where possible, some will be restored to their original condition. To this end the Save Our Streamliner (S.O.S.) project is committed to the restoration of the record setting "Texas Ceegar."

This museum was Mecca for British bike enthusiasts. We all mourn the tragic loss of the fine old machines in the September fire. As bad as this is for the stock machines, it is doubly so for the competition bikes that can not be replaced as many were "one-offs" and/or had important historical significance. One such bike was the 1956 Triumph Streamliner (Texas Ceegar) that set the world motorcycle speed record at 214.40 mph which had been on display in the Competition Hall. The team of Jack Wilson (tuner), Johnny Allen (rider), and Stormy Mangham (builder) set the motorcycling world on its collective ear by beating the Bonneville speed record set by the factory NSU team. The bike was sold to the museum by Jack Wilson in 1983.

This bike is particularly significant for us as it was designed, built, tuned and ridden by Texans: Stormy Mangham, Jack Wilson and Johnny Allen respectively, all of Fort Worth, Texas. The engine was a highly-tuned, normally aspirated, methanol/nitro burning Thunderbird 650CC street twin! And...the Triumph Bonneville took it's name from this bike.  This sad event has led to the formation of a core group of volunteers and restoration experts, commissioned by the museum, to save the Wilson-Allen-Mangham Triumph Streamliner.

The reason for this website is to let everyone know that despite the streamliner being virtually destroyed in the fire, it will rise again! This collective group of Triumph fans and long-time friends of Jack Wilson (now deceased) brought the "remains" back home to Texas, USA for rebuilding and restoration. The engine and tranny are being replaced as all the aluminum parts had melted; the badly warped, bent and twisted frame is being painstakingly straightened and the body is being recreated from the original fiberglass molds that we held onto all these years, never knowing what we would ever do with them! One of our members and reconstruction experts is Ed Mabry who has a long history of setting records at Bonneville. Keith Martin at RPM Cycle, who worked with Jack Wilson over 12 years, is reconstructing the engine and gearbox.

Dennis Tackett
Project Manager

Ed Mabry
Engineer/Racer

Keith Martin
Engine/Gearbox Specialist

Dave Howe
Publicity & Fund Raising Coordinator

George Tuttle
Webmaster

Famous Quotes:

Dennis Tackett - Project Manager - after opening the crate shipped from the museum containing the streamliner:
"Holy Crap! Only the frame is left!"

Dennis Tackett - Project Manager - to the first restoration group meeting attendees:
"This is the Holy Grail of motorcycle restorations"

Roy Richards - Museum Owner - to Dennis Tackett during their meeting in the UK after the fire:
"Our motto is 'Where Legends Live On', and we will honor that statement by rebuilding the museum"

Dennis Tackett reply:
"and we'll do the same with the streamliner"

Roy Richards
January 30, 1931 - March 31, 2008

Midlands businessman who founded the National Motorcycle Museum near Birmingham, the world’s largest collection of British motorcycles

Roy Richards was a businessman in the building industry and founder of the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, near Birmingham, now thought to possess the largest collection of motorcycles in the world.

Passionate about motorcycles, Richards set up conference centres and hotels to ensure that the museum had a reliable income.

Roy Richards was born in 1931 and attended Bordesley Green Technical School. After leaving, aged 14, he went to work as a surveyor at Bryant Builders, now one of the country’s largest house builders. After seven years there he decided to set up his own company. With a partner, Ray Wallington, he set up a building firm, Richards & Wallington. In 1968 the company branched out and started a plant hire company under the same name; this went on to become the successful British Crane Hire Corporation, Europe’s largest crane hire company.

As a child Richards had been fanatic about motorcycles: not only the bikes, but their history too, and, according to friends, a sense of nostalgia for how England used to be. Although Richards rode little in later life, his first bike was a Norton Model 18 and he would say that “when God made the mountains, he had Norton in mind”.

In 1984 he decided to open the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, to span the “60 Glorious Years” of motorcycle manufacturing in Britain. Richards’ aim was, he said, to “preserve these pieces of history for future generations, as a reminder of this great nation’s industry, engineering prowess and work ethic”. The museum opened in October 1984 with a display of 350 bikes, and it was soon attracting 250,000 visitors each year.

Richards left British Crane Hire in order to focus on the museum and the problem of funding his ambitious plans for expansion. The museum now offers conference facilities, and two hotels in the Midlands are part of a trust for the museum’s maintenance. With its future finances assured, the collection grew to more than 800 machines. In 2003 a fire destroyed 70 per cent of the museum, but Richards was not deterred. With a team of dedicated supporters he worked around the clock, seven days a week, and after 15 months and a £20 million repair bill, the museum opened its doors to the public once again.

Married four times, Richards is survived by his wife, Christine, a son and daughter and three step-children.

Roy Richards, construction industry entrepreneur and founder of the National Motorcycle Museum, was born on January 30, 1931. He died of respiratory failure on March 29, 2008, aged 77