Everyman - a series of occasional interviews without stars, celebrities, the famous or infamous, just Joe Public at their very

best........ I'll be talking to those of us that 'make up the numbers' in the motorcycling world - not the headliners or superstars they've had their say and their stories have long been archived and often told. Most of us, though, just get on with with our lives without a thought of putting on record who we are and how we lived, which is a pity, as there are some interesting and entertaining stories to tell. Well start with Greg Holliday, hell tell us what it was like to be a Knight of the Road, about his passion for Honda motorcycles and why he's a big fan of the late, great Mike Hailwood. Theres photos of Gregs Hondas throughout the article. And if you do read this, I'll promise you'll never look at an RAC patrolman in the same way again as you do now....... Who's Greg? A 64 year old motorcycle enthusiast from way back, Since 1963, he smiled, I've been afflicted with this passion for motorcycling, in particular for Honda, with just a few deviations to other makes. As mentioned, he's also a huge fan of Mike Hailwood which fits in nicely with his passion for Honda motorcycles. There's a painting of Mike hanging over the fireplace; he's mounted on the Honda 250cc six cylinder race bike,a classic image from a bygone age. And it's not just paintings; Greg collects photo's of anything to do with Honda Motorcycles from the 60's to the late 70's, which he couldn't do back then on a pay packet of just 4.10 shillings a week.
Greg Holliday with his Honda 500c Hailwood Replica

Greg was born in Pembury, Kent to parents Alfred and Betty Holliday, but his home town for many years was Tunbridge Wells. His work as an RAC patrolman eventually took him to Eastbourne where he spent fourteen years on the road before retiring. His first job, though. was as a sheet metal worker and welder, practical skills that were to prove very useful later in life. In between those two jobs he worked for Rolba, a Swiss company who manufactured a range of road maintenance equipment. We made snow blowers, road gritters and sweeping machines. I used to demonstrate, build, modify, and service all of them; that job took me all over the country.
Gregs 1964 Honda CB250

Airports and airfields were big customers, I see these snow problems at main Airports that we were dealing with 30 years ago and they're still happening, nothing's really been learnt. They buy the equipment, store it and forget it, forget how to use it. and then find it won't work when they need it! I see how we deal with snow and it's a bit pathetic, just one inch of snow and we grind to a halt. They deal with fifty foot drifts in Switzerland and we can't cope with even a fraction of that. Where did you start work? At a local engineering firm in Crowborough, 1966. I travelled there as a spotty youth on my Honda 50. I learnt all kinds of sheet metal work and welding, including Oxyacetylene, Arc, Mig and Tig. I went to Rolba in 1978 and left there in 1986 to join the RAC. His two wheeled experience proved useful there,for as a patrolman that understood motorcycles, he was first choice to be sent out to the bike breakdowns. Greg recalled The majority of patrolmen had car based knowledge, they hadn't a clue about motorcycles and were not really interested in them.

Although he was based at Croydon to begin with, he was soon given a 'Bluepoint' (a location point) at Godstone in Surrey. That wasn't good news for Greg as he recalled It included one quarter of the M25, which involved nearly being killed every day. Why was that? It's a seriously dangerous place, Afghanistan without the guns....I've been threatened, chased, pushed around, abused and involved in two life threatening crashes...the stress levels were horrendous....it's no wonder I'm bald!. I remember one guy, a patrolman from the AA, he parked a five and a half ton truck on the hard shoulder when a lorry hit it up the rear at speed. The parked truck was smashed to pieces and blown past him as a cloud of debris; he was nearly killed along with the driver he was rescuing.
1967 Honda CB160

The dangerous lorry driver was fine, but as he climbed out of his cab the patrol man walked over to him and punched straight in the face saying 'You might forget this accident , but you won't forget this.....BAM...! Greg says the main problem is that most drivers simply do not understand motorways properly and as such have very little fear of the dangers of the hard shoulder. This is where the real problems happen. I had to attend a lady who had a punctured offside tyre. She'd stopped on the shoulder and as luck would have it there was a level grass area to the side. I told her to move the car there quickly, which she did. As I started to change the wheel, a foreign 40 ton lorry actually sped past us driving on the hard shoulder, right where she had been parked. It would have killed us both.

She couldn't believe it she put her arms around me, kissed me and thanked me for saving her life. We were saved because I had moved us off the hard shoulder. There was the occasion when Greg attended thirteen breakdowns, one after another, all in the same set of roadworks. All the cars were overheating, so I ended up staying there waiting for the next one rather than keep having to drive the 24 miles round trip to get to them on their stretch of road.His average was 200 miles a day on the M25, plus all the rescues, so it's understandable that stress level were high. Whenever the patrolmen meet up, it's all 'war stories' about crashes, near misses, fights and aggro. People think that the RAC and AA patrol men compete with each other, but we're best mates because we all face the same dangers and bad attitudes. For us it's the same old crap, just different coloured uniforms.

1970 Honda CB450 Dubai has a connection with Gregs time as an RAC patrolman.

It struck me very much as a 'Brothers In Arms' situation; there's the uniform, the duty, the service, the dangers. Greg agreed, commenting on the uniforms, the AA was brown/green because they were generally army people back then the RAC were blue because many came from the RAF. Did you have a regular meeting place? The tea stall at the top of Reigate Hill. We'd congregate there and swap stories and experiences. I learned more practical knowledge there from the other patrol guys than from any training course. After six years of this, Greg decided he'd risked enough and asked for a transfer before his luck ran out. But before we move on, do you have any advice for readers in the event they breakdown on a motorway?

Follow the Highway Code. Put the hazard warning lights on and if you can't get the car off the road, get out of the car, what ever the weather and go behind the crash barrier if one's there. If not, get up the bank. Make a phone call from the motorway phone, not your mobile. The motorway phone has a dedicated number that tells the authorities where you are and how to get to you. Your mobile phone doesn't do that. Greg was caught out that way by a lady who called on her mobile and he ended up driving 76 miles to find her because of her poor directions. His transfer took him to Eastbourne, no motorways, just lots of retired folk with Austin 1100's and Maxis, All fixable and then I'd get a cup of tea and a sandwich, it was a revelation.......I went from from Afghanistan to Kew Gardens! Some interesting figures from Greg: he estimated he attended over 25,000 breakdowns in his career, of which about 5000 were on the M25. He started aged 38 and after two years was considered an old hand people didn't stay long in that job.
Front view of Gregs 1966 Honda S90

A final break down story: A guy broke down on his BMW boxer twin motorcycle on the M25, Greg attended. The bike had just stopped, so Greg had the engine cover off and was checking the points, when the guy recognised him from one of the magazines he'd been featured in. He repeated the article about my Honda 450's word for word.....an amazing coincidence .what are the odds on that happening? One other string to his bow he drove a taxi for ten years in Tunbridge Wells, 1970 1980. A part time job and has to be the funniest work I've ever done.....so many stories, but perhaps for another time. So what about the motorcycles? Like many of us, Greg had an interest that began in his schooldays with a small group of friends who he's still in touch with.

I had four mates, we left school in 1963, all lived on the same housing estate and all bought motorbikes. You have to remember back then that your parents probably didn't have a car, so the motorbike was a means of general transport and gave you a whole circle of friends with similar interests. He was fifteen and had his first moped on his birthday, And fell off it the same day, as you do! It was an NSU Quickly, S23, with the mighty 3bhp engine and pedals that dug in the road when cornering if you didn't keep them level, one of life's rapid learning curves. Who was in the gang of four? Keith with a 250cc BSA C11G, Paul with a Gilera 175cc who sold that and bought a Matchless 250cc, which I thought was a huge bike at the time. There was a dealer in Tunbridge Wells, G E Tunbridge who sold British bikes at the time and had also just opened a Honda franchise. I had the choice of buying a used British bike, all of which seemed totally unreliable, or a new Honda 50cc Sport C110. I bought the Honda. It was the only motorbike at the time that had four gears and also not a moped.
Side view of Gregs Honda S90

Pete was the third compadre, he went into scooters, with a Lambretta LD150. He drilled holes in the silencer which was supposed to make it go faster, but in fact only made it a lot noisier. The other mate was Dave, he had an AJS 250 which misfired most of the time babbbbahhh..he found that someone had fitted the wrong piston amongst other things and it'd never run right. They rode out to all the parks and cafes, I'd be in front on the Honda, they'd follow while misfiring or leaking oil.......the Honda went everywhere without a problem. This to me was proper engineering. One day Dave was pulling my leg saying that as my bike was a Honda lawn mower it should have a grass box fitted. I told him to take a look at the rear wheel of his 500cc Triumph and see the word 'Qualcast' that was cast into the hub! Stunned silence and a look of disbelief!

The motorcycling lifestyle was more or less obligatory if they wanted to get around in those days. I was never taken by car like kids are today and before the motorbikes you cycled everywhere. We motorcycled to the cinema and down to Brighton, for swimming and the cafes. Greg remembered a local lad who bought a new purpose built Triton, It was D reg. My bike was a Honda S90 that cost 149, a new Honda 250 twin was about 260. This Triton cost 360, an amazing amount of money in those days; I only earned 5 a week then, but some of the guys labouring on building sites were on 12/10s a week. Another guy on our housing estate actually had a new BSA Rocket Gold Star, the ultimate bike at the time...these machines cost 320/19/6d. The guy really disliked me for some reason, so as I rode past him on the pillion of my mate Paul's 250cc Yamaha I made rude signs at him. He jumped on his Rocket Goldie, kick started it and set of in hot pursuit ......well, I could see he was going to catch us very quickly so I signalled to Paul and he stopped. I jumped off and hid in some local allotments. The Rocket Goldie rider soon caught up with Paul, but of course I was long since gone, much to the bully boy's annoyance! The gang used to visit two cafes in Tunbridge Wells, 'Toms and 'The Black Diamond' in Camden Road. Greg recalled, The Diamond was known for easy parking but very greasy sandwiches and cups of tea that were slopped all over the counter.
One of Gregs immaculate Hondas, a 1959 250cc C71

Did you think the motorcycling life was just a passing phase back then or was it obvious it was going to be a lifelong passion? I thought at the time this was more than just a teenage fad; I speak to people who knew me 30 years ago who remembered me then for the immaculate Hondas and I'm still doing it!

Greg's motorcycling interest didn't extend to travelling long distances, I was never interested in that. Some mates made it to the Isle of Man, but the furtherest I went was Canterbury in Kent...a one hundred mile round journey.. But I still rode a lot of miles, just local ones. His passion for Hondas was there right from the start, The dealer was only a mile away and seeing how my mates bikes behaved they always leaked oil and didn't start easily made me realise just how good the Hondas were. You could ride them as far as you wanted without them breaking down. The British approach to engineering was best illustrated by a local firm that would only buy very second hand tooling. For example, they bought a used capstan lathe dating from the second world war and everything on it was knackered. Each capstan head had ten thou or so slack, so they had to make up sleeves to put the tools in to hold them tight........this sort of thing did not happen in Germany or Japan. This was the same thing that happened with the British motorcycle industry. Lots of good engineers, but worn out machinery. Contrast that with Honda's build quality, which was all beautifully made. As long as the motor had oil in it , you could thrash it as hard as you liked and it wouldn't give you a problem.
1969 Honda CB250 with Hailwood style fairing

There was another motorcycle shop in Tunbridge Wells called W.B. Dury who sold Triumphs and Velocettes, then later Suzuki and Freddie Phillpot who sold Ariels and Nortons, both new and secondhand. So together with G E Tunbridge, there were three big dealers in the town selling British bikes. But G E Tunbridge saw the change coming and went for a Honda dealership; about a year later the main showroom was full of Hondas, all the old British stuff that was taken in part exchange was kept upstairs.

Greg always got a good price on his bikes at trade in time as they were so well looked after. I was able to upgrade and eventually bought a new twin cylinder Honda CB250 KO. That was in 1969, it took me six years to get that, I'd been through seven smaller bikes in that time. Mike Hailwood was an idol of Greg's at the time and still is to this day. I had a CB160 in 1967 and bought a set of four silencers to fit to the standard twin exhaust pipes, two each side. I took the baffles out so it sounded like Hailwood's Honda four racer.....for me, it was absolutely incredible. That was probably the best bike I've ever had, I thrashed it for 17000 miles and used three sets of tyres, one battery and two rear wheel bearings. They were the only parts that wore out. I fitted a replica Honda Works fairing in silver and painted two yellow stripes on the side with black Honda decals. It looked spot on. Greg's girlfriend at the time lived seven miles away and his mum could hear him coming home at night by about the halfway mark. The bike made such a noise.....I also had a Spacemaster helmet that I painted in Hailwood colours. I was the Hailwood Honda Fan!
1967 Honda CB160

Why Mike Hailwood? Greg remembered a trip to Brands Hatch with his mates to watch the man on a Honda 250cc six cylinder in 1966. Once you've heard that bike, you could never forget it.....you'd hear them all pull away from the start line and by Paddock bend Hailwood led the pack, almost every time. It impressed me so much, it was shattering to hear. It'd cost about 12/6d to get in, a quarter of my week's money, I'd watch Hailwood and ride the 28 miles home thinking I was him. Greg recalled some stats about the bike: pistons were 24mm diameter, four valves per cylinder and it revved to 22000rpm, with a power band of 2000rpm. The bike weighed 140 kg and it was timed on several occasions at 165mph. It was quick!

This was done on the old style Avon GP tyres, or the slightly dangerous Dunlop triangular racing tyres, spoked wheels and drum brakes; it ran on 4 star petrol that was sold at a service station in the paddock at Brands Hatch. There were slots in the fairing sides to help cool the engine and the sump was later cooled by strips of aluminium hand welded to the sump pan. Six replicas of the bike were made by George Beale....they were on sale for a cool 250,000 - Honda bought one, I believe. The engine internals were remarkable. Greg mentioned the one piece crank, with the centre bearing 3 thou oversize and the end bearing 5 thou over. The crank was found to be twisting under load and needed the larger bearings extra strength to stay in one piece. Honda were rightly proud of their engineering ability and would build difficult projects to demonstrate their skills, for example the turbo charged CX650 V twin. And all these years later, Greg is the proud owner of one of Mike Hailwood's early helmets, a pudding basin style from the MV years. I bought it in 2008 from a guy who bought it at a Bonham's auction at the Stafford bike show, it was going to be sold on to a collector in Japan.
The Hailwood Helmet

The economic climate took over and he decided to sell it quickly, I bought it from a listing on Ebay, I couldn't believe my luck. I now own a genuine Mike Hailwood helmet..!! Two other similar Hailwood lids have gone on sale, one, the brother to mine, sold for 4250 pounds...(I paid only a quarter of that price)...it was going to be mine all those years later..and at a greatly reduced price. Hailwood earned 40,000 pounds a year in 1966..I earned 250 pounds a year,and his helmet new cost 6/10/6d. Greg, did you ever buy into another marque to the same degree you did with Honda? Well.....the only mistake I did make was buying a used Yamaha 250cc YDS2. This was in between the two Honda S90's I had.....it was the bane of my life.

In those days the two stroke petrol and oil mix could be bought premixed from a pump, more expensive that way of course. Petrol cost 4/6d a gallon, petroil was 5/2d. The Honda did around 100mpg, the Yamaha 30mpg. Most of my 2/15/0 shillings a week pocket money went on fuel, I did use the bus a lot as it was much cheaper! At one point the Yamaha's crankshaft broke, I took it back to G E Tunbridge who reluctantly fitted a new one. They took it out for a test ride and promptly broke the new crank. So I part ex'd it for a new Honda 90 Sport again, back to what I knew and understood. The YDS2 was green and I've never had another vehicle that colour since. I went from the S90 to the CB160 then the CB250. By now it was 1970 and I passed my car driving test, first time. I bought a Austin Somerset A40, I could now go courting in comfort! He kept up his interest in bikes, though, buying a used CB77 and then a 400/4 and sold that on, as he did the CB250 which went to a friend at the his engineering company where he worked.
1975 Honda CB400F

The bike was wrecked, having a massive collision with a car, the friend luckily surviving the crash without serious injury. Greg worked his way through several cars, including one of the first Datsuns in the country, a Cherry 100A at 749 OTR. His last Datsun was a 240Z, their top of the range sports car back then. At that point in time Greg got married and the 240Z was sold, along with the bikes, bar another 400/4 he'd bought and kept in the garage. 'A big mistake....I married and divorced in a very short space of time, then I started to go to the Vintage Vehicle Shows like the one at Hellingly in East Sussex. It was at one of these shows he spotted a badly restored Honda CB72. I thought I could do better than that and set about finding a early Honda to restore.

By the way, Greg married again, to Brenda, who he met because she bought a car from him, had problems with the engine so she went back to get it repaired.....and the rest, as they say, is history. Back with the CB72, it was about 1979 and Greg thought he could do a better job of the restoration. He did and so his biking interest was rekindled again. I was going back to things I'd had before, but now they were old and collectable, it was about fifteen years since they made the last CB72. The one bike Greg yearned for was the Honda CB450, the 'Black Bomber'. I remembered seeing one in Tunbridges' showroom for 360 guineas; that was more than the Rocket Gold Star or any Triumph, which were all about 320/340 pounds. Within a week of deciding to find one, Greg found an old workmate, Bernard Knock, who had a Bomber at home. As it turned out Greg didn't buy his, but ended up with a tatty but complete 1966 version for 300 and it was a runner. Greg had never previously restored his bikes; he bought them new or almost new and kept them in immaculate condition,the idea of restoring a bike was quite new to him.
1966 Honda CB450

So the Bomber set the pattern for the next 30 years, Greg had all the metalworking skills to make a superb job of whatever he bought and over time he turned out some truly beautiful machines. He used to visit dealers like Rex Judd, I'd buy all the bits I could find, even the dealer's parts book, which were the best thing I'd ever had. There was no Internet then, so the book really helped. Got it for five quid! Greg's method? Always buy a runner and concentrate on getting the finish right. I stripped the Bomber in one afternoon and set about painting and sending off the parts for chroming.. If the engine's good, leave it, don't be tempted to strip it. I've made a point of never buying anything with a knackered engine. Better to pay a bit more to get something that runs reliably.

Parts for the Bomber were very expensive, but worth buying. It took him three months to restore the bike, he took parts to work every day as they had welding and polishing equipment to hand. He bought another Bomber, an H reg 1970 model, which was actually new old stock, as Honda had ceased production of that model in 1967. This one was painted red as Greg had noticed in the parts book that some parts were available in red, I have to say it looked superb.
1966 Honda CB450 in red, a real eye catcher.

He also knew there was a white Police version and one day he had a call from a colleague saying he'd found a white one, My ears pricked up, I knew what it was right away. This was about 1985 before Police bikes became popular and Greg had to go to Wotton Bassett to collect it. It turned out it'd been bought by an RAF serviceman from a scrapyard in Dubai and was in pretty grim condition. The owner had restored one engine which was good and there was another engine, complete but of unknown quality. The trials tyres were bald and rock hard and every orifice was filled with sand, even inside the footrest rubbers. Plus every nut and bolt had been butchered, so the bike only cost me twenty five quid. One welcome side effect of the restoration work for Greg was that he'd loose about half a stone in weight over the course of the work. I'd work on it day and night until I was finished and then discover I'd lost weight......a real bonus! The white Black Bomber was restored in an unusual location the back of one of his old patrol vans. It was a Ford Transit, I stocked up with all my own cleaning kit and took a part from the bike with me to work on. The nearest colour was Ford Diamond White, so I'd buy some aerosols, clean the part at home and go to work in the van with the part under the heater. I take it it out, spray it and put it back in the van. Each day I'd do a separate part, even the frame was done that way.

We need to understand that there can be a lot of 'down time' between rescue jobs; Greg was just making best use of this time. Most of the work was done at my Bluepoint at Kenley Aerodrome on late shift......a nice place to avoid the general public asking you daft questions. One day Greg sprayed the whole engine, a big lump of metal by anyone's reckoning. I had the engine in the front seat when I had a call to say that my manager was coming to see me. They normally step out of their car and sit in your van, but that couldn't happen for obvious reasons, so the moment he arrived I rushed over to him and sat in his car, not even giving him a chance to get out of his seat. I also moved the engine, thinking I could do something with it and I driven off afterwards, forgetting I'd moved it. When I braked, the engine shot forwards and jammed itself under the dashboard, I could hardly shift it! Through the restoration work Greg got to know lots of local engineering specialists in the area, one of them was a chap called Ken Sherlock.
1966 Honda CB450 Black Bomber

A marvellous chap, as well as an engineer he was a very skilled wheel builder. I entrusted the Dubai model's wheel building to him and as his son had a shot blasting business he took all the paint off the frame so I could spray it white. Greg took three wheels to Ken for rebuilding, but the van's back doors had a habit of coming up on their own which caused a problem. The rear door went up and I heard a 'ding, ding, ding' on the road. One of the wheels had rolled out onto the road; luckily it was night time and not too busy. But even so it hit the road at speed and it was wrecked .I waited until the traffic had left and then rescued the wheel. The hub itself was ok, but the spindle was bent and the rim and spokes were scratched. Luckily I had a spare spindle, so I went home to collect that and took the whole lot over to Ken to rebuild. Joking apart, it could have been a very tricky situation.

The bike was restored, went to the Stafford Show four times and was featured in at least four magazines. The journalist Ian Kerr, who was also a motorcycle policeman, rode the bike around London, a great guy and good policeman. What about the British classic scene, Greg, any views on that? What worries me is if the kids of the current crowd have no interest in the bikes....it'll finish, it'll all go. But with the Jap bikes, the moped riders, the FS1E riders are all moving into the scene now. The British bike industry really finished in 1975 with the last of the Norton Commandos. Here's a story.....I met a guy once while I was working for Rolba, I went to Birmingham to a firm up there to demonstrate our road sweepers. There was this one really interesting guy; I asked him what other work he'd done he said he used to be the chief tester at BSA motorcycles. He said the reason our bikes were crap was that the testers didn't test the bikes properly.
One of Gregs Honda CB450 Dubai Police Motorcycles

They'd fiddle the speedo readings, go round to their mums and sit there having cups of tea all day. They'd come back saying the bikes were fine that was a big reason for the downfall. He said at the time Honda had 3000 people in R&D and testing; we had six blokes and five of those were round their mums drinking tea! He was a very knowledgeable man, though, a pleasure to talk to him. And British Industry in general? No doubt some good firms around, but many of them......the tooling and machines would be knackered, but the directors would have new cars. That money could have bought, for a example, a new guillotine, decent welding equipment, or several good lathes.

In Japan that attitude didn't exist, it all had to be done as right as possible, with the latest new equipment, that's why they succeeded and we didn't. We're now into the mid to late 1980's and Greg's 'CBX' phase. I bought two, a 1981 1981 model,4000 miles in mint condition; I sold that on but bought another, a 1980 model, just 642 miles from new, owned by Rod Timpson, husband of the actress Penelope Keith. I kept that three years. A Vauxhall car salesman bought it having passed his bike test just two weeks previously. He came with his mate to try it and buy it...he sat on it, revved it a couple of times and the colour drained from his face. But his mate said that's perfect, buy it! He was terrified of riding it....he had only passed his test just a week before, been used to small capacity bikes and suddenly he's got a Jag engine between his legs! Greg moved on to the famous California Highway Patrol Kawasakis, I had two of them, but they were very big, very heavy and a pain to ride; these were monster motorcycles.
1980 Honda CBX1000

They weighed 700lbs, all solid metal. I kept the first one for ten years, the second for five years. But moving them around was a serious business, a total pain. They were followed by two Japanese ex-police Honda CBX750's. One I kept and rode for five years, sold that to a friend, the other I kept for three years. They came together, one had a fairing and the other didn't. This particular machine had a tuned 90bhp motor, it flew and sounded strangely like a early racing four cylinder motorcycle...they easily rev to 12000 thousand rpm. By now Greg's really got the 'Police Bug', two years ago he bought and restored an early Japanese Police Honda CB750 KO, circa 1969-70. There was a container of 70 of these shipped from Japan to Cyprus for scrap and spares.

An RAF guy bought this one and came back home with it. He lived in Scotland, kept it for three years and did a rough restoration. A friend of mine bought it, I bought it off him and restored it myself, a very rare bike, now residing in a Dutch museum. The white Dubai Police CB450P is in also in Holland, but in private hands.

Big and very heavy - 1979 Kawasaki Z1000 CHIPS

I decided that was it on Police bikes for me, I'd done enough, twenty seven years to be precise. But within a week I bought another one. Two weeks later another arrived, a brand new 1997 Honda ex-Royal Hong Kong Police, although it wasn't registered in Hong Kong, possibly overlooked while the handover to China was going on. In 1994 while working as a patrolman Greg met a Chinaman whose car had broken down, He was different, at least six foot six inches tall and spoke perfect English. His name was Mr. Lau and he turned out to be a Department Chief of the Royal Hong Kong Police Force.

1970 Honda CB750P KO

I mentioned my hobby and my CBX750 Police bike, Mr. Lau said he remembered the model well, he was in charge of 3000 of them! He sent me a photo of himself riding one and he even bought an owners manual back to the UK for me. Greg showed him the CBX and he was very impressed to see one again in such good condition. Coming back to the present police Honda, a 1997 CBX750P, Greg had bought it from a Japanese spares specialist who needed to raise some cash. So hear we go again! This one was almost perfect; it just had sticking front brake calipers, which only took a couple of hours to clean and repair. It was only the bottom piston in each caliper that were affected, just a white surface smear of corrosion that I cleaned off. The battery was original as was the oil in the engine. So do I leave it as it is? That's my problem. You've either got to use it or not. Just starting it now and again is the worst thing you can do as the combustion process creates acids and condensation that attack the engine and exhausts.

Greg also had a pair of Kawasaki W650 motorcycles, The first one new in 1999 was damaged by a woman driver reversing over the bike within the first hour of ownership. I couldn't believe it. I had that repaired and sold it; then bought another one, brand new in a box, which I kept for four years and then sold it. Then the registration rules changed, if it was not registered there and then it could never be registered. My latest W650 is one of the original ones, a BSA lookalike. I've had it one year, bought it from a very good friend of mine. I cant ride it as the gear change is on the right hand side, I think 4 down and one up..? I can't get to grips with it, too dangerous for me, so I just display it.
Kawasaki W650, a BSA look alike.

I love to show this one. The British bike owners walk up in a group, they all mutter and then leave, not knowing what to make of it. It looks like a BSA but it's not...it's how BSA should have done it in the first place. The timing side side bearing on the W650 was a proper bearing, not a bush and that was done in 1965.....a firm called Maguru had made a BSA A10 copy back then and Kawasaki bought Maguru. How do you find all these bikes? They all find me, I've never had to look. I've always bought and sold at a fair price and anything I've sold always works properly. Five years ago Greg had the urge for a racing machine.....I bought a Honda 500/4 Hailwood replica. A man in Leicester built three of these, I got the last one which was first sold to another two customers, I bought it on spec from the second owner. He was a lovely man from up north called Bob Peck, a real gentleman and motorcycle enthusiast. At the same time I bought a Honda 250/4 replica, made from a CB72 frame with a Japanese home market CBR250RR engine. A little gem, it revved to 18500 rpm and on the dyno produced 56bhp at rear wheel.

It was a lovely bike, but so noisy it hurt my ears, so I had to sell it on. It's just come up for sale again at 10,000. I paid 5k, sold it for 8k so it's going up all the time. It was unusual in that the builder had fitted four 28mm Amal carburettors, the MK1 Concentrics. The tuners couldn't get the standard carbs and air box to work right, but the Amals solved the problems. It was electric start, you left the drilled out sink plugs in the bellmouths to start and when it fired up you'd never have heard anything like it. Grown men would have tears in their eyes....the sound took them right back to the 60's race tracks. Greg took it to Brooklands where it was the noisiest bike at the meeting, 133db and that was firing on just two cylinders. It was noisier than the real thing! I used to wear ex - army ear defenders; people used to laugh at me until I fired it up!

Honda 500c Four Mike Hailwood Replica

One story about the 250: Greg took the bike up to a Honda Motorcycle Dealer in South London for the occasion of their 40th anniversary. They asked if Greg had something from the '60's he could put in their showroom for their birthday party. I took the 250/4 and wheeled it in, to be asked by a young salesman in a sarcastic tone 'what's that..?' It a replica of an early Honda racer replied Greg; we were standing in a spotless modern showroom and this salesman reckoned the bike didn't work. So I thought OK mate, you're for it. I switched on, hit the button and the bike exploded into life, it's a real jet scream sound.

The receptionist ran away, the kid looked gob smacked, in absolute disbelief and the workshop mechanic rushed in, saying he hadn't heard that sound since the Isle of Man many years ago. The guys in the other showroom over the road asked what the hell was that? The receptionist eventually came back, almost shell shocked. Not sure I'll get an invite to their 50th! Now if you're sceptical about the noise levels, there's a YouTube clip I've seen of a Honda 250/4 being started up in front of some Japanese students the looks on their faces are a real treat, complete disbelief at the sheer volume of sound.
Mike Hailwood Replica sounds as good as it looks

If you had your time again, Greg, would you stick with Honda? I'd stick with the Hondas, no doubt about that. They also make excellent cars, I've had three Accords. I mentioned that Honda TV ad, 'The Impossible Dream' where the man rides and drives all types of vehicles made by Honda, Greg said At the time, if you went to a Honda car agent they'd show you a video of how that ad was made, it cost 2.5 million pounds and all that equipment was from Honda's own museum. It was filmed on location in New Zealand, Japan and South America. Honda were imported into the UK in around 1959 by a firm called Hondis, then Honda UK took over. Greg started riding them in 1963 and he still rides today, although after 49 years he limits his two wheeled excursions to track and show days. I decided that at over sixty years old I didn't want the hassle of riding on the road; I've seen some pretty grim things in my time and I'd like to stay in one piece now. When I'm riding them I still feel the same as I did when I was sixteen, the sensations are all still there.

His riding career mirrors the arrival of Japanese bikes in the UK at a time when the British industry was at a peak. Greg recalled Redhill Motors of Brighton, who also had a branch at Lewes. One of their fitters told me they sold four CB750 Hondas which never came back for repairs, as against six BSA 650's and every one of them came back with major crankshaft problems. Do you have a memorable motorcycling moment? Yes, in 1992, I caused a storm in the classic world with a machine I restored, winning the 'Best Bike In Show' trophy at Stafford, with a Marusho Magnum 500cc, the first Japanese bike to do so. Only 182 were made and were a rare total failure! It was a BMW copy and not a very good one. I totally restored it and took it to the show....it caused a rucus when it won. Also in 1985 my two Bombers were featured in 'Classic Bike' magazine, the first time a Japanese bike had graced their pages....6 months of wrangling in the next 6 issues finally ceased, meaning Japanese machines could be now called Classic Bikes..!!! So much has changed over the last 30 years. If you've ever seen a Greg Holliday restoration, the Stafford win would have come as no surprise to you. If you haven't, take it from me they leave nothing to be desired.

1967 Marusho Magnum

His bikes have been featured in many magazines over the years and in fact that's how I met him, by noticing his Police Honda at a show, which we went on to write about in 'Classic Motorcycle Mechanics'. Over the years Greg's restored, shown and enjoyed his bikes to the full and with rare exception, has remained loyal to Honda to this day. It was a brave move back in the early '60's to buy a Japanese bike when all your mates bought British, but it was gamble that paid off with dividends.

Greg and the 1967 Marusho Magnum at the 1992 Stafford Show

If you see him at a show or track day, don't be shy and pass him by, stop and have a chat. He has a wealth of experience and is always pleased to talk about bikes, especially Classic Japanese.

A pleasure talking with you Greg, thank you for your time. A Picture Gallery follows.

Picture Gallery

Honda 500cc Four Hailwood Replica

Honda 500cc Four Hailwood Replica and Helmet

Honda 500cc Four Hailwood Replica

1970 Honda CB450 Dubai

White faced speedo of the Honda CB450 Dubai

1983 Honda VF400

1980 Honda CBX1000

1981 Honda CBX1000

1981 Honda CBX1000 at the NEC Show, winner of the BBC Top Gear / Autoglym Award

1985 & 86 Honda CBX750P

1985 Honda CBX750P

1986 Honda CBX750P

1985 Kawasaki 1000cc CHIP

1997 Honda CBX750P

1997 Honda CBX750P

1997 Honda CBX750P

Greg and the Honda 500cc Four Hailwood Replica at a Brooklands Meeting

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed Gregs motorcycling life story.
END