Wanted Dead or Alive V 3132

[Paul Danik]

Greetings,

   Recently some paperwork fell my way and I hope to re-unite it with the Penton Steel Tanker that it was issued for over 45 years ago. The machine is a Steel Tank Penton serial number V - 3132. The bill of sale states that it is a green & silver 5 speed enduro model. The bill of sale is dated August 11, 1970.

   The bill of sale has AERO-PA on the top of it, as though that is the name of the selling company. The address is West Idyl Dell Road, McHenry, Illinois. The machine sold for $ 770.00. Looks like Martin Horn was the owner of the dealership/shop or whatever AERO-PA was.

The buyer was Edward W. Thornton, and the name of G. W. Johnston is also listed on the title. Looks like the buyers were from Beloit, Wisconsin.  

  Any info on any of this would be much appreciated, and surely interesting. If this machine turns up I will be glad to forward the paperwork. If you have some bare Steel Tanker frames out back in the weed patch, please take a look at those V- numbers as well.

Also, I am still looking for V-200 as I have the paperwork and original shipping tag for it as well. V-200 was the very first Penton I ever set eyes on and I would love to reunite the original shipping tag and Manufacturers Statement of Origin with that machine.

Thanks,
Paul

[cageyar]

Looks like AERO-PA & Martin Horn moved 20 miles south to Elgin, IL at some point selling Suzuki, Polaris, KTM, Can-Am & Seadoo.
Several mentions on the web as being closed and the photographic evidence on Google maps supports it:





'77 Penton GS6 400
'10 KTM RC8R Akrapovic LE #21
'07 BMW R1200S Wossner

[Mike Schulz]

Hi Paul,
We have steel tanker frame V3831 - not the one you have paperwork for. Do you think this would also be a 1970 frame? Do you know the serial number from the last steel tanker?
Martin Horn was inducted into the District 16/17 Hall of Fame 3 years ago at Byron Motorsports Park in Byron IL. He is an Englishman and was a motorcycle dealer who sold European built bikes out of shops named Aero PA in McHenry Illinois and then later sold his Aero PA inventory when it changed names and moved to Elgin IL. I asked him about the name a few years ago and he said that it was the name of a company he already owned when he opened the McHenry Shop. I told him that the company name caused me a lot of confusion as a thirteen year old in 1972 as the first Pentons I ever saw had Aero PA stickers on them. I thought their owners had traveled from Illinois to Pennsylvania to buy them! Mike and Bill Boro owned them here in Roselle IL and they were the most amazing bikes I had ever seen - caused me to learn about the Penton brand and to hope to one day own one. I saw Martin last year at the 1617 MX reunion at Byron IL and he was having a good time with his family. Definitely a person who impacted many northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin riders of Pentons, Bultacos and other brands manufactured in europe.
Mike Schulz
POG 1006
Does the POG have a list of the dealers who sold the Penton brand?
Lastly, How did that paperwork fall your way:)?

[Bob Gilman]

Mike,1970 steel tankers went from V2117 to V4577

[Paul Danik]

Thank you guys for the info on AERO-PA and Martin Horn, I appreciate it.

Mike,

   You asked about the serial number of the last Steel Tanker, I can not provide an accurate answer to that, but I looked today and my highest serial number is V-6246. That machine is a totally original very low time machine, I didn't look at bare frames for a higher number, but will do so when I can.

   As far as a list of dealers, I have seen a couple of dealer lists over the years, they do vary in number as in the beginning there weren't as many dealers as during the later years. The holder of the lists that I saw expressed that he did not want to make them public at the time as a number of them were still his friends and he felt folks might tend to invade their privacy looking for "stuff", possibly at some time they can be shared.

   The paperwork ended up with me because it was mistakenly, at least in my eyes, kept with the Sachs engine from the machine instead of with the frame/chassis. This occurred because the engine number from the sidecover was used in the paperwork, as well as the frame V-number, and when the two were separated the paperwork followed the engine plate on the sidecover as someone felt this was the proper thing to do. I hope to reunite the paperwork with the chassis if I can. SO....please keep an eye out for V-3132...

  I would like to add that the first serial production CMF machines were built in June of 1971, these frames have serial numbers beginning with 106, meaning the 6th month of 1971. We have never seen a CMF frame with an earlier build date. One hates to make assumptions, but the assumption is that the Steel Tanker assembly would have ceased when the CMF Penton production began. So the later Steel tankers, such as V-6246, were built in early 1971, before the June production of the CMF machines began.

   I realize this is not breaking news, but some folks find this interesting and if we do not share what we feel is how it occurred, eventually this info will be lost. PLUS, if someone has info to disprove these "assumptions", or to bolster them, we are all ears...

Paul

[checkcrew]

Paul, hi,

here is V6358, also i have V6123,
 i luv this old info !!


Mike Gallagher, NJ.
[email protected]

[thrownchain]

Mike, welcome back.

[Paul Danik]

Hi Mike,

   V-6358, that surely was near the end of the Steel Tank Penton production run...Thanks for the post.

  You know two thoughts come to mind when I look at your machine.

  First off, when a younger woodsrider/racer sees one of the Steel Tankers in one of our displays, like at the Cleveland International Motorcycle Show, they often times express bewilderment as to how anyone could even think of riding such a machine in the woods. When informed that the machine before them was THE cutting edge weapon of choice for many of us "back in the day", they often times just smile and shake their heads. A look at the number of Steel Tank Pentons in the new homepage photo sort of tells the story of those days. I still vividly remember showing up at a MX right along the PA turnpike right near New Stanton with my first Steel Tanker with the big finned engine, man those machines were just awesome, folks just could not believe that the massive cylinder contained just a little 125cc power plant.

   The other thought is of how the transition from the Steel Tankers to the CMF machines must of been a delicate situation for the dealer who had Steel Tankers on the showroom floor, while his first order of CMF machines was tucked out of sight in the back of the shop. I am sure the situation was also being played out at Penton Imports as they tried to get the Steel tankers out the door of the warehouse as the CMF jobs were being unloaded from a container. I can still picture John Penton running a little fork lift that he stood on the back of as he shuttled crates of the machines around inside the Penton R & D building, possibly trying to keep some sort of order as to how they went out the door, of course Jack always laughs when I talk about things being in "any sort of order back in the day" in the Penton operation.....

   One last thought, I will also never forget going to a Penton Dealer School and walking inside to see for the first time a Steel Tanker sitting there with that gigantic finned Sachs engine, sure made the cast iron jobs look antiquated..

  How about you guys/gals.....any Steel Tank Penton thoughts.....remembrances..

Paul

[tofriedel]

I have a Penton Steel Tanker Frame with code number of V6626.  My guess is that it is one of last few produced.

As you might expect, it is missing a lot of its parts.

The missing parts include - Front Forks, Front Wheel, Seat, Fuel Tank, Engine and Rear Tire and other smaller things.

I have had this for a few years and have decided that it is time to offer to anyone interested in my Steel Tanker.

If anyone is interested, I can deliver it to the York, PA next week Saturday & Sunday.

If anyone is interested you can send me an email and I will have it at York.  Email is [email protected] and phone number is
410-375-4481.

I hope to see everyone at the York Event next week.

Tony

Tony

[tofriedel]

quote:Originally posted by tofriedel

I have a Penton Steel Tanker Frame with code number of V6626.  My guess is that it is one of last few produced.

As you might expect, it is missing a lot of its parts.

The missing parts include - Front Forks, Front Wheel, Seat, Fuel Tank, Engine and Rear Tire and other smaller things.

I have had this for a few years and have decided that it is time to offer to anyone interested in my Steel Tanker.

If anyone is interested, I can deliver it to the York, PA next week Saturday & Sunday.

If anyone is interested you can send me an email and I will have it at York.  Email is [email protected] and phone number is
410-375-4481.

I hope to see everyone at the York Event next week.

Tony

Tony

Tony

[tofriedel]

quote:Originally posted by tofriedel

quote:Originally posted by tofriedel

I have a Penton Steel Tanker Frame with code number of V6626.  My guess is that it is one of last few produced.

As you might expect, it is missing a lot of its parts.

The missing parts include - Front Forks, Front Wheel, Seat, Fuel Tank, Engine and Rear Tire and other smaller things.

I have had this for a few years and have decided that it is time to offer to anyone interested in my Steel Tanker.

If anyone is interested, I can deliver it to the York, PA next week Saturday & Sunday.

If anyone is interested you can send me an email and I will have it at York.  Email is [email protected] and phone number is
410-375-4481.

I hope to see everyone at the York Event next week.

Tony

Tony

Tony

Tony