My Bud's BSA

"Ever since high school I knew about a house in the neighborhood that held some secret gems, sitting in front of the house was a 1959 Ford Sunliner retractable hardtop convertible and a 80s Harley Sportster. The place looked abandoned, overgrown and just plain nasty. I wasn't about to go knock on the door either. About a year ago I did my monthly drive-by on the house to check on the Ford when I saw that the garage was open and someone was inside cleaning.

To make a long story very short, the owner of the car died in the back yard and the man I was talking to was the guy's brother. He said the Ford was accounted for but he had something else that he thought I might be interested in. He lead me out in to the back garage and opened the door to reveal 2 old BSA's. We cut a deal.

The first was a 1966 Lightning 650. The engine was seized and it was missing the tank. I did a quick flip of it and made some money.

But the other... is a 1950 B33 500 single.

I spent the next year trying to get it started. I rebuilt the carbs and cleaned some things up. I finally got it to kick over but could never get it to start. I had a lot of help from Vorhese, some of my buddies, and Wes at 4 ACES. Well, this weekend I took it over to a friend's house and we removed the tank and hooked up the gas to a jug. Fired right away. 40 years of old smoke started coming out. It looks like the tank was pinching some wires and keeping it from firing. I am a happy man.