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Posted June 22, 2007
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A storeroom at the Museum is the staging area as motorcycles and memorabilia arrive for the new exhibit.
Machines and other items arriving at Museum for "Malcolm!" exhibit
Off-road racer extraordinaire Malcolm Smith is the subject of a new exhibit that open in July at the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum, and some of his most famous bikes and other personal items have begun to arrive for the display.
The bikes include an eight-speed Husqvarna 250 that he rode to victory in
the Elsinore GP in 1970, a 1966 Husqvarna 250 that was the first Husky he
ever rode, and a 1970 Husqvarna that he rode on the beach in Mexico with his
friends Steve McQueen and Mert Lawwill in the classic motorcycling movie "On
Any Sunday."
The new exhibit, titled "Malcolm!" and presented by Tucker Rocky Distributing, officially opens July 26 with a dedication ceremony. It is the fourth in a series of Legends exhibits at the Museum. A West Coast preview of the exhibit took place June 7 at Smith's dealership in Riverside, California.
Here's a look at some of the machines that are now at the Museum being prepped for the display:
1953 Lambretta
Smith bought a 1953 Lambretta when he was 13, getting his first taste of life on two wheels. Tom White, curator of the exhibit, says the football coach at Smith's school would give him the cleats off worn-out football shoes, and Smith would then screw them into used scooter tires so he could ride his Lambretta in the dirt.
1960 Matchless G80CS
This motorcycle is an example of the 1949 Matchless (right, being prepped by White), that was Smith's first real dirtbike. The Matchless proved impossible to start for a slight 15-year-old like Smith. White says Smith always had to push the bike down a hill to jump-start it, and learned to work the clutch very well in the woods because he didn't want it to stall. He rode his first race, a scrambles, on the Matchless. He finished second.
1966 Husqvarna 250 Cross
In 1966, Smith was a Greeves rider, but Edison Dye, considered the father of motocross in America, approached him and asked him to try riding a 1966 Husqvarna Cross. Dye had just become the American importer of the Swedish marque.
White says Smith liked his beefy Greeves and thought the Husky looked spindly. Dye offered to send Smith to the International Six Days Trials as a rider if he liked the bike. Smith rode the Husky around a test track, came back and said: "Mr. Dye, you've got yourself a rider.''
Smith earned a silver medal at the ISDE in Sweden that year. He went on to win eight gold medals during his long riding career.
1966 BSA Victor
Smith rode this bike on the street and used it for off-road practice. It had a custom seat made by Bates and Ceriani forks.
1970 Husqvarna 250
Smith used this eight-speed machine to win the Elsinore GP in 1970. The bike had essentially four low gears and four high gears. Smith shifted between the high and low settings using a lever mounted on the handlebars.
1970 Husqvarna 400 Cross
This is the bike that Smith rode at the end of the popular motorcycling movie "On Any Sunday." Smith, Steve McQueen and Mert Lawwill were riding together in one scene where Smith and Lawwill play a joke on McQueen. They let him get into a creek ahead of them and then they sped by him while he was in the creek, soaking him with their spray.