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1956 Triumph 650 Bobber Restoration

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19K views 67 replies 37 participants last post by  dudley32  
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#1 ·
Finally time to post some info & pics about our restoration of our 1956 Triumph 650 Thunderbird.

A little history...

My grandpa bought it brand new in 1956. In the early 60's, it was customized to what you see in the pics today (take a look at the damn pics). It hasn't really been used much and has less than 100 miles on it in the last 40+ years.

Realized a few weeks ago it is time to drag it out of the garage and enjoy it. We are doing a full restoration, no stone unturned here, wanna do it right.

A few weeks ago, we thought we had a very clean 1956 Triumph that was customized in the early 60's with:

Matching numbers

Custom fenders
Custom tank
Paint job alluding to a "candy apple red fade to black"
Drag bars
Oil tank
Custom wheels
Custom seat
Custom headlight

No front brake

 

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#2 ·
rickyl2 said:
A few weeks ago, we thought we had a very clean 1956 Triumph that was customized in the early 60's with:

Matching numbers

Custom fenders
Custom tank
Paint job alluding to a "candy apple red fade to black"
Drag bars
Oil tank
Custom wheels
Custom seat
Custom headlight

No front brake
Click to expand...

You "thought" you had....but...???? I don't get it.
Welcome. Looks super cool, that paint is rad.
 
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#3 ·
First thing we did was bring the bike down to Classic Cycles in Orange, CA. It took one minute with Tony to find out what we really had...

A 1956 Triumph 650 Thunderbird, customized in the early 60's with:

Borrani wheels
Wassell fenders
Wassell tank
Bates seat (narrow competition style)
Webco oil tank
Bates sidemount headlight
Webco oil cooler
Bates Fork Slider Covers

Lucas Comp Magneto

"Bitchin' license plate holder" according to Tony, not sure of maker
Bonneville Top End

Tony and Andy actually spent time with us, go figure we'd find some guys to work on our bike that actually give a shit. Never met them before but they were excited about the bike and glad to donate their knowledge and opinions about the restoration. Couldn't imagine going to a better place, so far so good.

We left the bike with Classic so they could go through the motor and carbs. We will be handling most of the other restoration work.
 

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#5 ·
Couple weeks ago we picked up the bike, left the guts at Classic, and brought it back to our garage. Started takin' her all apart and most of the parts are in good shape. Got a couple issues but nothin' major:

- Broken Bates headlight mount, not really salvageable

- Small crack in the rear drum plate cover

- Teeth worn down on the sprocket, gonna replace with a 43 tooth

- Many of the bolts on the bike are not exactly correct or matching

- Bunch of other common rebuild crap, like we need to replace the shocks, springs, fork tubes, grips, rubbers, re-spoke wheels, new tires, etc.

 

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#7 ·
Right on- I've been dying to see this bike since you guys came down to SD and picked up that Bates h/l bracket. Seriously, that is my idea of a perfect custom pre-unit. Just enough custom stuff, without being over the top. Tony should be able to set you up with anything you need for it, but hit me up if not. Looks like you have all the important stuff- and don't let anyone talk you out of those Borrani rims! Can't wait to see this thing all polished up. Pete
 
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#8 ·
Hey Pete, you were the next post we were gonna make. We just needed to take a pic of the bracket you sold us. Also, thanks again for the bottle cap.

For everyone else reading this, we called Pete cause we were having a hell of a time finding a Bates side mount headlight bracket, in any condition. Couldn't believe it when he said he had one still in the original packaging. We drove down to San Diego and talked with him for quite a while. Yet another guy that is more than happy to help and talk about your bike and other shit. Call him up if you are looking for any pre-unit stuff, he's got an amazing amount of old parts that you may not find anywhere else. And as a bonus, he gave us a limited edition, nicely worn Triumph beer bottle cap to cover up the hole for the steering dampener.

Alright, back to you Pete. Glad we finally took the time to post it and hope everyone enjoys the process of the restoration. If you are ever driving on the 15 and wanna stop by just give us a call. Otherwise, we plan on bringin' it to Born Free (thanks for the info on that too).
 
#9 ·
Hey Rick- no worries man. I'm just happy to help get that thing back on the road. Contrary to popular belief, I'd rather see old parts get used than sit on the shelf. That's gonna be a pretty special bike with it's family history, and killer build style. I think the Born Free crowd will really dig that bike, especially if you can dig up some old pictures of it from back in the day.

Also, my old lady's parents live in Temecula, so next time I need to get away from them, I'll hit you guys up.
 
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#10 ·
Lurkingclass said:
Hey Rick- no worries man. I'm just happy to help get that thing back on the road. Contrary to popular belief, I'd rather see old parts get used than sit on the shelf. That's gonna be a pretty special bike with it's family history, and killer build style. I think the Born Free crowd will really dig that bike, especially if you can dig up some old pictures of it from back in the day.

Also, my old lady's parents live in Temecula, so next time I need to get away from them, I'll hit you guys up.
Click to expand...
Thanks Pete. We are gonna try and get some old pics, may not be able to find any but worth a shot. Look forward to you stopping by.
 
#13 ·
38speedtwin said:
That bike is awesome!

Please tell me you are going to leave the original paint on the sheetmetal. If you have to have shiny paint, you should pick new stuff and paint that. Nothing you could paint now would be that cool.

-Shaggy
Click to expand...
Amen. That paint has been on there for all these decades, and doesn't look too bad. There's no reason to sand it off now. You should be able to find new sheetmatal for a few hundred bucks, and it would be money well spent.
 
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#18 ·
Honing out the tubes with a brake hone (thanks Pete for the tip)

Got the new tires in. The bracket is sittin there too.

Everything is now at the chromer, polisher and powder coater. Just waitin' to get some stuff back...
 
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#20 ·
Just found out our black license plate is not usable, or at least the AAA DMV lady said that. The last time we registered it was in 1999 and they said it is gone forever. We are still the original owner, no name change or owner change. Does anyone have any tips on what we can do to still use it?
 
#63 ·
rickyl2 said:
Just found out our black license plate is not usable, or at least the AAA DMV lady said that. The last time we registered it was in 1999 and they said it is gone forever. We are still the original owner, no name change or owner change. Does anyone have any tips on what we can do to still use it?
Click to expand...
If you have ANY piece of original DMV Paper work that show that your Black Plate is THE ONE for that Bike, The DMV has to Honor your request to keep it Rgeistered to that bike.

Pink Slip, Yearly Reg Paper ... Whatever.

Ask for a Supervisor when you go in .. DO NOT register it to a White plate.

AAA Can't Help with all the Little DMV quirks ... Actually they dont help with much Wierdo Stuff at all.
 
#21 ·
Rick, you are kinda out of luck here with your 1963 Black/yellow plate, the bike fell out of the system being that is has been 12 years since it was last registered, so the best thing you can do is get it registered with a white plate and but a 1956 yellow/black plate that is clear to use and petition DMV for a Year of manufacture plate use.
 
#26 ·
Polishing is some real dirty work for sure. I like to do my own but I don;t have the tools to do something with deep fins like that.
That's going to look really good going back together. What year is the top end from? Mid 60's I'd guess. My '56 has the original iron heads and external oilers.
 
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