I brought home a hot redhead Friday night

[Auto5guy]

I can't let my buddy Siege have all the new bike fun.  

Friday I brought home my newest Penton.  A 1974 250 Penton Harescrambler with a red MX tank.  

I actually had made the deal on this bike about a month ago.  The guy was holding it until I could sell a Honda to come up with the rest of the money.

The funny part is I have been after this particular bike for over 2 years.  A couple of years ago My brother took his son to buy a 74 125 Elsinore.  While at the sellers' house my brother spies this Penton off in a corner.  Knowing I would want it he offers to buy it but the guy says he wouldn't part with it.  Then a month or two later this guy brings it to a local vintage race.  I tried to buy it from him but he said he only wanted to trade it for an open class evolution bike.  He evidently struck a deal with someone as I saw it being loaded into another racers' truck.

I shrugged it off as one that got away and thought no more of it until last summer at the AHRMA National at the Farm in Chehalis.  I saw it sitting in the pits of a guy I know named Dan.  Dan, a fellow in his 70s is our local Husky supplier.  I'm not kidding when I say he literally has a ton of Husky parts.  Anyway Dan tells me he bought it from the same guy my brother and I first tried to buy it from so the earlier trade must have not panned out.  Dan found it in the swap meet area and picked it up for a friend who was looking for a Penton.  Darn!  It got away again.

About a month and half ago I went over to Dans' place after a Husky part and Hey... there's that Penton.  I ask Dan about it and he tells me that his friend he got it for wanted an MC5 not a 74.  He tells me I can have it for 500 bucks.  I was flat broke and just didn't have the money.  I wanted to die.  I had the money the first two times I could have bought it.  Now I'm broke and here it is for the taking, sitting there, mocking me.  Oh the agony.  I've known women who've played hard to get but they had nothing on this bike!  I tell him I'd love to have it but can't afford it and he says "Fine give me a hundred bucks and pay me the rest later."  I shook my head and walked away but after a few sleepless nights I scraped together a hundred bucks and paid Dan another visit.  

Now I just had to come up with the rest without raising the ire of my very patient and longsuffering wife.  Out came my old Honda Trail 90 and on to Craigslist it went.  It took forever but Friday it sold and I went to Dans' that evening.  

So now I am the proud owner of a 74 Harescrambler to go with my 73.  It's missing its seat and carb and doesn't have spark but I have enough spares for my 73 so it should be going in short order.  Along with the red MX tank I noted earlier, it has Preston Petty fenders front and rear, a Metzler front tire, a Trelleborg rear tire, shouldered Akront rims, Ceriani forks. Magura levers and throttle, a Bing choke lever, and ears for a headlight.  I think the pipe is original but I'm not exactly sure what an original 74 pipe would look like.  The shocks are wrong and are frozen up solid.  The frame is in excellent shape, no dents or cracks.  The engine is complete and turns over with gobs of compression.

My plan is to set up the 74 for vintage MX and retire my 73.  The yellow Harescrambler will always be my favorite Penton.  I have a new 73 frame to replace the hammered one on my 73 race bike.  When I strip it down I'll go over the whole thing.  I'm not into full out restorations but I'd like to make it look too nice to race.  Maybe race it once a year at the Chehalis National.  

I guess persistence pays off!

Matthew


WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that castor smoke can be hazardous to your health.  It is highly addictive and causes delusions of grandeur.

[John Ehrhart]

A lucky guy and great story!
Good luck and post some pictures some time!

John

[Big Mac]

Matt, that the one that John Ulver had at one time? Looks like a good starting point...just need to drop that 400 motor into it for the big hill tracks. Speaking of hills, missed you at Eddieville over the weekend, I rode the GP Saturday on the '77 MC5-400 and diced almost the whole race with Ulver (think it was him) on a KX, and held him off the last lap. Went woods riding with my son Sunday so missed the MX. Mark's wife said you were riding at Burnt Ridge.

I got a top end for the 400 motor I'm working on, and have Charlie Brown rebuilding the crank right now. Should be able to start putting it back together soon. If you're going to Burnt Ridge H&T in July, maybe see you there and will hook up with you on the '74 frame...if you have the welder out by then, great--if not, I'll tackle it. Got a free welder recently, but I need a whole lotta practice.    Jon

[Auto5guy]

Jon
Yes John Ulver is the one I saw it go home with.  The first guy that had it was the Tattoo Brothers Racing fellow.  Lafaye McCarver I think?

I should have your frame done and ready to deliver to you by Burnt Ridge.  I was at Goldendale I just didn't get there until 8:00 PM Saturday night.  You missed a lot of fun on Sunday but hey trail riding with your son,  good choice.

By the way when you get that 400 Penton going what are you going to do with your CZ?

Matthew

WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that castor smoke can be hazardous to your health.  It is highly addictive and causes delusions of grandeur.

[Big Mac]

Matt, Good deal on the frame bro, appreciate it and I'll owe you too. Not sure what I'll do with bikes in general, really need to sell a few. Can't seem to beat the CZ400 for open class starts, handling and bullet-proof abuse by a big oaf like me. It's possible the Mint project changes that theory.

You made it over to Goldendale after all? Sounded like the rain-Gods laid off just about right---heard Sunday was good. We had 3 dads and 3 9-yr old boys on trails up near Mt. Hood, no rain, no dust, perfect riding weather, turned out real well.

[Auto5guy]

I uploaded some pictures of my new Harescrambler.  

Project Penton Pics

The pipe does not have the separate piece at the end like I'd expect on a factory pipe.


It can be funny the things you find when digging into an old neglected bike like this one.  One of the first things I checked was if it had spark.  When I pulled the plug I noticed someone had spliced on a metal car style spark plug cap onto the ignition wire.  Rolling it over provided no spark, so off came the tank, revealing a Japanese coil.  Cool I thought to myself, maybe that is all it is, easy fix.  There was a big wad of tape around the connection point of the coil wires and ignition wires.  When I unwrapped it I was dismayed to see a connector on the end of the ignition cable that was definitely not from a Motoplat.  Wondering what exactly the bike had for a stator and rotor I pulled the ignition cover off.  I actually laughed out loud when removing the cover revealed...NOTHING!  The multiwire cable simply dead-ended into the ignition case with some more odd connectors.  I think the original fellow who brought the bike to the racetrack just dressed it up to make it look complete.

So now I am going through the miscellaneous Motoplat items I have with a Fluke trying to find usable pieces.  Rather than feeling miffed I am amused as this bike begins to tell me its story.

Matthew


WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that castor smoke can be hazardous to your health.  It is highly addictive and causes delusions of grandeur.

[Auto5guy]

It Runs!  Or I should say IT RIPS!

Sunday after church I went over to my Dads shop where the bike has been sitting and pieced together a 36mm Bing carb for it.  Earlier this week I got a working ignition system set up on it and replaced the frozen up shocks with a pair of Curnutts.   It took a few kicks but it finally fired to life.  
Every time I throw a leg over a Penton I am amazed at the power that the KTM engine produces and this one is no exception.  I'm still grinning this morning.
The seat, shocks and ignition components were raided from my stash of parts I've slowly been accumulating to build a future Mint 400.  This sets me back a bit on the 400 but I've been able to get it running with no further money out of pocket.  Important since I have been out of work for a few months.
I'll trade a few parts with my 73 and I'm hoping to have it ready for the Dinosaur Daze event this coming weekend.

Matthew


WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that castor smoke can be hazardous to your health.  It is highly addictive and causes delusions of grandeur.

[Dennis Jones]

I know how you feel. I've brought home a couple of treasures that had been left for dead and with a few parts I already had and a little tinkering brought them back to life. It sure feels good [^]

Dennis Jones

[Auto5guy]

Dennis, it sure does feel good!

When that thing first crackled to life I was grinning like an idiot.

The only stator I had that checked out with an Ohmmeter had the leads cut off 3 inches out of the housing.  I had to splice and shrink tube a new set of leads on.  It still checked out on the Ohmmeter but I was nervous it might short out somewhere.

Matthew


WARNING: The Surgeon General has determined that castor smoke can be hazardous to your health.  It is highly addictive and causes delusions of grandeur.