THE REST OF THE STORY
by Evan Bell
On John Lacko’s web site (http://www.beemergarage.com) is a picture with the caption “Sometimes you do not find much”. I will tell the saga of this BMW R2 1932.
In August of 1959, I accepted a summer job with Irv Seaver Motorcycles. Irv had bought a collection of derelict motorcycles from Chuck Pollard. Chuck was a Highway Patrol motor officer. On his rounds he would see or hear of an old motorcycle and check it out.
When a uniformed officer knocked on your door and asked about an old motorcycle leaning against the fence, many times they just gave it to him. Chuck sold his ranch and did not have a barn to keep this collection. Irv Seaver built a barn to move these to. When I first went to work for Irv, I was asked to help haul them to the barn after work. This R2 was one of the bikes. I bought it from Irv for $50. It was missing a lot of parts. I did not find a source nor could I afford to buy many parts and eventually sold it to a sheriff (Bob Haeckle) who sold it to Mr Livesay who sold it to Damon Ritchey (Damon’s custom Paint). I bought it back probably in the 1970’s. I had procured a metal lathe by this time and made and adapted a few parts but had not collected many of the needed parts.
I sold the project to Michael Rupp (Rupp Photograph to the right) of Phoenix, Arizona, probably in the late 80’s.
Michael contacted by mail several sources of parts in Germany and bought an extra engine and trans and other parts. He also cleaned and primered the frame and tank.
Mike called me in the early 90’s and asked if I would rebuild his R69s engine (which had blown up) in exchange for the R2..
I worked on this bike from time to time but had made a list of parts which I took with me on several trips to Mannheim Veterama. I found the last major part there in 2002 from Gerhard Weller. This was the correct throttle assembly with horn button and cable dimmer lever.
I set a goal to have this bike done before its 50 anniversary of my purchase. I am very close to achieving this goal. I heard it run for the first time June 6, 2009, but had a disappointment when I tried to ride it. Upon pulling in the clutch, it made a terrible noise. The noise was the clutch arm hitting the clutch spring nuts.
We did show it at the Huntington Beach Concourse June 7 (picture below). It only got a second place trophy since we had no air cleaner. Does any one have a correct original air cleaner?
To close the story as to the summer job, I never left. Worked for Irv Seaver for 20 years and bought the Business in 1979. I plan to celebrate 50 years with a ride on this R2.
