I was just wondering, how were the Pentons tracked when they were sent to the dealers. Was there a list stating these frame numbers went to a dealer in California and this one went to a dealer in Iowa?
If it was possible it would be cool if one could see how far their Penton traveled to get to them.
Rod Whitman
1972 Six Day (Rider)
1972 Six Day (Project)
Rod,
In Texas and surrounding states the dealers drove to Amarillo Texas to pick up their Pentons at Penton Central. I will check and see how many I know had them shipped and how. I know back in those days Central Freight Lines had a monoply in the state of Texas and Freight was sky high. I think someones wife was the majority owner of that freightlines...something to do with LBJ. Oh well this was and is Texas and as Rocket says "everything is legal in Texas till you get caught".[8D]
Ron Carbaugh
Lindy's suzuki... romeo, michigan
same dealer I bought my pentons at back in the 70's
dealer gone now
my bike is a 1974.5
3 bikes I have here all came from another members bike shop called
"New England Sportscycle" on rt.1 Scarborough, Maine.
Chuck Purinton was the proprieter, 30 years ago, wow
Raymond
Down East Pentons
What I'm trying to figure out here is when the Pentons were shipped from KTM to the US, were they sent to a central "depot" that shipped them to the various dealers? Or were they sent direct to various distribution points then shipped out to the dealers? And how did they track who got what?
Rod Whitman
1972 Six Day (Rider)
1972 Six Day (Project)
Buck's Cycle in Valparaiso, Indiana [8D]
Got my Jackpiner from "Cape Ann Cycle" which was located in Beverly Mass. Owners name was Charlie Hilderbrand
Rod,
looks like you're getting a bunch of data you didn't ask for!!! LOL
Donny Smith
Rod,
The bikes were loaded into containers at KTM and were shipped by freighter to the port of Baltimore, Maryland. Penton would make the run to Baltimore and retireve the containers which were unloaded in Ohio. At first Penton would rent a tractor to make that run but soon they had their own trucks.
Van loads of crated machines would be hauled to new dealers by the Penton sales force, dealers would also make their own run to the Penton facility to get their shipments.
Shipments of bikes, parts and accessories were also sent by tractor trailer to the other Penton distribution points across the country. The list that you ask about may still exist but as of yet has not surfaced. Hopefully sometime when an old fle cabinet needs emptied this info may apprear.
Your question can lead to some interesting stories, I hope my reply helps to answer your question.
Paul
It might be fun to list the information of the bikes we bought new.
I'll start.......
1977 Penton 400 GS6 #70100837
$50 Deposit made on 4/29/77 (order was placed)
$1912.85 Balance paid on 5/13/77 (bike was picked up)
Dealer:
Motorsport Cycle Center, Roswell, Georgia
Suzuki, Ossa, Penton, Can-Am and CZ dealer
Thanks Paul.
Rod Whitman
1972 Six Day (Rider)
1972 Six Day (Project)
Rod,
Here is a little more information concerning the route that the early Pentons traveled.
John Penton often marvels at the fact that KTM did not even have a tow motor when he first visited the factory. He also tells of how the first Pentons were hauled on some sort of cart from the area of the factory where they were crated to the loading location, I am not sure what or who powered the cart but I think a four legged creature may have entered the picture, but I need to get that part of the story clarified. Maybe Doug or Dane could shed some light on this subject.
An old dealer from Michigan and his wife told me of their travels to Lorain to pick up bikes while we had dinner at Tommy Garrett's after the POG/AMA meeting in Feb. The dealer had a full time job at a factory and ran the dealership as a sideline, just like many of the early dealers. He worked the night shift at the factory, he would finish work and he and his wife would head straight to Lorain to pick up their order of machines and parts and also to get their "fix" of Penton enthusiam, then head back home to get to work at the start of his next shift. As they told me this story you could just feel the excitment coming from each of them as they recalled their venture to Pentonville.
Some of the early Pentons were stored in the loft above the Penton Farm market, they made their way up and into the loft by way of a bale elevator, I remember that quite well as I was given the task of inserting the owners packet into the crates as they were placed on that elevator.
Those early machines sure had quite a varied means of travel, and to think that some of them are now sold on Ebay and are making their way back across the pond in those same containers:D
Paul
There are some current KTM dealers that were Penton dealers back then Maybe if we contacted them they too could share some lite on this subject.
Donny Smith
The motorcycles were boxed at the KTM factory in the newly constructed warehouse. (By the way, at that time, that part of the KTM factory, was nearly 1/3 of the total area of the plant. Today, the R&D department at KTM, is larger than that warehouse!)
The crated machines were then loaded onto what amounted to a farm wagon, and towed to the railroad freight station, about a mile from the factory. The crates were then loaded onto rail cars which were then hauled to the northern German port of Bremen, where they were then loaded into the containers. All of the handling was done by hand and as Paul mentioned, at the time that it all began, KTM didn't even own a forklift.
One more side note: The "loft" that Paul mentioned that was being used to store the motorcycles in the beginning, is being converted to a 2000 sq. ft. home for Bill Penton's oldest daughter and her husband, who operate the Penton Farm Market today. Who's doing the carpentry?: Penton Owners' Group members Ollie and Al Martin.
Dane
Dane,
How many bikes fit into a container? Also, did the guys at KTM ever send a little "care package" to you guys in with the bikes?
Thanks
Paul
Hi Rod, all:
One of the tracking methods I know of that can tell you the history of a particular machine's travel's. Including the times, dates, and location of where is was, and when. Also all the names of the people it sort of came in contact with, from the general manager at KTM, to the clerk at Penton Imports, to the dealer that helped you load it into your truck. That's all found in the -
MANUFACTURER'S
STATEMENT OF ORIGIN
TO A MOTOR VEHICLE
These pretty much track the transfer of ownership as each bike makes it's way out of the factory, across the ocean, and into the showroom.
Check out the dates, and times on this one.
It transfered from the property of "said Corporation" (KTM) to the property of Penton Imports, Co. on May 14th, 1973.
It's interesting to know that the frame number on the bike was 305 65788. (May 73 also)
It then transfered property, "First Assignment" from Penton Imports to Lake Cycle (my local Penton dealer) on July 25th, 1973.
From 5-14 to 7-25 is 72 days, I'll guess most of that is it's cruise over.
Then on July 30th it transfer ownership from Lake Cycle to me. "Second Assignment"
That's 5 days at the dealer, :D for a total of 77 days from Mattighofen to my garage.
Anyway that's fun stuff.
BobW
I Bought a 1970 Husqvarna Sportsman that has the MSO stating the transfer to Penton Imports 1900 Elyria Avenue, Lorain Ohio 44052, dated 24 Feb 1970. The clerk at Penton Imports who transfered the bike out to a Honda dealer in Little Rock Arkansas was Kathie Towne.
I wonder if anybody in Pentonville knew her?
Kevin,
Kathy Towne was one of the early employes at the Penton Brothers Motorcycle Agency , she was single when she was hired, her future husband Elmer also worked for Penton Brothers. Later Kathy worked for Penton Imports and then she moved on to work for KTM when they took over distribution of the machines, she has only recently retired.
Her husband Elmer moved into the position of parts manager for Penton Imports, everyone just called him "Towney". I can still picture Towney keeping the parts pickers busy, they were mostly women and they would gather up and pack the parts orders for the dealers. Doug Wilford's dad worked with that gang after he retired, I remember Wally working at the shrink wrap machine packaging Hi-Point accessories. Man, what I wouldn't do for just one more trip through the parts room. I can remember seeing a whole row of NOS exhaust pipes for the "outdated" steel tankers hanging on a rack and Towney saying he would love to get rid of some of those pipes as he could use the room.
Sorry to ramble Kevin, but you stirred some good memories, maybe Dane or Doug could give some more info on this subject.
Paul
Kevin & Paul,
I believe that Kathie was THE first employee of Penton Imports.
Dane
I started thinking about the time line here, I seem to remember buying Hi-Point gear long after KTM took over in 77' When did the Hi-Point product line end? It must have been in the mid to late 1980's?
Paul, hearing your story about the Penton Parts Warehouse made me think I need to design a time machine. Funny how we overlook these things as common place until they are gone.
Chris
Perhaps Dane can step here to add some light to something I heard about the KTM factory.
When I got my '81 250 out of the crate, we also found an added bonus--a very nice German heavy duty screwdriver, and and unfortunately empty bottle of Austrian beer!
Dane, do they really have beer vending machines in the factories over there as I have heard?
John
The end of the Penton Imports Hi Point era was in 1987, when we sold the Hi Point company and all it's rights to Malcolm Smith. Eventually, Malcolm sold the Hi Point brand along with his MSR brand, to Parts Unlimited, who last sold a Hi Point product in the form of the boots.
Regarding the adult beverage issue, yes, I've seen vending machines with various brands in them. I don't remember seeing them at KTM, because they have their own cafeteria and they served beer. I don't know if they still do today, but I would think that they probably do.
There were lots of "surprises" found in the motorcycle containers over the years, but most of them were engineered by JP to save freight costs if the items were shipped independantly. The most significant, would have to be the OM brand electric fork lift that came from Italy, actually in a boot container. We still have the machine today and it's our lift here at Penton Racing Products.
Dane
My first visit to the factory was 1970 and one of the first things I remember seeing was, instead of POP Machines they were BIER Machines. This got my curiosity working. A simmple explantion was like many parts of Europe the war had distroyed or cause much contamination of the fresh water. So like when we go to Mexico it is a good idea not to drink the water. This Bier took the place of drinking water and it was so common that people did not over endulge. Most every town in Austria has its' own brewery, I think Mattighofens was called Mattighoffner. The really good stuff that came in many fruit flavors was the "Schnaps" from the local Schnaps Brennerei,which was also a guest house. Now that stuff was POTENT! I think that is where John and Leroy always stayed when visiting KTM.
my huskies and my 3 pentons came from chuck bolher in jamestown,ny. a good man and rider and friend
dennis l.brown
Rob,
If one did not obtain a Manufacturers Statement of Origin when they purchased their bike, can one be located now? If so, what is the process?
Pat
Dane
I may be wrong, but I think Malcolm sold his rights to Tucker-Rocky.
Rocket
Hi Pat,
You would have normally received the MSO with the bill of sale, when you purchased the bike new.
It's sort of like a title, but not exactly. It has a place to sign off ownership for resale purposes. Some kind of legal document to help you get it licensed, I 'spose (?).
Yet one was not necessarily issued with every bike.
I've heard of someone that bought out an old Penton dealers invertory, and the old dealer gave him a stack of old MSO's.
I'd have to say you'd be pretty darn lucky if you could locate the one for your bike after all this time. The first places to look would have to be the original dealer, or one of the previous owners.
Bob
Rocket,
You're correct. I just can't keep those conglomerates straight these days.
Dane