|
|
Kenny Dreer...
...comes out of his Norton nightmare
Kenny Dreer’s history in motorcycles dates back to his early
years in Phila, Pa. His father, a pioneer in the import car business
during the 50’s and 60’s era, indoctrinated Kenny to the European
cars of the time. Kenny had full knowledge of Hepolite pistons,
Girling Brakes, Lucas electrics, and Smith instruments from an early
age. His love of British and Italian cars turned to motorcycles in
short order. The late 60’s and early 70’s were the heyday for Brit
bikes. hey were some of the biggest and fastest machines on the
road, and after owning several smaller Hondas and Yamahas, Kenny
moved up to his first Brit bike, a 1968 Triumph TR6R. “I really
loved that bike, it just sounded right. I recall my first Norton
Commando ride, I was in a parking lot and there was this yellow 750
Norton Commando there. I pulled up with my Triumph, and naturally
the owner and I started talking. The next thing I know this guy
gives me the keys and lets me take it for a spin. Holy Cow!! This
Norton rips!! I couldn’t believe the power, it was so much more than
my Triumph. I was stunned, and at the same time, I knew right then I
had to own one.”
Photo: Dreer stands aside the 952 Beta model he
was developing before R&D on the bike came to a close.
Not one to ever leave things as they are, Kenny set about to
modify his newly acquired Norton. “I took it apart during the
winter, and let’s just say I cleaned everything up” and added a few
parts from the Paul Dunstall catalog. One late evening returning
home from his job across the river in New Jersey, he was leisurely
cruising along at 65mph or so, when a Porsche pulled along side. The
Porsche dropped a gear and hit it, and Kenny followed suit. “It was
all so perfect; I had long gearing on the Norton, and passed the
Porsche rather quickly. I could have just relaxed at that point, but
the bike felt so good, I tucked in and just continued to click thru
the gears. I had a custom speedo I was working on, but it wasn’t
hooked up at the time. I knew I was going fast, but didn’t realize
just how fast. I eventually pulled off at my exit off the freeway
and was soon stopped by the Pa State Police. The officer had me
dismount my bike, and ordered that I get into the back of his car.
He then informed me that I passed him at over 120 mph, and that his
speedometer was calibrated to 120 and I was pulling away from him.
We were both amazed! I was enamored with my Norton and also a 2 year
suspended driver’s license."
The 70’s saw a rapid decline in the Brit bike business, so Kenny
moved over to working on the Japanese brands. Kenny and his wife
Lanie decided to move out west in the early 80’s and start life
anew. Landing in the Portland area, Kenny promptly got working with
what he knew best, motorcycles. “I could always make a dollar with a
wrench.” After working for several small dealers, he landed a job
with Portland Honda, a top 10 national dealership in 1984. During
his tenure there, a very sad Norton came in on trade. “Truthfully I
had long forgotten British motorcycles.” He looked at this bike,
with chopper forks, king and queen seat, ape style handlebars,
Harley rear wheel, and wondered back to those earlier days with his
first Norton. “I asked our Sales Manager how much for the Norton?
$100 bucks was the answer. I called my wife, and then I was the
owner of my second Norton. He became immersed again in the glory of
the mighty Norton brand. "I took it completely down to its last nut
and bolt. I had a vision; nickel plated frame, polished cases, deep
luster paint, hand pin striping, it was a Snortin' Norton in a time
of Japanese motorcycle dominance. That was great bike, an
inspirational bike.”
Later in the 80’s the Harley-imposed tariff on Japanese brands
took their toll on the industry. “I too became worn out on the
motorcycle business.” He wanted a new direction and took a
suggestion from his wife to study Farrier Science at an
OSU extension school in Albany, Oregon. “I became a Horse Shoer and a
Blacksmith.” He did this for several years, working the area's local
barns and for private equestrian owners. At night in his small shop,
he continued to dabble in motorcycles, lacing wire wheels and doing
motor jobs for local vintage motorcycle enthusiasts. This eventually
became “Vintage Rebuilds and Restorations.” It became official when
he and a friend purchased the inventory of an out-of-business
British bike shop in Portland. “Things took off pretty quickly, as I
had a good base business going. There was enough inventory that I
could actually use to build complete motorcycles.” He knew what
direction he wanted go with this inventory; not original
restorations, but his own custom versions of Triumphs and Nortons.
His nickel-framed custom Norton was the direction. He used that bike
to launch his new motorcycle business vision.
 It
didn’t take long before Kenny’s name was in the magazines. His bikes
exhibited a level of attention to detail that made their mark. He
continually pushed and elevated the “café racer” in his designs and
further into the engineering of the original bikes. “In a way, this
was both a positive and a negative. There is only so much that you
can do positively to an older engineering design. I think I pushed
past those limitations. Our Robb Report ads were definitely working,
along with the magazine articles, we became swamped with work.
Vintage Rebuilds was now a business, with employees, deadlines,
deliveries, shows, etc. that all businesses deal with. Every
article brought a new rush of business; it was getting difficult to
stay on top of. I was building bikes for some very wealthy
clientele. One of those wealthy clientele was Ollie Curme of
Battery Ventures in Boston, Ma. Ollie had business investments here
in Oregon, so he was out here frequently. This guy calls me and
said he read about my Nortons in a magazine and wanted me to build
one for him. Only he had a list of requirements that he wanted. For
starters, the bike had to do 150 mph, have great amounts of carbon
fiber, and this was only 2 of the huge list of items. He said he was
coming out to Oregon, and would stop by and see me.” Ollie did
indeed come out and visit with Kenny, and they modified the “list”
some. Ollie wasn’t like the other customers. Ollie wanted to build
50 bikes and sell them. “I told Ollie that this was totally
impractical as this was an out of production motorcycle, there were
no new parts available. Building one or two at a time, ok, but
50!!!???” Ollie gave him a deposit to build his bike, and then gave
him an additional amount to invest in upgrading his business. The
next monumental event was the September 1999 cover of Cycle World Mag.
Kenny had been twice featured previously in Cycle World. Along with
the September issue of Cycle World came a “cease and desist” order from
the Aqulini’s Investment Group out of Canada, the then current
holders of Norton’s trademarks. “This is when the proverbial s---t
hit the fan”. Ollie reassured Kenny that he dealt with those types
every day, and to keep at it, and in 5 years we would own the
trademarks. Ollie wasn’t too far off. Kenny Dreer and Ollie Curme
finalized a deal with Joe Seifert in Germany and in January of 2003,
Norton Motorsports became the sole Norton global trademark owner.
Photo: Portland area racer, Patrick Leyschock takes the 952
for a spin during the Cycle World photo shoot.
They both thought that in owning the rights to one of the most
iconic British Motorcycle brands, investors would be lining up at the
door. There was trouble brewing though. Kenny’s vision of Norton
with the VR880 was like a double-edged sword; on the one hand the
bike was beautiful and powerful, but on the other it was still at
its core an old vintage bike. “I had dealers calling us up and
wanting to buy 10 bikes!” These bikes could not pass EPA/DOT
regulations, therefore the dealers would have to pay cash, and could
not use their floor financing to purchase them. “I knew the VR880
was a successful model, but it had to be a new bike. I spoke with
Ollie in this regard, that it was my intent to recreate the VR880 on
a new bike platform; that did not bode well with Ollie.” Ollie Curme
didn’t agree, and the next year for Kenny was devoid of any money.
“Ollie nixed me for close to a year, I had to lay off my employees,
and came very close to shutting down the operation. I basically hung
in there myself, doing what I could with the barest of capital.”
These were dark days. “Ollie called in early August of ’02,
surprised that I answered the phone. He said that he would be in
Portland, and he wanted to meet with me.” During this low tide,
Kenny kept at it, researching new methods of Rapid Model
Prototyping, especially castings, as this was the foundation of any
new engine model. As Kenny explains, “Ollie and I went to dinner at
a restaurant in Portland’s International Airport. We discussed much,
and I finally got him to believe in a next generation Norton. Some
funds finally found their way back into the bank, and business
operations started to roll forward again. Ollie had one precondition. I had to hire a fully qualified CEO to raise the funds
necessary to continue. “To be honest, I’ve hired mechanics,
service writers, warranty clerks, but never a CEO!” “I figured if I
have to hire a motorcycle CEO, the best place to start would be
another motorcycle company.”
Kenny was making considerable progress with the new 952 prototype
and all the CEO candidates who came in were awed that this small
company (?) could accomplish such a feat. “You should have seen
their faces; this wasn’t by any means a state-of-the-art design
facility. I was working with some very talented people. We had
believers.” The first prototype lit off in January ’03 at 6 a.m. in the
morning. “I’ll never forget that moment, all this anticipatory
anxiety, gasoline bottles, oil feed and oil return bottles, battery
and cables running to the bike and back, it looked more like a
medical emergency room than a motorcycle shop. Brett Hoyt, Floyd Holschu and I were there, I hit the button and vroom! It started
like it was no big deal, unbelievable. We’re watching all the clear oil
lines, and it's all working, oil in, oil out, it’s a runner.” Later
that same day, the prototype Norton ventured onto the roadways of
Portland. “This bike was awesome, it had power like no other Norton
I ever rode.” This was the beginning of a very long and tortuous
road to production. “Designing and building a motorcycle from the
ground up is not for the faint of heart, or light in the pocketbook.
This is a long, hard and expensive slog.”
“I knew Ollie was getting to the end of his financial rope
earlier. From the beginning he told me his wife was scolding him
over his involvement in this deal. At the same time we were having
difficulties raising any significant funding outside of Ollie.”
Ollie and the trademark attorneys, (Dreer calls them rodents) were
pushing to have a bike ready for production in a sense to
“commercialize” the trademarks. “The business types and the
engineering types live in two entirely different spheres. I’ve seen
this in all my years working within a dealer environment, it's like a
war between the sales department, who will say anything to make a sale,
and the service department that have to repair, and make good for all the
promises that the sales guys make!”
From the first prototype 952 in January of 2003 to the final mid-term,
very successful developmental 961 that was featured in the March ’06
Cycle World, Kenny Dreer and his team produced 7 prototype Nortons.
“We had great exposure and there was no doubt great excitement in
regard to our tremendous efforts, but in the end it’s a money game
and in that respect we came up short. I was disappointed that it
never came to fruition. I didn’t want it to end that way. I’ve come
to terms with it and realize that its just one of life’s sadder
moments. The bike I presented to Cycle World in March of 2006 was
the culmination of an intense effort by a very small group of highly
determined individuals who had dedicated themselves to bringing the
Norton brand back to the world stage.” Cycle World said, "Most
importantly, this motorcycle feels like a package, a system. A few
minor refinements and bit of polishing and the Norton 961 will be a
genuine alternative to an air-cooled Ducati Monster." “All of us who
were involved in that effort should be extremely proud of those
bikes. A magazine editor said to me, 'if the shoe was on the other
foot we'd all be riding Norton’s today!'
Kenny Dreer has just graduated from the Mendenhall School of
Auctioneering. His long term goal is to establish ‘Kenny Dreer
Classic Motorcycle Auctions’. He is active in the North West Drag
Bike Association and will compete with his Pro Mod Suzuki this year.
He wants to best 7.50 in the ¼ mile and some say he’s probably going
to do it.
SR!/Spring 2009 |
|
