Saturday, May 31, 2014

Moto Museum - St. Louis, Missouri

Unfortunately, I'm currently unemployed, and needed a break from the job hunt, so I decided to skip town for a day and clear my head. I knew that I really couldn't spend much money, so I needed to find something of interest, that was also inexpensive. St. Louis is only a 4 hour drive from here, so I chose to make the trek down for the day and pay a visit to the Moto Museum.

Located in the heart of downtown in a historic brick building, just over the river and within eyeshot of the glorious arch, stands a retro modern structure, that's both old, yet retrofitted to accommodate this private motorbike collection, a modern motorcycle dealership and even the Triumph bar and grill. The museum is free to enter, and there's a simple donation box near the entrance. They were setting up for some sort of dealer meeting, so the small staff on hand, was busy setting up banquet tables and even dealing with the local fire department for code inspection. I literally had free reign of the place, and there wasn't any other patrons that showed up the entire time I was there. I'll admit that my spontaneous trip, left me a bit unprepared, and I didn't even bring my point and shoot camera, so I was limited to just the camera in my phone. Apologies for the poor quality images.



Side Valve Benelli


This Matchless was quite nice, and displayed in a way that made it looked like it was perhaps a favorite for the owner


I don't know why, but I've always liked the Imme. It's a goody little thing, but the exhaust pipe is actually incorporated into the frame tube. Just sort of an interesting machine.



This Ducati was actually on display inside the dealership on the back side of the building. They sell Ducati, KTM, Triumph


New Imperial, which I found to be very nice, and is the only machine that I shot 2 photos of. Complete bike, and close up of the petrol tank



It's rare to see an Adler



I'm actually unsure what this beast was, and I wasn't interested enough to even read it's description:



V Twin Husqvarna


The little Italian machines are always cool to look at.
Maserati


Gilera


2 Stroke Parilla


Scott Flying Squirrel


This NSU was my favorite of the collection





Likely the most valuable machine of the collection, was actually on loan from it's owner. With the lighting, all I could manage was this moody shot of the Super X Hill Climber


DKW 


Nose detail of a very art deco styled side car


The majority of the collection is made up of slightly obscure marques, and much of it isn't exactly correctly restored, but I doubt that the owner makes any excuses for any of them. It's always interesting to me, to see what sort of old bikes that people choose to collect. I certainly enjoy seeing them displayed and shared with the public. Getting the chance to get out of town, clear my head and see some old motorbikes, definitely made the purpose of my mission a success.

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