I am indebted to the family of Ernie and Wanda Pico for the following wonderful set of photos. For some information regarding Ernie Pico who is most famous for making rapid Velocettes which were capable of beating the Works Harley Davidsons in Flattrack events, please see my first post:Ernie’s wife, Wanda was also a significant character in the American racing scene, as she had a highly successful business making motorcycle leathers for all the top riders and teams.
I will let the wonderful photos do the talking:
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| Wanda and Ernie Pico |
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| Ernie's first buisness post WW2 - Magnera Motorcycles |
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| Ernie Pico at his most famous motorcycle shop - Big City Sales |
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| Another shot from Big City Sales. Ernie will forever be primarily associated with Velocettes |
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| Ernie pico with Richard Casseta |
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| Lynn Halloway at Ascott Park against the works teams on Ernie's Velo |
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| Ernie with another Velocette |
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| The Works Harley Davidson team with Leathers by Wanda Pico |
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| Wanda also made the leathers for the Triumph team |
I really like your writing style, great information, thankyou for posting. vespa primavera
ReplyDeleteGreat read! Wanda Pico also made leathers for Evel Knievel from 1967 to 1970.
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ReplyDeleteVery interesting.A man ahead of his time. Is it true that the MSS Velo scrambler was popular in Desert racing. I always thought the frame was a modified road frame with very little ground clearance Racing those heavy bikes on a flat track would take real effort. Warwick Darrow N.Z.
ReplyDeleteThe Velo MSS Scrambler was successful in desert and offroad racing, but not many were sold.
DeleteThe early (pre-'59) Scramblers used road frames. '59 onward had a unique frame with a bolt-on rear subframe offering a bit more stiffness. The post-'59 Scramblers also had some unique bits like double damped forks (that work quite well) and pinned top-clap and swingarm for added stiffness.
The MSS Scrambler engine is also the predecessor to the Venom. The Venom gets the glory, but the MSS Scrambler was the first high performance 500cc swingarm Velocette.