Ok, Michael, I'm trusting you not to put me up for public ridicule here. Remember, this was 1972, and I was a clueless 22 year-old California Dude, who had little money, and wanted a big. loud bike. A basket case Royal Enfield Interceptor with a set of Triumph forks, a Triumph parcel rack style fuel tank, and no fenders fit the bill perfectly. The bike cost me $250US, and took about 3 hours to put together.

The steering head bearings were loose, the rear fender brackets were made of old hexagonal bar stock with lumps welded on for mounting points, and a beat up old ribbed dunlop fender. The custom cobra seat was the only new thing I bought for the bike. Oh, and it had a 5 inch "Rocky" headlamp, and very crudely built "highway pegs". And yes, that's right, I rode it with no mufflers back then!

I put many miles on this thing in that state, completely oblivious to the piston slap (or was it timing chain slap?), the looseness of the steering head bearings, and all the other "minor" problems. The bike actually always ran pretty well, and never let me down on the road.

That's an old rucksack bungied to the parcel rack. I carried my tools in there. Not that I necessarily knew what to do with tools in those days.
If you use this picture, please put a disclaimer of some sort with it, I've grown up a little since I was 22!

Well, I finally got some real Enfield forks, and a later Enfield fuel tank! Oh, yeah, some mufflers. The front fender is a real Cafe Racer item. Not that it fit too well with that leading axle!

Incarnation #2 This was around 1977 or so, and I had gotten married, and moved to Eugene, Oregon. By this time, I knew I could do a lot better by the bike, but money was just as scarce, and I had way less free time to spend tinkering with motorcycles. The cylinders had been replaced because the old ones were already out to .040.

I finally got some proper fenders on the thing! Well, not really proper, but at least presentable. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew there was something wrong with those pullback handlebars, and the cobra seat. Incarnation #2.5

I briefly tried a siamese exhaust that I got on sale from Accessory Mart. I liked the way it looked, but the bike didn't seem to run as well, so I took it off and reinstalled the Burgess mufflers that I had put on before. I also experimented with lower handlebars. They didn't feel very good to me with the forward footrest position that Enfield always used. I built up a rearset footrest arrangement at one time, but only used it for a little while. Someday I may build a "special" using some of my spare parts, and put those rearsets and some clubman bars on it. Over the years, I've obtained 3 or 4 frames, an equal number of 750 and 700 crankcases, cylinder heads, barrels, etc.

Ahh, now we're getting somewhere! Tank rechromed A proper Lucas 7 inch headlamp, a real Enfield seat (nevermind that it's from a Constellation!), and the toolbox installed after all these years.

Everything shined up and pretty! The speedo and tach were out being refurbished. This was around 1982, and I still didn't have a reliable source for many parts, so there is little on this bike aside from the engine, frame, toolbox, and wheels that actually came from a 1966 Interceptor.

The headlamp-ears/upper fork covers were actually modified Honda CB350 parts! The bike is currently in this state, I am going to tear it down soon, and begin incarnation #4, hopefully to turn out as nicely as Kevin Lemire's bike did. I think after all these years, I have the skill, and the connections to pull it off!

I hope you enjoyed this look at my evolution as a motorcycle restorer, and the evolution of my Enfield.

I have a couple of other projects to finish up, so I'm not ready to start buying parts yet, but what I'll be needing eventually is a 1964-1966 model fuel tank, and chrome covers, a 1966 seat and fenders with all associated hardware, 1966 model fork covers. Everything else, I have. I think the bike was originally polychromatic blue. The inside of the toolbox lids were painted that color when I first got the bike, although the outsides were painted black.