[kustomd]

Down here there was a drag racer who was racing a 69 nova that was painted green and it crashed hard there's still pieces of that car floating around as wall hangers in several shops around here. He survived tho.

 

[Richie]

You ever hear the one about that guy that lost his sack.........

...change the color and I'll tell it to you.

I don't want to spoil this ...but does it have something to do with a gas cap and "riding tough"?

 

[Anthem]

My luck fades from good to great!
I AM one lucky motherfucker

Your bike is exempt. The bike gods look at it and think it's to fucking cool to wreck it.

 

[ABone312]

A guy that my brother works with is a long time rider. He had just finished a build of a green shovelhead, pulled out of the drive and down the road, got plowed into by a car. If I remember right, it is the only accident he has ever had. The bike still sits in pieces in his garage, and he won't ever paint another one green. I've heard it from a lot of bikers, don't know where it came from, won't test it out either.

 

[snortonnorton]

shit, that is weird. and yeah i can't believe i forgot about Caffiene's kick ass green bike. he only had it for like 6 months or less i think. man i'm scared of green now.

 

[GaryC]

the one about the third person to light up a camel on the same match.one last thing a lot of religon is built on superstition.keep the rubber side down...Bobby..

funny story about the third person to light up on one match - it's actually somewhat based on truth. Theory behind it is at night the first soldier to stike up the match and light his cig would trigger the attention of the enemy, the second soldier using the same match would give the gunner time to (in theory) identify the target and the third would give time to take aim and fire. If he was a good and quick shot that is. Eye sight is a funny thing in that more than a split second is needed to sight in and have your brain positively identify the target - thus the theory of 3 matches on one cig. Theory being two cigs would be enough time to "signal" movement and to begin to hone in on the target but in theory not time to positively ID and take aim on the potential target. That's the gist I've heard from WWII guys and even a current sharp shooter backed up the logic when I asked him about it - as I have often wondered what the significance of that 3 cigs on one match theory of thought. Makes sense to me anyway - wether or not actual science backs it up, that I don't know.

 

[LEFTY]

i guess i am testing my luck. maybe its okay since i am irish? see pic in my intro post.

 

[Irish Rich]

i guess i am testing my luck. maybe its okay since i am irish? see pic in my intro post.

Nah, the Irish put the white over the green, to cancel out the hex.

Just like the yellow stripe over the British Racing Green.

 

[LEFTY]

Nah, the Irish put the white over the green, to cancel out the hex.

Just like the yellow stripe over the British Racing Green.

guess i am forced to pinstripe it in white.

 

[Bigcheese5300]

I think the 3 cigarettes on one match thing comes from WWI. In the trenches sharpshooters were a constant threat.

As for green bikes, I've heard it about race cars, but I haven't been around bikes that long. It's amazing Harley-Davidson stayed in business, then, since all of their bikes were green from like 1912 to about 1931.

 

[Galaxie500XL]

Man, I've never heard any of these stories. I was planning to go with a lime green color myself, I want it to match my 69 Galaxie.

Thinking about it, I've had a shit load of problems with that car, maybe it is the green. I just know one thing, that is I need some more dame green in my pocket.

 

[jimmydiesel]

Wow,this thread.



I'm Irish,I love black cats (my old lady ran over Alice)love green,and my life is generally "decent".However,my Chevelle is green,my Nova is green and my BSA is green and black.I'm also a Capricorn.You guys should boot me ASAP.Just like Mike Ness-----born to lose.

Green is what you make it.Universal color of envy.How are you going to die wishing?

Jimmy Diesel

 

[Tony]

im not superstisous or anything......but i had a green bike...and i wont paint another one green.

I was going to tell them to ask you what you thought about that color on a bike....i had a feeling thats what you'd answer..

 

[Galaxie500XL]

I loved the color green on caffeine tank, too bad some beat me to the tank the other day. I don't know which one of you guys got it, but if you want to sell it, let me know.

I was going to tell them to ask you what you thought about that color on a bike....i had a feeling thats what you'd answer..

 

[VA Rebel]

First post.

Good site. Strange topic. Lots of interesting theories.

Glad a couple of you brought up the BRG that so many UK race cars/bikes sported. Must not have been thought to be bad luck across the pond.

If the right shade, I like green. The color of $. I've had a green H-D, & a green Moto Guzzi. Both were great bikes. Had a green '63 Chevy pick-up I wish I still had.

Don't like Kawasaki green, avocado green, puke green, or baby shit green.

 

[rev616]

I'm not too sure on this one.

The race he refers to was a boardtrack race on the 1 1/4 mile Los Angles Motor Speedway, in what is now Beverly Hills. It was on Thanksgiving Day, 1920.

The driver and mechanic that were killed were Eddie O'Donnell and Layll Jolls, who were both in a yellow Duesenburg, and Gaston Chevrolet, who was in a red Frontenac.

Green was a bad luck color in racing way before 1920. It comes from astrology, and the sign of Capricorn. One of the astrological traits of Capricorns is that people born under this sign are thought to be not as lucky in life as people born under other signs. There is also an old superstition that Capricorns are a "jinx" to be around, and that their "bad luck" will rub off on other people.

By coincidence, the astrological color Capricorns were given was........green.

damnit.that explains my life.im a cap

 

[rev616]

I've always ALWAYS heard green is bad luck on bikes.....
Years ago now I posted the same question to the HAMB and someone replied with an answer that stuck.
I think it was BigJim394 who simply put "Don't paint it green 'cause green is the color of grass and you don't want to end up there."
Caffiene....I was kind of wondring about your thoughts on the whole thing.

would you rather end up in grass,than in the dirt or rd.i think brown and black should be bad luck..right?

 

[big_al]

A old story on green hd was that one that was painted green was a widow maker it had killed several riders and one mechanic this was told to me in the early 50s. In the early 20s another story that was told on the peanuts was a crewman had been eating peanuts and droping the shells around the engine compartment after a fatal crash peanut shells had caused the gas pedal to become stuck and caused the wreck. HD did not offer green until the 80s. I have never built a race car out of a orignal green painted car.Green race cars were tabo in the south because of several deaths in the 40s.used car dealers dont like green cars as they are hard to sell. Black cats the number 13 and the one about the third person to light up a camel on the same match.one last thing a lot of religon is built on superstition.keep the rubber side down...Bobby..

In the EARLY years green was common on Harley's..that olive green....

I kind of like that fact that biking has some old superstitions......makes in more of a CULTURE...(not to be confused with "cultured")

 

[Scorcher]

I had never listened to anyone saying that, my Scorcher is green and has been very good to me.

I would say that green isnt a color for every bike though...


-Jason

 

[Galaxie500XL]

I was just thinking about your bike I like the green and white on it. Love the panhead on it, she must run nice.

One other thing when I get my triumph up and running I need to get a tank, bars, shit like that.

Frank

I had never listened to anyone saying that, my Scorcher is green and has been very good to me.

I would say that green isnt a color for every bike though...

-Jason