Famous Greeves

[greeves246]

I brought a challenger from frank and it had chrome foot rest ? Can anyone shed light on this also hears sonny of sonny and cher used to race a greeves !

[Brian Thompson]

Famous Greeves.

Hi there Greeves246 and a warm welcome to the forum!

From your profile it sounds as though you've got some interesting bikes and stories to share!

As this is arguably a little off topic to the the Steve McQueen thread I've taken the liberty of moving it here, so hope that's ok. Besides, this topic deserves it's own thread I reckon! So, can anyone shed any light on this...?

Brian.

[Bearingman]

I brought a challenger from frank and it had chrome foot rest ? Can anyone shed light on this also hears sonny of sonny and cher used to race a greeves !

Hi Greeves246.

This is how the story was told to me by Ex-Nicholson employee and ISDT rider Lloyd Linglebach...

A long hair type comes into Nicholson Motors and walks to the front counter and says to Lloyd, "I'm Sonny Bono and I want to buy a Greeves!"
Lloyd had no idea who the hell Sonny Bono was...Lloyd just figured it was just another long hair SoCal type that slip in the front door looking for the meaning of life in those days... As the story goes and believe me Lloyd would tell it much better than I'm doing, Sonny gets onto Nick's demo Challenger and nails the throttle down the test area that Nick had next to his shop...long story short, Mr. Bono almost eats it at the end of the test area!...I'm not sure if he bought the Greeves or not...it probably scared the hell out of him!

To answer your question, I never heard or read if Sonny raced a Greeves or not.

BTW, there were a few Hollywood types who rode Greeves when it was cool to ride dirt bikes back in the day...they now sip their high dollar coffee's and drive electric cars!

Kenny Sykes
USA

[Brian Thompson]

Sonny and Cher Harley XLCH.

Great story Kenny!

I did a bit of a search and all I could find was this. OK, a Greeves it ain't (!), but I thought the Bud Ekins connection was interesting anyway.

Apparently there was an American TV series back in the day called 'Then Came Bronson' in which one of the actors, Michael Parks, rode a mildly customised Harley Davidson Sportster. Sonny Bono discovered that Bud Ekin's shop had done the work on this bike, so he had a brand new XLCH dropped off there for similar treatment.

Bud Ekins' changed the wheel rims (to 21"/16"), exhaust, cobra seat, a 4" fork extension (with no rake), and numerous other parts were chrome plated. Von Dutch (famous hot rodder, chop builder, pinstripper and another mate of Steve McQueen's) fabricated the sissy bar (with the "SC" insert) and fork covers. To duplicate the paint on Sonny and Cher's Rolls Royce, Von Dutch painted the bike in a matching white pearl with black pinstriping. As a final touch, he lettered the duo's names on each side of the tank.

Brian.

[John Wakefield]

Death of Sony Bono

Sonny Bono died on January 5, 1998, from injuries sustained when he struck a tree while skiing on the Nevada side of Heavenly Ski Resort near South Lake Tahoe, California. At least it was not on a Greeves!!