The motorcycle that you see onstage during this performance

The motorcycle that you see onstage
during this performance - Fonzie’s bike - is
an original Triumph Speed Twin,
manufactured way back in that most
nostalgic of years - 1955. Despite its age,
it is a working machine in regular use or, at
least, it was until the Happy Days
production team persuaded Graham Ham,
its owner, to loan it to them for the duration of the tour. Sian Willis, prop buyer for
the production, explains how it happened:
“For a prop buyer, the joys of the job sometimes come with a steep learning curve, as you can be asked to find props which are outside
of your field of expertise. So when my task was to find ‘Fonzie’s motorbike’ or a convincing substitute model (without paying in the
region of the auction value of $50,000!) for Happy Days - the Musical, I rose to the challenge but had to put my thinking cap on. It didn’t
need to be a working model (a bonus from a budgetary aspect), but I was still searching for an
extraordinary bike.
After having done some research on the internet, looking at motorbikes and parts of bikes for
many hours, I realised I needed to seek out the knowledge and advice of an enthusiast and
aficionado. I contacted the Triumph Tiger Cub Club (which I found online) and luck was on my
side as Mike Powell, who was at the helm and on the end of the
phone, couldn’t have been more amenable and positive. He
took the inspired initiative to contact Rowena Hoseason at
RealClassic, the online and subscription classic motorbike
magazine. Rowena put out an appeal, which prompted a
reply from Graham Ham, a motorbike journalist. Graham was
prepared to loan his absolutely beautiful classic 1950s
Triumph ‘Winnie’…”
Graham is an accidental journalist. That is, he used to be a
company director, until he realised that life has much more to
offer than wealth, fast cars, expense accounts and long,
stressful hours at the desk. He decided to change his life
and promptly resigned his directorship, bought an old
motorcycle, made it work, rallied the kids and quite literally headed for the hills. Together, they took
on a challenge involving a 5000-mile ride, overcame all manner of setbacks, met some truly
colourful characters, discovered a lot of things about themselves and,
well, had such a good time that Graham wrote a book about it all. He
was mildly surprised when people actually bought it!
He’s a well-known name on the classic motorcycle scene, and has, for
the past 10 years, written feature-length monthly articles for RealClassic
magazine. The bike that has carried him for not far short of 250,000
miles is a 1948 Triumph Speed Twin and, as you’d expect, she has a
name - ‘Daisy’. She’s the real star of the book and the magazine
features.
To follow Daisy’s (and Graham’s!) adventures, you can buy the book in
either hardback, at www.panther-publishing.co.uk, or in ebook format
at Amazon, Apple iStore, Nook, Kobo and all other major sites - just
search your chosen site for Daisy’s Diaries). Graham hopes, within a
few months, to finally complete and publish his second book.
You can follow his recent and current adventures by subscribing to
RealClassic magazine. You’ll find it at www.RealClassic.co.uk.