We are on a personal race with this build and now can peek the light at the end of the tunnel. Started with our beloved/ugly/cute R75/5 less than six months ago, & if we get lucky , we might have her ready for the soon Wheels & Waves Party in Biarritz. Yesterday she was completely dismantled for the last time and sent all the bits to our favorite painters/platers/upholsterers… getting us one step closer to D-Day.
In ESMC we feel very grateful for being able to collaborate with wicked brains like Nicolai Sclater & Maxwell Paternoster. Been a truly inspiring and unforgettable experience to have you guys around the garage spreading your creative mayhem. Hasta siempre Duo del Diablo!#$
Check their works here:
More pictures on ESMC Facebook HERE
What can we say but express our gratitude to one of those impossible to repeat motoring stories that sadly was put to an end on friday night. Only in America, where ingenuity from time to time defies history, could this have happened. A man of many talents with good hands to make things go fast. Achieved 82 records in Bonneville with an Austin Healey in 1954, only to break all his bones at la Carrera Panamericana later that year. Le Mans winner with Aston Martin in 1955. The king of texan chili, the only single man that put pretentious Enzo Ferrari at stake humiliating him with his Cobras all across Europe. Rest in peace hero.
True punk spirit with a colossal voice. A new discovery for us and a rather fresh one on todays money driven Indust-discographyc empty desert. Singing to the gods from the streets, for all of us, his sounds are raw, wild and unadulterated. The man was living on the streets and made it to the record studio when, across superhero delusions, started giving away hand-drawn flyers around Chicago’s corners, offering to sing a song to anyone who called! Isn’t it fantastic? The story is great, but the music will buy you in! Good job surviving Willis, and hope you will give us more soul feasts for years to come.
You can read a great article with Willis on GQ HERE!
El Solitario MC & his squirrels have finally managed, with only a few years delay… to open the shop. A small virtual space in which we will showcase those things we love most. In ESMC, we are determined to present high end gear collections season over season. Now we are immerse in the process of developing our own lines of leather gloves, luggage, riding pants, red selvage overalls, signature T-Shirts, 100% natural Wool gear and the list goes on & on.
You may call this is a “Soft Opening” then, as most of the core goods still need to be added to the catalogue, but this will be a good time to tweak and improve the interface before the gold rush attacks. ESMC’s goal is to revive and re-interpret those somehow ‘lost’ garments and accessories from past eras, whilst creating new gear fit for purpose for today’s road life, a life we know well. Forms that can take the punishment of a spill when you’ve overcooked a corner, as we’ve been there and tasted how it feels. Quality wools, cottons and skins are our main materials alongside silver jewellery and handmade leather accessories. The same focus on quality and originality imposed on our rideable iron, is what will define our creations outside the garage. More products will be added every week so stay tuned and keep on speeding bandidos!
These Viking goggles, manufactured in Italy by Baruffaldi in the 70′s, were super cool then and are almost impossible to find nowadays. ESMC is very lucky to be able to offer them to you in very limited units. The legend tells that these Goggles come from the leftovers of Malcolm Smith’s shop in California. Hurry up while they last. They are new in their original box and all come with two different shades; dark and amber.
On March, 8, 1921, the President of Spain, Eduardo Dato, after approving in January 1921 a subterfuge law that permitted the killing of revolutionaries, was assesinated. Three young men; Pedro Mateu, Ramon Casanella and Nicolau Fort, shot him to death from an Indian motorcycle with a sidecar in Madrid’s Plaza de la Independencia. 4 Mausser automatic guns were emptied on the black Hudson that carried the President causing his fatal destiny.
Above, we can see the Indian surrounded by posing Guardia Civil after it was found in its hiding place. This Indian was purchased the 20th of February in Barcelona by Mateu, who was a skilled mechanic, for 5,100 pesetas, a fortune at the time. After some modifications were made to fit the Indian for their task, they hopped on the bike and rode to Madrid to encounter history. In the trip to Madrid they suffered an incident with another motorist in Muela, Zaragoza, ending airborne & off the road almost getting killed and seriously harming the sidecar, which had to be re-welded in a local blacksmith, rapidly fixed by Mateu. Once in Madrid, they rented a space in Arturio Soria to hide the bike and carefully studied Dato’s daily itinerary, from the Senate in Plaza de la Marina Española, to his home at the beginning of Serrano. They knew that the Hudson would lower its speed passing the Plaza de la Independencia, to merge left onto Serrano, there they would have the perfect opportunity for their hit and run.
At 19:14, Casanellas, who was a fast rider, on the handlebars of the Indian saw his objective ready and placed the Indian side by side with the President’s car. In this second, Fort who was riding on the rear seat and Mateu riding on the sidecar, stood up, looked over the window verifying the President’s position, shouted “Viva la Anarquia!”and emptied their chargers. Each of them was carrying one gun on each hand, resulting in more than 20 bullet holes on the Black Hudson and the inmediate death of Eduardo Dato. Rapidly the Indian with opened pipes (purposefully modified to confuse with the gunshots) scaled through Serrano’s traffic disappearing in a blink of an eye.
The three anarchists were part of an amnesty issued by King Alfonso XIII, and lived thereafter. Pedro Mateu ended up in France were he started a mechanic workshop. Nicolau Fort lost his life later on, on the Spanish Civil War, fighting on the Republican Army. Ramon Casanellas, fleed to the URSS to later return to Spain taking part in the organization of the Spanish Communist Party. Paradoxically, he died in a motorcycle crash in 1933, but that is another story…
This murdering along the killing of Canalejas were direct causes of the later outbreak of the Spanish Civil War that conmotioned the world because of its fratricide cruelty in 1936. It was a time when killers were killed by other killers using their same medicine. From ESMC we would like to plead our politicians to look back and realize what happens when greed takes over responsibility.
Pictures are snapshots taken from the book “Marin” which is an amazing anthology of photographs by the great Luis Ramon Marin. A groundbreaking artist with a keen eye for motorcycles whom we will be seeing more around here soon.
PS: Thanks to Adolfo Calles for his always inspiring storytelling.
“Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming “Wow! What a Ride!”
― Hunter S. Thompson
Welcome to hell folks.
We have been daydreaming for a long time about this moment of rupture with the old establishment and to celebrate it, we want to share with you a short story that resumes what El Solitario MC’s philosophy is all about.
Having the pleasure to possess a machine of this kind and tame it for a couple of years, was an enlightening experience. It was like riding a killer Dragon that serves as your best friend, he could kill your guts with a blink of an eye, but with confidence and care, you could push it beyond your wildest dreams.
All photos by Carlos Ramos & El Solitario MC
If you wanna see more photographs of this bitchin’ machine and read a detailed specs sheet go to our facebook page HERE
PS: Our kudos and love to the great Jules Watts for that last minute rope that saved us falling into the Abyss and Angelito for his patience and understanding all the way through even though we wanted to kill you!!!
xxx
Dream Salt? Catch it!
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