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Pay Backs, The Dick Gambino Story

296K views 986 replies 307 participants last post by  Dicky 
#1 · (Edited)
For those of you that cant read good. Just look at the pictures. But if you don't read it all.. Your missing the gems.

Edit: If your missing his site. Your missing the real show.
http://www.gambinometal.com/index.html
I was also able grab some video and put it on page 9.

So, I randomly ran into some girl one night. I must have mentioned I need a weld on my bike for some reason. She told me her dad works on old cars and does metal art. Dick Gambino metal craft. Then She showed me pics of his art things. She says "this is a picture of some old car he did a grill for". Little did she know it was a extremely high dollar Bugatti..!

I was like. If he could do that, he can surely weld on my lonely seat bungs. So I go to meet this weird old metal arts and crafts guy. He was out of the shop and left the roll gate up. To my shock I was staring at a hand formed dual head plugged BMW cafe racer where the side frame and cross braces welded solid. The lower frame rail is designed to be removable to pull the motor out the bottom!
This is the last thing I thought I would run into as I pulled in the drive way.



.

.
He showed up. We met, we talked. I told him I needed seat bungs welded and my numbers. Soon to find out he was an old biker and custom painter. Built choppers, stadium show bikes and drag bikes in the 60's. Raced a dirt Flat track in the 60's till he blew up his Ducati. Moved up to dragsters and painted funny cars in the 70's. Lives on a small sail boat.! In cold NJ year round. Did the body work for Ferrari race cars. Just plain unreal stuff. Topped of with the fact that he didn't redo a Bugatti grill. He hand shaped the whole car from photographs. All of the Bugatti fenders and body panels from flat steel. Yet he bills himself as a blacksmith.

At this point he had only seen my bare empty Triumph frame in hand. Two days later i picked up my frame with the seat bungs tacked up. I rushed home and built up my whole triumph chopper in three evenings. Threw it on a truck and drove it up for some other dodads/welds. As we pulled my chopper down he shoved me out of the way yelling "I gotta sit on it.. I gotta sit on it.. Oh yea, oh yea this is perfect".
He was like a crazed savage animal. So longer story short. He told me he wanted me to leave my bike there and I can come and work on it there. Come and go as I want and make sparks fly. All because he liked my bike and how i work. Works out great for me because he has all the big 100 year old tools and cool shit.

So I show up one day. There on the floor was this big old gang tool box. It looked like it had been under water cuz all the draws were like rust puddles. He then told me he had always wanted this box when he was a kid but couldn't afford one. He envied that box. All these years later someone found it and gave it to him. He lightly mentioned that one day he might think about fixing it up. Maybe paint it his old race colors.

So my plan was set. I was going to wait till he went on a trip to Texas and finish his dream because I know he just didn't have the time. I worked on it over three days. Ground out all the rust in the draws. Got some tough engine paint.
Painted it yellow and grey, his flat track racer colors.




Mind you these pics are after grinding and sanding.



I finished it up. Closed the lid and tossed it back on the floor in the scrap pile where it lay. Waiting for him to trip over it. So this was my little pay back for all of the priceless tip tricks he has given me.
 
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#939 ·
Tell him to hang in there. I don't know the details, but life is unpredictable to say the least and sometimes we get slapped in the balls with news we just don't need. Hopefully he can dolly, hammer and weld his cares away. When I was a kid, there were men in my life who stood in for my absent father and showed me how engines worked and taught me to forge and beat metal into some crude shapes, but as far as talent goes they couldn't hold a candle to Dick. The man is an artisan in every way, you are very, very lucky to know him.
 
#940 ·


Tanks 101. I stopped in the pay him a visit and spied tank upside down. It's from a custom Triton race bike and the bottom of the tank had failed. Talk about class and hard work. Everyone loves a nice tank but what about the bottom? Developing a fresh bottom for an old tank is 10x harder than making a top. Plotting clearance issues, frame rails, liquid weight, stress points, mounts. Factor all that in and still make it pretty even if it's never see. That the craftsman at his finest.
 
#943 ·
The most important character trait one can have is a never quit attitude. And that is what I like about this man, whether he is forming a piece of flat sheet metal into a work of art, fixing and restoring an old wood frame side car, or getting wiped out by a hellish storm. He is always leaning forward.
Never give up, never turn around!
 
#947 ·


So yes everyone, there has been a super big secret project going on that's half the reason there hasn't been many post. For the past few months its been just some small but intense repair jobs on vintage tanks. Not much to show.

All leading up to the main event. Its been months or years in the works but Dick has pulled up tent stakes and headed west. Dick and the landlord had not been seeing eye to eye for some time. Plus the old building was in rough shape so it was time to look for greener pastures.
 
#948 ·


This is the last photo i have of my friend, the Great Dick Gambino here in NJ. All you Texas boys just got very lucky because that where Dick was headed in this van he picked up for $800 in non working condition. That long ass flatbed was loaded by fork lift with all the heavy shop stuff. The rest was stuffed into the van. Dick made the cross county trip in a few days and is currently setting up the new shop.
 
#950 ·
Thanks for the update Dolce. Glad to hear Dick's finally gotten himself moved. I hope the new shop comes up to working condition fast, and that we get to see more updates. It's a long trip for you to ride out and take pictures now, eh? So be sure to plan that into your calendar early! Well, maybe a TX Jockey Journal rider can take over.
Alex
 
#960 ·
A quick note from Midland, Dad is set up in his new shop and starting to get back to work. Unfortunately the weather he had hoped to leave in Jersey followed him we have had 2 snows and cold temps since he arrived. I will post some pics when I get back but until then thanks for all the support.

Cheers

Winger

LFFL
 
#965 ·
squatch,
You are very correct! I went back to search for the photo I mentioned and couldn't see it, but did run across multiple pictures of Winger. I saw one grainy photo mentioning a daughter, and in my previous post I was thinking of a glamour photo of her that was somewhere back in this thread but seems lost. Anyway, somehow I got the two crossed.
Thanks for the correction.

Alex
 
#970 ·
Been a while since I've been on here wish I had some good news but wanted to pass along that Monday Dad had an altercation with a car while out for a ride he's pretty banged up broke some bones needed a plate and some screws in his arm and will be in a hard collar for three months. The bike is totaled but fixable. Always appreciate the support and kind word from this community.
 

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