Story By Jessica Schley
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Madness would not normally be a word used to describe a museum curator. But the Vintage Motorcycle museum on Alisal Road in the Solvang Village Square is not your average museum, and owner Virgil Elings is not your average curator. He has a self-admitted mania for motorcycles, and he has put together one of the largest collections of working vintage motorcycles that exists anywhere in the world. At any given time, Elings has over eighty Vintage Motorcycles on display in a showroom of about 4,500 square feet, but that’s only half the collection. He keeps the other half at home and he rotates them in and out. Not all of the extra bikes fit in his garage, however. Elings’ long-time friend and associate, Jill Ballard, who doubles as his museum secretary and friendly tour guide, recently explained that some of the extras |
| are stored in guest bedrooms and even the living room and dining room at Elings’ home. Elings’ collection contains an example of about any type of motorcycle ever made, dating from 1904 to the 1990’s. And that’s not all. From a 1935 Danish Nimbus (there has to be at least one Danish bike, this is Solvang after all) to a Motto Guzzi V8, from a 1954 BMW Rennsport to a 1993 Ducatti 888, from a Britten (one of the fastest bikes ever built) to an Ariel Square Four, you can find them all in this museum. Sixty-six-year-old Elings has dabbled in many hobbies and business ventures over the years. “I tried riding horses for a while, but I found they are too dangerous. Motorcycle racing is much safer than horseback riding,” he says with a touch of humor in his voice. Although he is serious when he says horses are dangerous, he is not the type to shy away from risky adventures. Elings and his son Jeff are Vintage Motorcycle racers. They stumbled into their first race in the early 90s at Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and enjoyed it so much that they have made it a major activity since then. His second year out as a racer, Elings won the West Coast Novice Division for 50 and over. He tried racing as an Amateur after that, and found it was a mistake. That division allows ex professionals to race in it and Elings found that crowd to be a little too reckless. He describes himself as “an enthusiastic racer, but not necessarily that good. You pay for that.” He’s had his share of close calls, too. “It’s messy.” But that doesn’t stop him from going out and having a good time. He hasn’t raced too much recently though, because he’s leaving that up to his son. “Jeff wins just about every race he enters,” says Elings. His other son Mike is not a racer, but he enjoys the collection as well. Something special about the bikes in the museum is that nearly all of them are in working condition, and could theoretically be fired up at any moment and ridden straight off the showroom floor, and off to a race. “Most of these bikes aren’t street legal, so you can’t really do that.” Elings explains. “If I want to take one of these bikes to a race, I walk it off the floor and into a trailer, and haul it to the venue.” What about the cruiser: the Honda Goldwing in the back of the museum? Does Elings ever take Jill for a spin on it? It’s street legal of course, because it’s a cruiser. “No, that one is in too good a shape for its age to take on the road,” explained Elings. “I have a newer Goldwing at home that we cruise on when we feel like it.” Speaking of cruisers, are there any Harley Davidsons in Elings’ museum? Yes, a couple, including an ’89 Custom and a ’72 XR750. But would Elings ever ride one? Not a chance, ever. But why? They are an American Classic, aren’t they? “I don’t like Harleys,” Elings explains simply. “They are unnecessarily loud, uncomfortable, and they have no power. You can put up with loud and uncomfortable on a race bike, but not on a tour bike. But I am the odd man out, because a lot of people like them.” But wasn’t the Harley a classic bike for the American Classic, James Dean? There’s a cardboard cutout of Dean at the museum, next to a Triumph TR5. “A lot of people thought James Dean rode Harleys,” said Elings. “But his favorite bike was the TR5.” You can have a friend take a photo of yourself with the famous James Dean next to the TR5 when you visit the museum. He’s always there, unlike Elings. “He takes care of the place when I’m off at a race or at the garage tinkering with the restoration projects,” jokes Elings. Joking aside, the TR5 was restored from a basket case by Elings himself, who has put together the entire collection. A restoration project takes about a year to complete, which is a lot of work to put into one bike. So he tries to buy motorcycles already in top condition. And where does he find these amazing machines? Anywhere—from private collections to estate sales, from brand warehouses to e-bay. “There’s a 1920’s Norton flat tank on auction at e-bay tonight that I might bid on,” says Elings. He is always looking to enhance his collection of world class machines. And that isn’t limited to bikes. He also has in the museum the smallest working Ferrari engine. It’s about the size of a large handbag, and it’s a V12, with 48 valves. Don’t try to take it out of the museum in your own handbag, though—it’s pretty heavy, and there’s heavy security too. |
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If antique is what you’re into, take a look at the German made NSU V-Twin, built in 1904. There’s also an exact replica of an 1886 Benz. Want to see a supercharger? Take a look at the Vincent Black Lightening. Only 30 were made, and there’s one in Elings’ museum. Want to look at the Hondas? There’s a ’76 400/4, a ’70 CB750 and a few others. By the way Honda made bikes long before they ever thought about making cars. How about Suzuki? There’s the 1100. Would you rather daydream about Jawas? There are a couple in the collection that you can see. |
"I tried riding horses for a while," says Elings. "But I found they are too dangerous. Motorcycle racing is much safer than horseback riding." Here he is racing his 1957 AJS75 in a vintage motorcycle race. |
What about the famous Indian Chief bikes? Yes, there’s also a red 1946 in the collection, not to mention a Maico, a Matchless, a Nimbus, a Norton, several MV Agustas, a ’47 Triumph Gran Prix, a Sunbeam, a 1918 Thor, a Whizzer, a 1950 Vincent Gray Flash a 1985 Xinfu
. . .and more.
The Solvang Vintage Motorcycle Museum is arguably one of the best collections on public display, not just in the United States, but in the world. “There’s another guy with a bigger private collection. I’ve seen it myself. But he doesn’t limit himself to Vintage only. He buys modern bikes as well. And entire lines of them. It’s not an exclusive collection of just Vintage bikes,” Elings notes with justifiable pride. That collection is in Birmingham, Alabama if you ever want to see it. But while you are in Solvang you won’t want to miss Elings’ famed fleet, where you can enjoy the chrome, the bright paint jobs and the faint smell of gasoline, (he just finished replacing the gas in all the tanks to keep the bikes in top shape). Be sure to look around for the Britten. It’s in the front of the Museum near the window, and almost everything except the engine is made with carbon fiber. Every single part in that bike was made entirely by hand, by John Britten. “He probably died from handling all that epoxy,” speculates Elings. “When I bought this bike though, it was new in the crate.” Elings and his son have taken it to show at exhibition races. He has never raced it though. “Some bikes you just don’t race. The Britten is too valuable—it is the last of the Brittens,” says Elings. He also adds that John Britten never rode one of his own bikes, because he thought he might have a real accident.
Now that you’ve had a good look around, or if you aren’t physically at the museum but what you’ve read about it fascinates you, you must be wondering: “Who is this guy, Virgil Elings? And where did he come up with the money to put together a collection like this?” Elings is a Physics graduate from MIT (with a Ph.D.) who taught for 20-some years at UC Santa Barbara where he developed the first graduate program in Scientific Instrumentation. Then he started up a business called Digital Instruments, which produces technology that allows scientists to look at objects as small as individual atoms. His startup business became the leading company in the world that produces and manufactures this type of technology. Later he merged with a similar company called Veeco Instruments. Shortly after the merger, Elings retired from the world of business and began to invest in real estate and motorcycles. “All I’m doing with these bikes is taking money in the bank and turning it into something tangible, something real. These things are like real estate. They go up in value over the years. Not from year to year but perhaps by decade you notice a difference. You just have to hang in there. I’m here for the long run, in real estate and motorcycles. Sometimes I pay too much for a bike that I want, but time fixes that. Life is short, and I’ve learned not to pass up the opportunity to own a bike that I want because the price is too high. You regret that kind of mistake after the fact.” Elings doesn’t just own the bikes inside the museum in the Solvang Village Square. He owns the whole building complex. “It gives me somewhere to store the bikes. And I like having a place where other people can come enjoy them too.” To learn more about Elings’ motorcycle madness, or to see the rest of his collection, you can pay a visit to his website, www.motosolvang.com.
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