over 25mph, thanks to the ancient tires. New ones were in order,
but I wanted a period look with safe performance, not some fat
“restomod” performance tires or skittish original-style bias-ply
rubber. Again, Coker Tire offered the exact right solution —
Michelin ZXZ 165SR15 radials, whose overall height was within
0.1 inch of the car’s original 5.90 x 15-inch tires. Tubed, fitted
and balanced on the wire wheels by a local shop, they turned
the Big Healey from a nervous, thumping, crisis-in-waiting to a
smooth freeway flier in a couple of hours. So worth doing, and
with a fifth Coker-made Michelin on the spare wheel, we struck
potential tire problems completely off the worry list while gearing
up for the Quail trip.
Trailer queen
I’m fascinated with the old Sears catalogs, from which mail-
order customers could buy everything from sugar bowls to
shotguns, and music boxes to motorbikes. And trailers. Combing
through Craigslist and eBay ads over months unearthed various
vintage utility trailers that could haul the
G80s, but most had big wheels and a tall
bed height, which would tower the bikes
above the little car. No good; we needed
something small, low and light. It finally
surfaced 80 miles away — the ’64 Allstate
utility trailer with a straight axle, leaf
springs, removable rear panel and low-
slung 8-inch wheels and tires. Still in the
original family, it also carried a coveted
California black license plate, and the
family also retained the original Manufacturer’s Statement of
Origin, purchase contract and title. Deal.
Its only problems: Rotten old tires, and its 5-foot box was
too short to accommodate the Matchlesses. Coker Tire came
to the rescue for the third time with a set of repro Cushman
4.00 x 8-inch scooter tires that looked absolutely perfect on the
old Allstate. Some angle iron and 3/4-inch plywood extended the
trailer length perfectly for the twin G80s. After welding ace John
Tilford modified a Toyota Corolla bolt-on trailer hitch to fit the
Healey, we were ready to roll.
Kings of the road
Talk about iffy. Loading the two bikes into the trailer, figur-
ing out solid tie-down points, and checking the tongue weight
all happened on the fly on a cool, pleasant Wednesday morn-
ing. This allowed two days to travel 250 miles along the
famed Pacific Coast Highway from SoCal to Carmel, site of
The Quail Motorcycle Gathering. Pobst had parachuted in that
morning after testing at Willow Springs International Raceway,
and as usual arrived switched on and ready to go. (Where his
energy comes from is a mystery; he is racing the Pikes Peak
International Hill Climb in a 700-plus-horsepower Dodge SRT
Charger Hellcat Widebody as this is written.) With relief, we found
the Austin-Healey towed the trailer and its 750-pound cargo with
reasonable ease, although I worried as Pobst, aka “The Rocket,”
dove into corners, fearing the trailer would overturn.
We had reason to smile as the car’s coolant temperature and
oil pressure held. After sailing west for a time, we turned inland
to pass Vandenberg Air Force Base — site of West Coast rocket
launches — the towns of San Luis Obispo and foggy Morro
Bay, and then rejoined the spectacular Pacific coast, home to
massive elephant seals, the “Red Triangle” (great white sharks!),
plunging rock cliffs and magnificently clean and cool coastal air.
An overnight in San Simeon, home of the Hearst Castle, served
as a midway point.
Only the failure of the Healey’s old gen-
erator armature spoiled a perfect run,
but with an overnight charge, the next
day the car’s battery brought us into
Carmel and the Quail Lodge in fine style.
And miracle of miracles, the electric over-
drive even worked, giving the Healey six-
banger a nice low rpm at our 45-55mph
cruise speed. As expected, the trip had
smeared the old car, trailer and bikes with
even more grunge, salt and grit than they
already had, making the ensemble probably the dirtiest exhibit
ever to arrive at The Quail.
It was remarkable that an old English sports car could be
pressed into duty as a tow vehicle — and succeed brilliantly —
after such a long time asleep. But a bigger and even more doubt-
ful enterprise was still before us: The Quail Motorcycle Tour.The Quail Motorcycle Tour
Each year, The Quail Motorcycle Gathering gets more popu-
lar. The traditional Friday ride is capped at about 100 riders,
but Saturday’s Quail Motorcycle Gathering at The Quail Golf
Club had a record 356 motorcycle entries, and would draw some
3,000 spectators. But to enjoy that, we’d have to first convince
the G80s to make the 100-mile Tour. Widely known now in its
11th year, the Tour winds through some of Monterey County’s
prettiest back roads, starting in this case with Carmel Valley
Road, a genial, narrow two-lane winding under the shady oakshttp://www.MotorcycleClassics.com 43
Randy Pobst (left) and John L. Stein carefully load the ’55 G80 aboard the modified ’64 Allstate utility trailer.
“I worried as Pobst, aka
‘The Rocket,’ dove into
corners, fearing the
trailer would overturn.”