JANOS Hamar, a 75-year-old Pinetown resident must have petrol flowing through his veins; his love and passion for building and reconstructing cars and motorbikes is infinite.
Janos is originally from Hungary and his mother bought him his first bike when he was 14 years old.
“I have loved bikes my entire life and am also one of the founding members of the Classic Motorcycle Club of Natal, which we started about 30 years ago,” said Janos.
He has had a mix of about 10 bikes in his lifetime, from scooters to on-road and off-road and throughout his many various trips has fallen off only four times.
“In one of the accidents I was riding my scooter along Nottingham Road, on my way back to Johannesburg, and went off the road. My scooter went sliding and I went sliding after it. Thank goodness I listened to a friend and bought myself a helmet, otherwise this interview would not be happening.
He built his current bike, a Triumph Thunderbird pre-unit (1960), from the ground up. “It was in pieces and many of those pieces were missing. I waited patiently for three years to get my hands on it and one year, just before Christmas, its owner relented and allowed me to purchase Liquorice All Sorts (his nickname for the bike) for R500,” said Janos.
Both the engine and the frame have its original numbers and it took him about a year of on and off work to have it completed and in working order.
“I repainted it myself, had a new seat cover made, bought a quick detachment tank, made a stainless steel grill for the light on the front of the bike and made many other other various parts to get it going again,” said Janos.
According to his wife Chrisitna, they have no new things in their home because he is constantly fixing everything.
He has two children and three grandchildren. “Every once in a while I will take the grandchildren out for a spin on the bike,” said Janos.
