Kenny Dreer Museum Presentation teaser

Ole interwebanoyance said: Please forward this to any lists or people who might be interested in the below event,. It will be a great event and a lot of fun. thanks Doug, Keep in touch as we have several more presentations
coming soon, One on Racing at Bonneville and I just signed up Dave
Hansen for a presentation of the local vintage scene and history as
well as the history and details you never knew about the world famous
Langlitz leathers store and their global marketing of a true Icon of
NW Motorcycle history and manufacturing.


The Northwest Vintage Car & Motorcycle Museum Presents:



Where are the New Nortons?



When: Saturday, February 16th, 2013 10AM



Where: NWVCMM Vintage Gas Station @ Antique Powerland, Brooks, OR



Presenter: Kenny Dreer



Summary:

As Kenny puts it: “By the time I got my “official” drivers license
(1966) I had already logged several thousand miles under the guise of
working for my Dad’s Import Car business. I had excellent knowledge of
Smith’s Instruments, Girling Shocks and Hepolite Pistons. To say that
I was obsessed would be an understatement, MG’s, Jaguars, Austin
Healy’s were my world………………..until I rode my first motorcycle! What
impressed me the most was the speed, it was an addiction. Several of
the cars were fast but nothing like a motorcycle. After several bikes
I owned a 1970 Norton Commando 750…………..I became King of the World on
that bike, and now the rest of that story…………………………..”



Moving to Oregon in the early 80’s Kenny went to work with what he
knew best, motorcycles during his first years here in Oregon. He
stayed with motorcycles with a brief detour becoming a farrier in the
early 90’s. Even then he continued with motorcycle work during those
winter months, lacing wheels and building motors, eventually leading
to the establishment of Vintage Rebuilds and Restorations as his
official business.



Kenny's dream and passion was to take the Restoration business to the
next level. He achieved his goal with feature articles from all of the
leading magazines about his custom upgraded Norton's and Triumph's.
What he didn't realize at the time was how impactful his restorations
would become.

After partnering with Venture Capitalist, Ollie Curme in March '98,
Kenny took his restoration business to the next level, acquiring
Norton's scattered trademarks, developing the new Norton models 952
and 961 from concept thru pre-production prototypes, and raising the
funds necessary to go from a barn based business to global recognition
of Norton's re-entry into the motorcycle market.



Kenny will bring a Norton 952 Prototype to this presentation and
discuss early design criteria, how the myriad of motorcycle parts were
designed, developed and tested in preparation for a production based
motorcycle. Kenny has requested that we open this segment of the
presentation to a short question and answer session. Please bring your
questions to the meeting.



Norton Motorcycle Purgatory has been going on for decades! Stuart
Garner is only the latest in a long line of soldiers in the Norton
Saga. Although Kenny does not have all the facts pertaining to day to
day operations, he knows exactly where Stuart Garner is and what comes
next.



Please join us.





More Information? Contact: Tom Ruttan

(503) 638-1746

tgruttan@earthlink.net



NWVCMM Website: http://www.nwcarandcycle.org/

Yesirre ... yer really teasin me here Steve. Would luv to go, but over 2K miles for me and workin' ta boot. Moocho envious of those Nortoneers within spittin' distance to hear Kenny. Maybe some kind fellow Nortoneer will post a synopsis of above event ???

In this new digital world we are now living in, is it possible that this could be put online via WebEx or perhaps a "go to meeting" type of format where we could participate for our distant locations? I would definitely take the time to sit at my desk and participate.

There is a good chance it will be documented. I do not know yet how it will be shared. Stay tuned.

Would love to be there!

Gatsby

gatsby said:

Would love to be there!

Gatsby

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I don't think that if you got on a plane right this second you'd make it in time. :mrgreen:

I'm gonna try to make it up there.

I plan on attending, see you there!

Kenny Dreer gave a very candid and fascinating presentation at the Northwest Vintage Car & Motorcycle Museum this morning.
Thanks to everyone involved who organized such a interesting event!

Here are some snaps of the presentation..

























Cheers
Mike

That's nice and all but who's the blonde in the audience?

swooshdave said:

That's nice and all but who's the blonde in the audience?

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Awsome dude, Garth's a Nortoneer. I saw the Avanti, but I didn't see the Pacer. Party on... :mrgreen:

Allrighty,,, sorry for the delay,, been a tad bit busy, This will be
a convoluted email so bear with me, I think this topic got forwarded
around to a number of people so feel free to post it again.

First off the topic of recording. This has been asked a number of
times, so ill go into that. Many if not most of the seminars and
presentations at the museum have been taped in the past,, with the
exception of the Evan Wilcox Alloy tank class, The recordings are an
asset of the museum and to be used for education and to support
Museums goals and activity's.

Keep in mind we have a mentoring program for local students, which
hopefully will expand in the future.

The problem with making a recording available is that sooner or later
someone will upload it to Youtube and that's the end of that. I have
seen it happen many times. I wold love to figure out a way to make
the recordings available for single use viewings where an in turn
donation was made to the museum. Until we figure that out, I don't
know what to do.

I brought this up to Tom, who is now the president of the Board for
the museum and he seemed more open to the idea of sharing it to get
the word out about the museum. I also suggested we have a discussion
soon on keeping track of the recordings and other assets as we have
had some members pass away recently.

More specifically, we taped Kennys previous presentations (this was
the third one) but this time it was recorded by Tom Parker who was
very helpful in setting up the power point and digital support, as
well as recorded the show on a good quality camera.

Tom is working on a documentary about Norton America and has been for
several years, I am not sure how he feels about having his recording
shared before he completes his movie, I think he might be in need of
some help to get the movie done so perhaps someone might step up and
help him out. That movie would be a very popular item for many people
I'm quite sure.

Secondly, Kenny was pretty frank in this latest presentation, He had
told me some rumors but told me not to repeat them about the future of
the UK Norton company. Up until now,, i haven't repeated them, But
he did discuss the fact the UK Norton company is facing Bankruptcy
sooner or later and there IS a group of investors looking to swoop in
and purchase it. This group HAS approached Kenny with a discussion
about his involvement in a future Norton endeavor. We hinted at this
in the news releases of our event.

Kenny also went into a discussion also about certain people, companies
and LAWYERS,, and in some cases named names and the companies. At one
point called a certain Portland Law firm and a principle a "House of
Whores".

After the event we again discussed the recordings. Kenny had told the
crowd,, "Oh well,, we are among friends" (approx 75 to 80 people
showed up) but when discussing the requests for the recordings, Kenny
commented about getting letters from lawyers,
It is possible he doesn't really care, but on the other hand, I don't
want anyone getting sued for putting on a good show for the museum,.
So it might not be the best idea to share a recording like that, at
least without some editing.

And Yes, Frank, Tom Ruttan IS da man, as well as the rest of the
volunteers who make the museum happen. Tom has done a lot for vintage
bikes over the years. Recently he was elected president of the board
of the museum. I am very happy about that as we have a strong voice
for vintage motorcycles on the board as we are both a CAR and
MOTORCYCLE museum, Don't forget Gene Walker, of Walker HD, who heads
up the local AMCA Chapter as well as heads the display committee for
the museum,.

This seminar came about as I had suggested the previous Dreer shows
but they focused more on the Norton company and the evolution of the
company and its struggles as well as the dirty secrets of venture
capitalism and the industry as a whole.
This time around, there was recent developments locally as well as the
story's about the UK Company.
I have secured one of the prototype frames and some of the parts from
a Molalla garage sale and Mulino swap meet which is a story in itself.
So i took the parts down to Kenny and showed him. (We live a few
miles apart) Kenny has accumulated himself a collection of prototype
parts, failed experiments and returned from a vendor,, part of a
prototype bike.

I have been negotiating with Kenny the purchase of this stuff as well
for the museum and to use as promotional items for the Museum.
Unfortunately, how do you put a price on this stuff? Also, for a
serial bike hoarder between day jobs what can I afford?
At this point, we are miles apart. However I have a good basis for a
prototype bike of my own, and an interesting deviation with
Harley and Buell as many people don't know Kenny was also employed for
a time working for Harley Davidson with the title
"Special Projects" and that,, is a story in itself.

But in the course of this discussion, it was apparent to me we should
have another presentation focusing in on the development process and
prototyping of parts, testing, and the engineering side of it.
Really, the presentation was 2 parts, the engineering side and the
business side with a sidebar on the UK Firms imminent demise.

So, sorry to leave you hanging but will advise when we come up with a
game plan. Any suggestions are welcome. Consider becoming a member,
or a donation or volunteering.

Upcoming events to watch for are in March we are having a
presentation on LSR at Bonneville with a father/son team racing a
triumph. In April we having a seminar on Open wheel sports cars and
racing, I'm told the speaker is a lot of fun,

And I recently did some arm twisting and we signed up Dave Hansen of
Langlitz leathers, a NW institution and famous worldwide for their
long history in the NW motorcycle scene and their Iconic leathers.
(They also have a retail store in Japan) Dave and his daughter Judy
attended Kennys show and are excited to put on their own. We are
looking at dates in either May or early June for that.

Don't forget our Motorcycle show and swap meet in July.

Doug, The internet annoyance.

Was Kenny doing the presentation?

Yep, that's Kenny presenting in the pics above

Now you've done it - you've made dave horny :shock:

rvich said:

swooshdave said:

That's nice and all but who's the blonde in the audience?

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