On one good Saturday morning in June we went to Bockhorn (DL). Every year a large parts market and show are organized where you can find all sorts of stuff needed for oldtimer motorcycles, cars, etc. There is also a large show. Truly an event to walk around all day.
On this particular Saturday we encountered a little motorcycle as you can see on the picture. There was no make or type on it. The seller didn’t even know the construction year, but it had to be something from the twenties. My dad was interested and after some gestures with hands and feet, because the seller didn’t understand German and just a little bit of English, my dad was the proud owner of a motorcycles I was allowed to shove it to the van…
On the picture the motorcycles appears quite good, but during restoration one hole after another fell into the gas tank, the luggage carrier needed some tubing and the mud guards had to be pretty much welded. During disassembling my dad found a sign on the headset and after some polishing he learned that the motorcycle was an Automoto, type BH. After some research in books we learned that this motorcycle was from 1920.
The entire restoration took two years. But since then the Automoto just failed my dad twice. The first time was because the piston pin of the piston was broken and the second time a little bolt had come loose in the magneto. The first problem was handled by a very dear acquitance and the second problem was handled by my father himself.
Below are some pictures of the restoration period.
