Seeking Quality Scrambler Photos

To celebrate the Tenth Anniversary of Tiddlerosis, the time has finally come for me to publish a book on the subject. It will actually be the Eleventh Anniversary by the time the book could possibly be published, but that is beside the point. I have been mulling over this concept virtually since the founding of the website, and I think the time has finally arrived. However, there is one hugely important variable that has been keeping the project on the back burner all this time: the availability of appropriate, high-quality photos. Many of the brands involved have literally been out of business for decades. At the very least, my (and our) interest is in machines that have been out of production for more than a quarter-century. To add insult to injury, some of us are aware that many of these same companies, although they may still be thriving and producing motorcycles, care very little for the preservation of their own past product histories.

A few weeks ago I had an idea that could possibly make it to production. I decided that what I need to do to satisfy my own lust for these ancient tiddlers, doing my part in the preservation of their historic accomplishments in the process, is to limit my book to my favorite, and one of the most popular, of these classic motorcycles, the Honda Scramblers. If I decide to proceed with this project, it will be a compilation of material on all the Honda Scramblers of 1962-1975. For purposes of satisfying my need to create smooth chronological material, I plan to open the book with the C110 and S65. Of course I know they are not true Scramblers in the CL sense, but the 1960 introduction of the 50cc C110 precedes the 1962 intro of the CL-72 and the 1969 intro of the CL-70. This plan will allow me to outline a smoother transition from early to late and small to large instead of starting in the middle as the actual machine releases did. Many of us as kids began our fascination with upswept exhaust pipes with the C110 and I want to document that nostalgic element of history.

I recently contacted an old college buddy of mine who is now retired, but he worked for American Honda in the motorcycle mechanics division for many years. He relayed the sad story to me of how he personally participated in the destruction of large quantities of printed material on the classic machines that fascinate us both. He also assured me that if there are any digital copies of these materials still around, that Honda would not tell anybody, much less cooperate with an archivist writer interested in re-publishing this material. Although I sent an official, printed request to American Honda several weeks ago, I am not holding my breath for a reply. Back as early as the late '60's and early '70's, I had always heard that Honda, nor any of the others among the Big Four, gave a Snuff-or-Not about preserving the history of machines the companies no longer produced. I would love to have Honda's cooperation on this project, but if I can't, there is an alternative.

This book must contain the required photos or it loses most of its appeal. One of the reasons I want to do it now is that the Kindle Fire has recently been released. This means that for the first time, color photos can be enjoyed in an e-book format by a significant number of readers. The print version will probably have to remain in B&W purely due to cost considerations, but anyone who wants to view the book on a Kindle Fire or any PC with the free Kindle software installed can buy the color version. The release of a B&W Kindle version and a color print version will be considered, at least, anyway, as will other e-book versions. When I released my most recent book that included photos, Ker-Splash 2: The High Performance Powerboat Book, in 2010, only the B&N Nook Color and the Kindle for PC were available. so that book, with 135 B&W photos is available only in B&W for the Kindle. The Honda Scrambler book I would like to compose would be very similar to Ker-Splash 2 in format and design. Limiting the Tiddlerosis book only to the Honda Scramblers will probably bring the size and price of the B&W print version down a bit from that of Ker-Splash 2.

The big question now is, Can I Acquire the photos I need? You can help. If you have one of these machines, or even photos of an example you used to own, and you would like to see your bike in a book, send your best shots to me. You must clearly own the copyright of the photo and give me permission to publish it. I shall, of course, give you full credit for any photo used in the book, and when appropriate, even add comments about you or your particular machine. Now take a deep breath because here comes the hard part. I spent literally hundreds, if not thousands, of hours sorting, selecting, and modifying the 135 photos in Ker-Splash 2. The photos need to be of high quality, high resolution, and bright, colorful, focused, and clear. The photo of the CL-200 shown above is a good example. I cropped and changed the digital file size before posting it here. The glare is a little bright on the Honda emblem on the gas tank, but otherwise this is a nicely appropriate shot. The great majority of what I would like to publish are straight-on side shots displaying the upswept exhaust pipe side of the bike. The less background clutter the better, although you can see the owner of this 1974 beauty carefully posed it with the classic signs. The list of models to be included are the: C110, Sport 65, CL-70, CL-90, CL-100, CL-125 (both single and twin), CL-160, CL-175, CL-200, CL-72, CL-77, CL-350, and CL-450. As much as possible, I want the book to reflect an American Honda perspective. I am not saying that no photos of European, Canadian, or Asian models will be accepted, but I would like to avoid that road as much as possible. The Scramblers were essentially an American phenomenon and I want to reflect that perspective in the book.

If I receive enough response to go ahead with the project, I shall. If not, I am afraid it will sadly die. Although I have plenty of material and ideas for the text of the book, I have difficulty envisioning it without photos of the classic machines I am discussing. The tone of the book will include lots of nostalgia, model identifications and descriptions, and of course, as many appropriate photos as I can acquire. You can contact me directly at ice9 at nctv dot com or by posting a comment on this post. Thank you for your support. Now who's interested in showing off his classic Honda Scrambler?