Vintage Motorcycles

South Point Casino in Las Vegas is home to the annual MidAmerica Vintage Motorcycle Auction, the reason for my visit, mentioned in last week's blog. Every January all the old bike nuts come here to buy, to sell, and to tell a few lies.



I flew in on Monday, before the auction started, to work with Randy Baxter of Baxter Cycle fame, on the 2011 Classic Triumph Calendar. We try to change-up the calendar every few years, so the backgrounds aren't all corn stalks from Iowa, or canal views and golf courses from Florida.

The MidAmerica Vintage Motorcycle Auction is the biggest auction of it's kind in the country.

One of the locals directed us to the little town of Nelson, south of 'Vegas and a little south of Hoover Dam. Nelson isn't much more than a collection of trailers and small houses. Just down the road though is a restored mine site, kind of a refurbished ghost town. There's the general store, the barn and a collection of buildings in various states of disrepair. Scattered between the buildings is an extensive collection of old Jeeps, school buses, Chevy pickup trucks and mining equipment.



To discover this little town, run by a husband and wife team who gave us carte blanche to use the buildings and backdrops, was like being turned loose in the proverbial candy store with a pocket full of quarters. If the mining site wasn't enough, the Colorado River is only a few miles away, and the views of the desert and the river are simply to die for.

Just down the road from Nelson is this eclectic collection of buildings, cars, trucks and stuff. Lots of stuff.

Needless to say, we spent most of our time in Nelson and along the river, rolling bikes into and out of Randy's pickup truck, and then moving them this way and that until we were sure the perfect photo of the T100 or TR6 was contained on the memory card in my digital camera.

We parked this 1963 T-bird in a wash with the Colorado River as a backdrop.

As shown nearby, we did spend one night downtown. Freemont Avenue, with its canopy of lights, seemed the ideal place to photograph old motorcycles. The street has turned into a walking mall of sorts, complete with street musicians, open-air bars and lots of cops. All of who said, "no, you can't roll a motorcycle out here without getting permission." Luckily the folks who run the Plaza, on the west end of Freemont, were a little more open minded. We parked the little 250 Triumph under the canopy of lights at the Plaza, and aimed the lens at the lights of Freemont.


The MidAmerican Auction is a win-win deal for me, partly because I don't gamble (being self-employed is gamble enough). It's hard to beat great weather and endless photo ops. I'm thinking this little jaunt to Nevada could easily become a yearly event for me.

The 1969 TR 25W shines bright with the lights of the Plaza reflected in the paint, and the lights of Freemont in the background.

And for anyone who wonders, we do have some 2010 Classic Triumph calendars left.

Early one morning we parked this 1964 TR6SR in front of anther old mine building.